Steelcase's Truchet Acoustic Tiles cut through the noise

The best offices don’t just look great, they sound great as well. Acoustic design is crucial when creating functional, comfortable workplace environments that employees are happy to spend time in. Without appropriate design input, open-plan spaces in particular can be filled with disruptive and distracting noise. As employers switch to new hybrid working arrangements, acoustics play a vital role in ensuring modern offices provide places that are great for collaboration and feel like a home away from home.

Many acoustic solutions fulfil the objective of reducing ambient noise but negatively impact the look of the space. Global furniture and technology firm Steelcase has developed a portfolio of innovative acoustic products that help reduce unwanted noise in the workplace while enhancing the interior design scheme. The latest addition to the range are the Truchet Acoustic Tiles, launched in 2020, which combine excellent acoustic properties with an attractive and versatile design that can be used in a wide range of environments.

Academic research and Steelcase’s own studies show that distraction can seriously impact productivity, so creating spaces with good acoustic performance has an evidential cost benefit in addition to improving staff wellbeing. The Truchet Acoustic Tiles combat unwanted decibels within office settings, using moulded PET profiles and specially developed Hush fabrics to absorb an average of 90 % of all sound waves.

The design of the tiles is inspired by the interconnecting Truchet pattern created by French priest and mathematician Sébastien Truchet. The square and quarter-circle shaped tiles can be combined in a vast number of combinations to create custom designs with a three-dimensional patterned surface.

Each shape of tile is available with or without a curved relief that aligns with the edge of the same shape on the adjoining tile or tiles. The resulting patterns lend the acoustic surfaces a more interesting and playful appearance than many other similar products. A broad range of colour options adds to the tiles’ versatility, making it straightforward to create a customised interior solution. The pattern can be changed or updated at any time by simply rotating individual elements or sections.

The sound-absorbing tiles can be fixed to walls using a simple velcro attachment to form an attractive mural-like surface, or suspended vertically from the ceiling to create a visual and acoustic partition. They can also hang horizontally from a metal frame, providing targeted noise reduction in echoey rooms. The wood frames that support the moulded PET layer have a thickness of 6.5 cm, allows part of the sound waves to be trapped between the tile and the wall. This contributes to the excellent absorptive qualities, helping the products to achieve a CLASS A rating based on the international ISO 11654 standard for sound absorption.

Steelcase has developed an online acoustic calculator that can be used to determine the performance improvement that could be achieved by integrating the Truchet Acoustic Tiles into a space. By inputting the room dimensions along with details of the surface materials found on the walls, floor and ceiling, users can discover the average reverberation time within the space. Adding more tiles and choosing between the wall-mounted or suspended options alters the reverberations, which can be viewed on a graph comparing the empty room against a room with acoustic tiles.

There is no longer any need for employees to endure the sorts of noisy working environments that have become commonplace as a consequence of the shift towards open-plan offices. Steelcase's Truchet Acoustic Tiles offer an innovative and attractive solution to the problem of sound privacy and poor acoustics, making it easy to create modern workspaces that sound as good as they look.

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