FEV Technologies

Challenge

FEV North America, a global powertrain and vehicle engineering company, was building out a new office and collaboration space at their facility in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The project included 13 walled offices (approximately 10 feet by 14 feet each), 19 windowed offices (approximately 12 feet by 14 feet each), a 20-by-33-foot conference room with 8.5-foot ceilings, and open collaboration areas. The design called for a custom mechanical and industrial aesthetic consistent with FEV's engineering brand identity.

The acoustic challenges were significant: the open ceiling design exposed mechanical systems and created large reflective volumes, the glass-fronted offices required sound isolation solutions that maintained visual transparency, and the conference room needed both reverberation control and speech privacy from adjacent spaces. Standard commercial acoustic treatments would not meet FEV's aesthetic requirements or their performance expectations as an engineering firm.

Solution

Memtech Acoustics engineered a multi-layered acoustic solution addressing reverberation control, sound isolation, and mechanical noise in a single coordinated package:

Sound Isolation: 28 rolls of MLV-270 (mass loaded vinyl) were specified for wall assemblies to increase transmission loss between offices and between offices and open areas. This was paired with 35 ventilation duct baffles to prevent flanking sound transmission through the HVAC system, acoustic putty at all electrical penetrations to seal potential sound leak paths, and 35 acoustic door seal kits to close the air gaps that are the most common weak point in office partition systems.

Reverberation Control: Absorptive treatments were specified for the conference room ceiling and walls, sized and positioned based on room geometry and target RT60 values. The open collaboration areas received strategically placed ceiling baffles that controlled reverberation while preserving the exposed-ceiling industrial aesthetic.

Every material and product specification was selected to complement FEV's custom mechanical design language. Products were coordinated with the general contractor and interior design team to ensure acoustic performance was achieved without compromising the visual design intent.

Results

The completed space achieved the target acoustic performance across all zones. Conference room reverberation was controlled to levels appropriate for speech and video conferencing. Office-to-office sound isolation met the project's privacy requirements with no reported speech transfer complaints. Mechanical noise flanking through ductwork was eliminated by the baffle and seal package. FEV's industrial design aesthetic was maintained throughout, with all acoustic treatments integrated into the architectural vision rather than applied as visible afterthoughts.