ACOUSTIC METAMATERIALS: NOISE AND OVERHEATING IN RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS

The need to balance overheating risk and exposure to noise has recently become an increasingly common issue and is now at the forefront of residential building design. This has resulted in the publication of the ‘Acoustics, Ventilation and Overheating: Residential Design Guide’ 1 (hereafter the AVO Guide) in January 2020. This paper presents an overview of the potential for addressing the noise and overheating challenge through the use of emerging technologies and approaches to construction. Specifically, it focuses upon the initial development of a novel form of passive ventilation based around the integration of acoustic metamaterials. The work has initially been centred around the design of an external acoustic shutter which incorporates metamaterial technology into its basic design, the aim being to provide levels of traffic noise reduction while also allowing air movement. A prototype shutter has been developed and was sent for laboratory testing in February 2020. A summary of the initial findings and test results is presented, alongside a discussion of the practical applications for the shutter. Finally, the paper discusses the opportunities for future development of the shutter, along with the potential for integrating holistically designed environmental control solutions within factory produced building elements as part of the off-site manufacturing process.