A gentle push – and the world goes quiet
Silence is a luxury in a noisy world. HAWA Suono is synonymous with the silent revolution in room planning: The multi-functional sliding door protects better against noise, odor emissions and particulates than conventional hinged doors – and even saves space too.
Our world is becoming louder. Every year noise pollution increases by a half to a whole decibel, according to findings by noise researchers. “People experience a 10-decibel increase as a doubling of the volume”, explains Dr. Joachim Hessinger, graduate physicist at the German ift Rosenheim institute.
A response to soundproofing standards
Soundproofing therefore plays an important role in room planning – an ever larger role. When people are always living, working, shopping and engaging in leisure activities in greater densities in urban environments, it's a challenge to create quiet spaces. For instance, the standard DIN 4109 for sound insulation applies to many tenders for building construction. Depending on the intended building use, it prescribes maximum noise levels.
Such standards make sense, however they do restrict planning. “Sliding doors previously had a reputation for providing only minimal soundproofing. This limited their use in situations when strict soundproofing standards were required”, explains Gordian Bayer, partner and managing director at erp Architekten in Baden, Switzerland. The HAWA Suono system opens new perspectives.
The Hawa Suono sliding door fitting marks a technical revolution. The wooden door leaf moves with elegance in three dimensions: It not only closes the lateral gaps tight, but also those at the top and bottom. The door slides in front of the door opening, sinks down onto the floor and rolls precisely up to the door frame. Once pushed closed, the door provides soundproofing up to 39 decibels. It has received the quality seal of the ift Rosenheim testing institute. As a welcome side effect of the noiseless sealing, the sliding doors also keep odors, dust, drafts and light out.
“Our company has been dealing with soundproofing since the 1970s”, explains Sebastian Zurkinden, Product Manager from Hawa Sliding Solutions: “All of that knowledge has gone into the HAWA Suono”. The multi-functional fitting system was launched on the market in 2017 and is distributed in various countries by select door specialists.
From surgeries to banks
The patented 3D sliding movement enables the soundproofing and disproves commonly held prejudices about sliding doors. The trend in room planning is toward a paradigm shift for doors, from pivoting to sliding motion. “Architects as well as joiners/ cabinet makers have to experience the soundproofing first hand”, emphasizes Zurkinden. That can be done inside acoustic chambers set up by Hawa Sliding Solutions and sales partners at trade fairs. Zurkinden: “People often come over from adjacent booths so they can make phone calls inside the quiet acoustic chamber.” He sees many possible uses for HAWA Suono: Such as in offices, banks, surgeries and hospitals, aside from private households. Here discretion is key. You won’t hear ever much of anything from HAWA Suono, but you’ll see it more and more often.
