Two challenges to achieving acoustical privacy in open offices: Going green in Switzerland.

An unusual human resources office building under construction in Basel, Switzerland presented several acoustical challenges stimulated by both the architect and owner. Extensive studies demonstrated that without electronic speech sound masking, normal privacy would likely be unachievable until the receiver moved at least one floor level away from the talker. Still, the owner opted to provide no accommodation for masking for reasons we have not encountered before. Novel designs arose for absorptive chilled beams including a glass roof with chilled beam baffles. The design approaches and RASTI modeling via CATT‐Acoustic are described.