This document describes the design of a seminar hall by Rushabh H. Shah. It outlines the objectives of the design such as encouraging interactive learning and providing comfortable seating. It then discusses considerations for the seminar hall layout and design, including seating types, windows, projection screens, lighting, walls, ceilings and acoustics. It also presents a case study where modifications were suggested for an existing seminar hall to improve its acoustics, such as changing the speaker position, adding curtains and carpet. The document concludes that following design guidance can help create better learning environments.

1. DESIGN OF SEMINAR HALL
BY RUSHABH .H. SHAH
Diploma in civil engineering
Vartak polytechnic
Vasai-west ,Dist-Thane
INDIA
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2. INTRODUCTION
 Seminar hall rooms are designed to
facilitate interaction and face-to-face
discussion among students
 Our primary reason for asking you to
read this guidance is to convey the
lessons learned and help you avoid
“reinventing the wheel” as design of
future projects proceeds. We are
confident this will expedite the design
process and create better learning
environments.
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3. OBJECTIVES
Our program to upgrade learning environments
has the following objectives:
 Encourage interactive learning
 Provide comfortable seating with larger work
surfaces
 Add multi-media audio-visual systems with
good sight lines
 Provide a link to the Internet from every
learning room
 Improve access for all persons
 Increase flexibility to respond to future needs
 Increase seminar hall use rates
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4. LITERATURE REVIEW
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5. Seats
 The acoustical property of the seats should
be essentially the same whether they are
vacant or occupied.
 When selecting seating in order to achieve
minimum standards of comfort, aspects
such as width of seat, type of lumbar
support, appearance, versatility of seating,
replacement availability/ease of
maintenance and cost should be
considered
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6. TYPES OF SEATING
 MOVABLE SEATING
 FIXED SEATING
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7. The following seating types do not meet this
guidance and should not be considered
 Movable chairs with tablet-arms
 Pivot-arm seats without adjustable-height
seats and backs
 Pivot-arm seats that do not comfortably
accommodate large/small students
 Pedestal seats bolted to the floor
 Movable student desks with seats attached
 Custom-designs that cannot be used by all
students, such as:
 Oversize tables and chairs
 Adjustable-height tables
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8. The Seminar hall Interiors
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9. DESIGN OF SEMINAR HALL
 Seminar halls should be developed and designed
from the “inside out”. The following items should be
considered when creating a new seminar hall:
 The optimum orientation and shape of the seminar
hall should be determined by the primary expected
teaching style, the capacity of the room, and the
level of mediation.
 Designing for the flexibility of room use is strongly
encouraged. The more square footage allotted to
each student, the greater the opportunity for
flexibility.
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10. WINDOWS
 Daylight is an important part of most learning environments.
Windows should be included in seminar halls whenever
possible. Lecture halls require excellent light control. This can
be accomplished by eliminating windows (except for the
vision panels in the doors) or by having shades that
completely block the light. If windows must be preserved as
an exterior architectural element, glass panes can be
replaced with mirrors or other opaque material or the entire
window opening can be covered on the inside with some type
of decorative/acoustic panel.
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11. PROJECTION SCREEN
 Because many seminar hall rooms are rather small, they may
have a single screen. If users need a second screen and
space permits, it is always preferable to mount two screens.
The screen(s) should be matte white and mounted so that
board space is available when one screen is down.
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12. Ceiling-Mounted Projectors
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13. Ceiling-Mounted Projectors
 Low noise level
 Uniformly bright, clear images with
good resolution and excellent color
rendition
 Compatibility with other audio-visual
components
 Reliability; availability and cost of
replacement parts
 Compact size to avoid blocking views
of screens and marker boards
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14. Equipment Closets
 Increasingly, users find it more
convenient to have equipment at the
front of the lecture hall where it is
more convenient to the instructor. AV
equipment closets often house
equipment in racks as well as carts for
equipment that isn’t permanently
installed in the room but is used on a
regular basis
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15. Increase energy efficiency and the ability to see
projected images by using:
 Lighting controls that automatically turn off lights in vacant rooms
 Energy-efficient dimmable lighting for seating areas
 Light fixtures that don’t block views of:
 Screens, marker boards, or instructors
 Light paths from projectors
 Lighting zones and levels appropriate for each area of the room (see
diagram):
 70 foot-candles over seating areas only, dimmable to 5 to 10 foot-candles
 In rooms were very dark images such as x-rays are projected, provide
lighting dimmable to 2 foot-candles and full blackout capability
 Avoid lights in front of projection screens
 Lower light levels in corridors and instructor areas, and on ramps and tiered
floors
 Task light for instructor work stations that avoid light spill over to
screens/monitors
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16. Walls and Ceiling
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17. WALLS
 Walls should be constructed of a
durable material that is easy to
maintain and should be basically
acoustically non-absorbent except in
those areas of the lecture halls where
acoustical treatment is prescribed.
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18. CEILING
 The ceiling is the most critical element
in insuring that the sound in the
lecture hall is distributed evenly and at
appropriate loudness to all portions of
the seating area. The ceiling should
act as a sound mirror, reflecting sound
downward to blend with the sound
from the speaker system.
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19. ACOUSTICS
 The word acoustics is originally
derived from a Greek word meaning to
hear. Hence, the acoustics is defined
as the science of sound and as such,
it discusses the origin, propagation
and auditory sensation of sound.
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20. VELOCITY OF SOUND
 The speed at which the sound waves
travel or pass through any medium is
termed as the sound velocity and it
depends on the nature and
temperature of medium through which
the sound travels. Table gives the
sound velocities in different mediums
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21. SOUND VELOCITIES IN DIFFERENT MEDIUMS
Medium
Sound velocity at 20 * C in
m/sec
Atmospheric air 340
Hydrogen 1305
Nitrogen 338
Pure water 1450
Granite 6400
Glass 5000 to 6000
Aluminum 5100
Brick 4300
Concrete 4000
Iron 4700 to 5100
Copper 3900
Brass 3500
Silver 2600
Lead 1320
Cork 450 to 530
Rubber 40 to 150
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22. dB METER
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23.  A sound level meter or sound meter is
an instrument that measures sound
pressure level, commonly used in noise
pollution studies for the quantification of
different kinds of noise, especially for
industrial, environmental and aircraft
noise
 It is generally used to calculate the
intensity of sound at any distance we
want itis very useful instrument when
learning about itensity of sound and
basic unit of measurement is in decibels
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24. SABIN’S EQUATION
Prof. W.C. Sabine of Harvard University, U.S.A.
carried out a number of experiments in rooms of
different sizes and he was able to establish the
following formula which is knows as Sabin’s
equation
t=
0.16 𝑉
𝐴
Where t= reverberation time in seconds
V= volume in m3
A= total absorbing power in m2-sabins
=(a1s1+a2s2+a3s3+…..) Absorption units of
individual objects
S1, s2, s3etc .being the coefficient of absorptionof
respective surfaces a1, a2, a3, etc.
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25. ABSORBENT MATERIALS
 Most of the common building materials
absorb sound to a small extent and
hence, for better acoustical
requirement, some other materials are
to be incorporated on the surfaces of
the room. Such materials are known
as the absorbent materials and they
help a great deal in making the room
acoustically good.
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26. The requirements of a god acoustical material
are as follows
 It should be durable and should not be liable to
be attacked by insects, termites , etc.
 It should be easily available at a reasonable cost.
 It should be efficient over a wide range of
frequencies.
 It should be fire resistant.
 It should be non-hygroscopic and heat insulating.
 It should be self-supporting and should be
capable of easy fixing.
 It should give pleasing appearance after fixing.
 It should have high coefficient of absorption.
 It should have sufficient structural strength
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27. FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED IN THE
ACOUSTIC DESIGN OF AN SEMINAR HALL
 Volume
 Sound absorption
 Shape
 Site selection
 Seats and seating arrangement
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28. DEFECTS IN SEMINAR HALL
 Dead spots
 Loudness
 Exterior noise
 Formation of echoes
 Sound foci
 Reverberation
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29. CASE STUDY
 For our topic design of seminar hall we
considered the seminar hall of
BHAUSAHEB VARTAK POLYTECHNIC
the current acoustical properties were
studied and we suggested 3 changes in
order to improve the acoustical
properties of the seminar hall the
changes will help to make the seminar
hall acoustically sound. All the
dimensions were calculated of semianr
hall
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30. CASE STUDY
So the 3 changes were
 Changing the position of speaker
 Addition of curtains on windows
 Addition of carpet
So in the next slide these were the
current condition of seminar hall
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31. Current condition of seminar hall
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32. Modified seminar hall
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33.  The red color represents the carpet
then the curtains are shown on
windows and the speaker location is
changed in order to make it
acoustically sound.
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34. Conclusion
 This Design Guidance for Learning Environments
is intended to answer the questions our design
consultants ask most frequently. It is intended to
be performance-oriented, not prescriptive, so that
creative design solutions can be developed
within the general guidelines presented as long
as performance goals are met
 Design guidance is of little value if it is not read,
understood, or followed. We welcome
suggestions to improve it, and we actively solicit
opinions from faculty, students, and staffs after
new rooms are brought on-line.
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35. FUTURE SCOPE
 This project will result in benefit of the
student. Better amenities in the
seminar hall can help students to
understand the topic effectively.
Development on this project is
essential part of the education; better
hall we provided to student will result
in better scores and understanding in
them. This project will help us for the
future projects taken by us
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36. Bibliography
Rangwala, building construction (2011). Acoustics
Building bulletin 93. Acoustic design of schools
Georgia institute of technology – Ga Tech (2005) A method to predict
reverberation time concert hall preliminary design stage.
Journal of building acoustics- vol 18 – Improvement in acoustics.
Arizona state university (2011) - Classroom design guide.
Idoha state university (2010/2011) – Design standards
University of Maryland (2004)- Classroom design manual
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