Vicoustic’s flagship Wave Wood acoustic panel has featured in a major installation at the magnificent St Gabriel church in Ajaltoun, Lebanon. Led by Movses Balabanian, a team from Vicoustic’s Beirut-based distributor 21dB has installed over 650 Wave Wood panels on the ceiling in order to address acoustic problems in the venue that included long reverberation times across the frequency range and poor speech intelligibility.

Wave Wood is especially designed to control excessive and unwanted frequencies while maintaining a bright, ambient sound. The panel’s revolutionary design, which includes a series of unique non-linear cavities set into an elegant wood finish, has proven to be highly effective in the treatment of medium and high frequencies while also enhancing the appearance of room interiors.

“The whole installation project took eight days to complete, with the team working almost continually at a height of 13m,” commented 21dB’s managing director Fouad Bechwati. “The panels themselves were very easy to install, except for a triangular section at the back that was very hard to access and quite tricky to execute due to some irregularities in the walls. This small section took three days alone.

“The results, however, were excellent with both church leaders and visitors commenting on the amazing clarity of speech and noticeably reduced reverberation, as well as the stunning appearance of the wood finish. Acoustic measurements have also indicated that St Gabriel church will be an ideal venue for classical music recording in addition to regular worship activities.”