End-of-Life Tyres and classical music: what is the possible relationship between such distant elements, which are apparently at the antipodes of a hypothetical scale of proximity?
The meeting point exists. It is in Parma, at the Music Production Centre “Arturo Toscanini”, where the homonymous Foundation, Ecopneus, Genesis, the Architecture Firm Studio A+C have carried out an important acoustic intervention on the Gavazzeni Room. This is the largest rehearsal room of the structure: 400 square metres by 5 metres in height. The acoustic upgrading was carried out by the means of the insertion of sound-absorbing panels made from ELT recycled rubber.
The intervention of acoustic upgrading
At first sight, an Auditorium may seem distant miles from the world of End-of-Life Tyres. However, it is not so.
Music speaks with the environment where it is produced, it integrates with the same, but it does not tolerate interferences: indeed, it is necessary that every environment is a closed system from an acoustic point of view. If this holds true for an auditorium, it is even more so in the case of a rehearsal room, where the conductor must be able to perceive every minimal detail of what is going on in the orchestra during rehearsals.
The Superintendent of the Toscanini Foundation, Maestro Luigi Ferrari, stated: “from the experience of our architects and acoustic engineers, it came out that insulation with recycled rubber panels was the precise and perfect answer to our needs. From the experience we have gathered during these months of activity of the rehearsal room, we can say that what we predicted became true: we have demonstrated that it is possible to create environmentally and economically nice, useful, and sustainable works in Italy”.
A versatile material for acoustic and vibration insulation
Indeed, the characteristics of elasticity, resistance and sound absorption make of ELT rubber an excellent material for the limitation of the transmission of noise and vibrations in buildings.
The rubber granules and powder obtained thanks to the recycling of ELTs are the most commonly used materials in the building sector. Bound together with polyurethanes or other thermoplastic materials, they constitute building blocks of highly performing elements for acoustic insulation and the reduction of vibrations. Indeed, they can be used for the acoustic insulation of lofts (preventing the spreading of noise among the different floors of the building, the so called “footfall noise”), in interventions on wall cavities (avoiding the transmission of sound waves between adjacent rooms), and for the creation of anti-vibrating platforms for pieces of machinery and installations such as lifts, air-conditioning units, or boilers.
Thanks to these characteristics, recycled rubber is a highly performing material which competes with other materials present on the market, both for new buildings and during upgrading interventions, such as, by way of example, the one carried out on the Toscanini Auditorium.
A system for ELTs still to travel a long way.
Collect ELT