Ladue Horton Watkins High School - Ladue SD

Serving more than 4,000 students, the Ladue School District has a long history of excellence in education. In 2016, the district passed a bond to complete an expansion and renovations at Ladue Horton Watkins High School (LHWHS) to incorporate modern pedagogies throughout the 64-year-old structure.

Henderson Engineers was brought on board to provide acoustical consulting services for a variety of the school’s spaces that are dedicated to the arts and student collaboration including a media center, broadcast studio, and student commons. We supplied general sound isolation and control between adjacent spaces and between the interior and exterior of the building. We also prepared mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems guidelines and recommendations for noise and vibration control between various equipment rooms throughout the school.

The school was adamant that the acoustical quality of the music wing be first class — sound isolation around the music suite that would allow the rooms to be used without disruption of the other areas in the school. The music wing of LHWHS included band, orchestra, and percussion rooms in addition to four practice and two ensemble rooms.

Through much discussion, it was decided that the existing choir room would need renovations as well. Since it wasn't part of the original scope, our team worked with the district to ensure the cost of these additional services remained lean. With data gathered during a site visit for acoustical testing of the existing choir room, we were able to provide cost-effective recommendations for improvements to the room’s acoustics as well as sound isolation between the choir room and the adjacent performing arts center stage. By using this turn-key approach, Henderson kept the design fee down and tailored our recommendations to elements within the choir room that could be reused.