Places of Worship are generally located within the community, and in the past have been the central focus of communities. With the continuing diversification of suburban populations , some of the smaller religious groups have widely scattered members . The acoustic design of buildings as Places of Worship must deal with several noise aspects. For those using the building, the building must provide an environment conducive to their religious practices, by excluding external noise and providing both correct acoustic character as well as clarity of speech. Each faith expects a certain ambience and a certain “feel” to the building resulting from the acoustics. The building must also be capable of containing any sound generated within the building so as not to, antagonise neighbours who may not be of the same faith. (This includes commercial or industrial neighbours). Measured noise levels in Places of Worship can often exceed 95 to 100 dB(A) during religious observances due solely to the vocal outputs of the participants. These noise levels need to be accommodated and designed for while accommodating the unique requirements of each faith.

Camets recently undertook the acoustic design of a Buddhist Place of Worship. The Main Hall required good speech intelligibility and a flat crisp room acoustic response. A three dimensional calculation approach was used to optimise internal acoustics of the space and to minimise the extent of acoustic treatment. Noise containment was achieved by a triple skin roof construction. Normally this aspect is addressed in two parts with an outer shell to stop sound breaking in, or out; and an inner shell (with no sound stopping ability) to condition the sound within the building. On this project, the inner and outer shells were combined as an economy measure. The drop-in acoustic ceiling tiles were selected for their sound absorption qualities (to condition the internal sound), as well as their sound stopping characteristics. Internal noise levels were expected to reach 100 to 105 dB(A). The outer roof was a double skin construction consisting of profiled metal decking over an isolated flexible barrier membrane. In combination with the acoustic ceiling, this formed an effective sound barrier, without the need to resort to a very heavy roof construction. A side benefit of the construction was effective rain noise control which could have disturbed worshipers. Public officials, as well as regular users, have subsequently complimented Camets on the “atmosphere” of the building and have expressed pleasure and admiration for the effects that were achieved.

Camets have undertaken services on behalf of a number of different religious groups including: Buddhist, Vietnamese Catholic, Syrian Catholic, Anglican, Apostolistic, and Moslems.

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