Flex spaces are gaining popularity all across the world. As a business owner, it’s wise to invest in a flex space for multiple reasons. Firstly, it costs less to house all your company activities under one roof than it does to rent out multiple locations, all with their own purpose.
And, while using multiple locations for different aspects of your business is sometimes unavoidable, you can implement flex spaces in many more situations than you might think. Warehousing, retail, and c-suite business professionals can all benefit from using flex spaces.
But, one of the biggest concerns of using flex spaces is how to manage sound and reduce noise. As you might have noisier processes taking place next to quieter ones, the need for sound reduction in a flex space is very real.
Thankfully, there’s plenty of options when it comes to this. So, in case you need a solution for sound reduction in your flex space, let’s take a look at some effective solutions.
1. Sound Absorbing Panels
Whether you work in a regular office space or something like a WeWork space, sound reduction is crucial to improving wellbeing at work. However, flex spaces are especially prone to noise pollution, so the need to reduce and manage sound effectively can be tackled in a few ways.
One of the most effective ways to absorb and reduce sound is to install acoustically optimized ceiling panels in your office. These panels come in a wide variety of different styles, colors, and patterns. Ceiling panels like these are made from a special material that is designed to absorb sound with a much higher level of effectiveness than any normal ceiling panels you might already have.
Because the ceiling is one of the most common culprits when it comes to spreading noise pollution, using sound-absorbing ceiling panels can go a long way towards reducing sound pollution in your office space.
2. Wall Panels and Tiles
While the average ceiling is highly effective at reflecting sound and bouncing it around a room, so are the walls of most office buildings. Especially in flex spaces where you’re more likely to find industrial-type walls that echo more, adding acoustic panel designs and/or tiles to the walls is an excellent solution for this.
Acoustic wall panels are made from the same type of material as acoustic ceiling panels, and they also come in a variety of different colors, styles, and patterns. You might think it would detract from the interior aesthetic to have your walls covered in sound-absorbing panels, but that’s far from the truth.
There are both tiles and acoustic panels that you can arrange on your walls in ways that both improve the aesthetic and improve the sound-reduction capability of any room. Some of these ideas include using wall tiles, Mura tiles, and/or partition systems to section off areas and allow for less echo.
3. Carpeting
When it comes to flex spaces, you’ll want to put carpeting wherever it’s feasible if you’re trying to maximize sound reduction. While not totally necessary for achieving an acceptable level of sound reduction, it’s a great idea to put carpeting in a WeWork office space or other office space where you want to do all that you can to minimize noise pollution. Even short carpeting will work effectively here.
4. Acoustic Operable Walls
An even more effective solution for reducing noise in a flex space is the use of acoustic operable walls. These are fully automated, retractable walls that fold down from the ceiling to create sectioned-off areas that are optimized for sound reduction. Skyfold walls offer up to a 60 STC soundproofing rating.
Skyfold walls, for instance, come in a variety of different styles to fit your needs. They have walls that deploy vertically, folding straight down as well as accordion style. Skyfold also has an acoustic glass partition for those who want to maximize visibility and the flow of natural light while still blocking out sound. And there is an endless possibility of finishes to select from, to fit your desired aesthetic.
Make Your Flex Space Work for Everyone with These Sound Reduction Ideas
Flex spaces need to be able to handle multiple different types of work at once. This often includes merging office spaces with more industrial-type work like warehousing or high-tech spaces.
If you want to mitigate noise pollution within your work environment while still enjoying the multi-faceted benefits of a flex space, you can’t go wrong with carpeting, acoustic ceiling panels, or acoustic wall panels and tiles.