Renovation of a library in Keene, New Hampshire. Completed plans call for the renovation of a library.

The City is seeking the professional installation of acoustic panels with the goal of reducing the unoccupied average reverberation to a range of 0.8 to 1.0 seconds. Bid Contact Yves P Gakunde (603) 357-9800 ext 6097 ygakunde@keenenh.gov 3 Washington St, 2nd Floor Keene, NH 03431 The Keene Public Library (NH) is a 70,000-square-foot building consisting of two buildings with their several additions dating between 1859 and 2019. The latest construction project included a substantial renovation and created an addition that joined the two buildings together. Cohen Hall is one of the recently renovated spaces. It is on the second floor of a 1924 addition. The room was built as the formal ritual space of the Freemasons. Keene Public Library uses Cohen Hall as an event space for lectures, music, gatherings and occasional movies. The walls of Cohen Hall appear to be finished masonry with wood panels on the lower section. The floor has low-pile carpeting. There are no windows in the space. The ceiling is made of suspended drywall, hung by metal hangers at unknown intervals. Lighting and sprinkler-heads are dispersed within the suspended ceiling, as well as a retractable movie screen. The room measures over 40 feet by 60 feet, for a total of 2,430.6 square feet. The ceiling is just over 18 feet high, giving the room a volume of 44,096 cubic feet. Goals and Objective: The City is seeking the professional installation of acoustic panels with the goal of reducing the unoccupied average reverberation to a range of 0.8 to 1.0 seconds. Proposals for alternative sound remediation products are welcome, particularly if they provide comparable results at a reduced cost. Proposals may also consider removing the existing suspended drywall ceiling and replacing it with suspended panels if it saves total Cohen Hall has a high level of reverberation of sound. The accumulation of echoes reduces the intelligibility of speech to the point which it is difficult to understand dialog in movies and a microphone is required for even small gatherings. The City of Keene hired an acoustic consultant to review the Cohen Hall. Tests showed that the unoccupied average reverberation time in Cohen Hall is 1.9 seconds, with excessive reverberation at low frequencies due to the rigid construction of walls. The consultant recommended treating the entire ceiling with a seamless sound-absorbing product such as Eurospan by Conwed or Baswa-Phon. If panels are added to the existing ceiling drywall, sprinkler heads and lighting will need to be extended to accommodate the additional thickness. To improve low frequency reverberation, 2- or 3-mch fabric wrapped fiberglass panels were also recommended for the 45-degree angled corners of the room. The panels must not impede access to the HVAC grilles at these corners.