Customer Showcase: Knotice Offices

"Now you can hold a conversation and hardly hear it an office cube away. ...The products do what they are supposed to, and at a very reasonable cost." - Jonathon Grimm, President, CFO of Knotice

The Problem

Digital marketing firm Knotice, one of Ohio's fastest growing tech companies, recently expanded their offline footprint by moving into a re-purposed industrial building in downtown Akron. To Knotice management and employees, the new space looked great and offered a lot of promise. The exposed brick, concrete, and steel, however, presented unplanned for acoustic challenges. "We are a software and services company, and we like quiet environments," says Jonathon Grimm, Knotice's president and CFO. With no office sound proofing in place, "you could hear a conversation 100 feet away."

The architectural elements that made Knotice's new office space stand out -- elements also typical of many lofts, industrial conversions, and "modern" style offices -- presented serious acoustical and noise control issues. When the initial 30 employees, including the sales team,  expanded into the new space, they could not easily carry out their daily responsibilities in a environment where sound traveled and there was little privacy.

The Solution

Office Sound Proofing with Audimute Acoustic Panels

After consulting with Audimute acoustic specialists, Knotice decided on an office sound proofing plan that incorporated:

• More than 2 dozen 2'x4' custom designed double-sided acoustic panels with exposed frames and metal inserts, mounted on shared cubicle walls
• 6 custom image 2'x4' panels, designed with Knotice's corporate logo and the logo of Concentri®, its flagship product, hung on walls in the lobby and conference room
• Over 2,500 square feet of Audimute's industrial panels, an un-covered and unframed eco-C-tex® panel, installed non-obtrusively in ceiling i-beam recesses and other visually obscured locations

The Outcome

Strategic Sound Absorption Creates an Acoustically Optimized Working Environment

While honoring the aesthetics of the untreated space and incorporating acoustic absorption in strategic positions, the treatment solved Knotice's acoustic problems. Knotice realized a dramatic acoustic improvement throughout the office. Sound proofing decreased the echo and reverberation in work areas by at least half, notes Grimm. "Now you can hold a conversation and hardly hear it an office cube away."

Audimute office sound proofing gave Knotice more than just great acoustics. "The covered panels in the meeting rooms have made dull white rooms into a pleasing environment," Grimm says. The mesh panels have given the offices a "cool look," he adds.