QuietSwing Doors: Telemundo Center

Challenge

Telemundo Center in Miami, Florida is the state-of-the-art global headquarters for NBC Universal Telemundo Enterprises. This 460,000 square foot multimedia production facility consolidates all Telemundo operations that were previously scattered across Miami. The facility houses 13 production studios and 2 digital studios responsible for creating approximately 3,000 hours of entertainment programming each year. The scale and diversity of production activity created an absolute requirement for high-performance acoustically rated doors and windows throughout the facility.

Solution

A comprehensive door and window package spanning three performance tiers addressed the varying acoustic isolation requirements across the facility.

The most demanding application required 12 double leaf and 1 single leaf STC 59 soundstage doors, known as Elephant doors, measuring up to 16 ft wide by 16 ft high and 7 inches thick. These massive doors provide the acoustic isolation required between production soundstages where simultaneous live broadcasts and recordings occur.

For control rooms, voice-over rooms, studios, and edit suites, the package included 27 QuietSwing STC 51 doors (2.5 inch thick) and 29 STC 54 doors (3.5 inch thick), along with QuietLite sound control windows. This tiered approach matched the acoustic performance to the specific isolation requirements of each space type.

At the time of award, independent test data for the STC 59 Elephant doors did not yet exist. The contract was awarded on a conditional basis requiring fabrication of a prototype for laboratory testing. After the prototype was built and tested, the contractor and acoustical consultant traveled to the testing facility to witness a repeat test, confirming the performance met specification.

Results

The project succeeded through a deep team approach with members from multiple areas of expertise working together toward the shared goal. The combination of heavy-duty soundstage doors for large-format production spaces and architectural-grade doors for studios and control rooms provided Telemundo Center with the acoustic isolation required for a world-class multimedia production facility.