glimakra's sabine furniture system features integrated sound attenuation

the ‘sabine’ collection by glimakra of sweden will be unveiled at the 2015 stockholm furniture and light fair. in regards to the project, designers johan kauppi and bertil harström have said, ‘the need is well defined. open floor plans in general and activity based workplaces in particular need to be supplemented with specific products to achieve a functional room acoustic environment.’ this led the team to integrate the acoustics with the other needs in the office environment and the result is a system of sound reducing furniture. the name itself is a tribute to the physicist wallace clement sabine who founded the field of architectural acoustics in the late 1800s.

example of storage units 
image © johan kauppi
all images courtesy of glimakra of sweden

the first members of the family are a number of independent storage furniture that also can be connected to elements. these are complemented by work tables with units that can be repeated. in addition, possibilities for variation are available in different colors and materials.

a back wall of connected storage furniture
image © johan kauppi

‘sabine is an effective storage furniture system that is sound absorbing, sound reducing, and room dividing. the pressed felt shells on the outside of the furniture interact with the slotted body in a way that creates a smooth and good sound absorption in a wide frequency range from 125 Hz to 4000 Hz. the sound absorption is actually considerable even in the very low frequencies, 63Hz’, says klas hagberg, head of acoustics at WSP acoustics sweden, who was consulted for the project.

a low seating area surrounded by connected devices 
image © johan kauppi

while the depth is consistently 396 mm, the pieces are available in four widths, four heights, and four types of legs. the beneficial properties are obtained by optimized slots and a shell of moulded polyester felt with foam. the material is available in anthracite, gray, white and green. the body can be painted MDF or dyed valchro-mat in black, gray or green. the support structure can be changed with round wooden in solid ash, brass, or a powder coated metal frame and aluminum wheels.

workstation units can be connected in series
image © johan kauppi

‘sabine’ work places have fixed heights for sit or stand levels. the table top in white stained ash wood is held up by a sound absorbing beam that is connected to the side units. these modules are equipped with sockets for electricity, data, USB and HDMI or coat racks and shelves.

interconnected rows of workstations with a back wall of the storage units
image © johan kauppi

workstations can be furnished against walls
image © johan kauppi

sound-absorbing workplace with integrated connections 
image © johan kauppi

the shell covers three sides 
image © johan kauppi

the shells of felt with absorbing padding interact with the slots on the inside, giving the system acoustic properties
image © johan kauppi

shell patterns of felt

the sound absorption is considerable even in very low frequencies 
image © johan kauppi

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.