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Project Highlight: Denver Union Station Great Hall

October 10, 2019

How 17,000 square feet of BASWA Phon acoustical plaster restored the acoustic comfort of Denver Union Station's historic barrel-vaulted Great Hall.

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Denver Union Station is one of the most celebrated historic renovation projects in the American West, and its Great Hall presented one of the more demanding acoustic briefs an acoustical consultant could inherit. The soaring barrel-vaulted ceiling that defines the space is precisely what makes it beautiful and precisely what makes it acoustically difficult. When acoustical consultant Jim Borzym of Borzym Acoustics in Boulder, Colorado was brought in to address the challenges, his recommendation pointed directly to BASWA Phon.

The scale of the installation reflects the scale of the problem: 17,000 square feet of BASWA Phon 70mm Frosted Finish was applied to the barrel-vaulted ceiling by Heggem-Lundquist, a Denver-based certified installer specializing in fine plastering and decorating. The 70mm system was specified because it delivers the broadest absorption across both low and high frequencies, giving Borzym the performance headroom needed to make a space that now comfortably accommodates hundreds of people at a time.

Critically, none of that acoustic work came at the cost of the hall's historic character. The seamless plaster finish preserved the original aesthetic, and BASWA Phon's ability to follow the curve of the vault meant the ceiling reads exactly as it always has, with none of the visual interruption that conventional acoustic treatments would have introduced.

The full story of how the project came together, including the installer, the product specification, and the finished space, is on the portfolio page.

Read more on the BASWA Portfolio.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The BASWA Team

The BASWA Team is the editorial voice of BASWA acoustic North America, a group of acoustical plaster experts and technical support professionals sharing accurate, well-cited insights on sound, well-being, and the built environment. We're here to make acoustics approachable and actionable for architects, contractors, and homeowners.

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