LEED…LEED…LEED.

You hear the acronym “LEED” everywhere and every day in the building design and construction world. So what is it, and what does it mean to the design and construction of the acoustical aspects of cinemas? Actually, that’s a very interesting question.

Briefly summarized, as far as acoustics is concerned, LEED means one thing for a single niche of the building world—schools. It’s a completely different animal for most of the rest of the building world—cinemas included. At least that is the situation from the perspective of us in the acoustical consulting world.

In more pointed terms, LEED for Schools will dictate certain specific acoustical performance parameters, while LEED for everybody else in the building world most generally looks on acoustics like the big piece of food you have stuck in your teeth at a dinner party. Everybody sees it and can’t focus their attention off it as you tell your story, and nobody will say a word to you or offer up a toothpick. Oftentimes, design decisions made toward achieving LEED certification in the non-school world will actually be working to harm the acoustics of the project. I’ll explain that bodacious claim later.

Let’s first start the ball rolling by briefly describing our subject. LEED is a certification program for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings. No, we aren’t talking the color you get when you mix blue and yellow. Unless you’ve been under a rock for the last five to ten years or so, you know that the green movement is about building for efficient energy use and high sustainability.

LEED stands for “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.” The process of attaining certification is based on a point system whereby the project earns credits for adherence to certain green building criteria. The five categories of certification include: Sustainability Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, and Indoor Environmental Quality.

There are levels of certification ranging from prerequisite to optional, but to go into detail about those would require the rest of this magazine’s space and the advertisers and movie reviews section wouldn’t like that kind of imposition from lowly old me. An additional category, Innovation in Design, is a broad area where design measures not covered under the five major categories are considered. The certification process involves 100 base points and levels of certification achievement possible, ranging from the low of “Certified” (40-49 points) to a maximum of “Platinum” (80 points and above).

The LEED for Schools Rating System is a related certification rating system that recognizes the unique nature of the design and construction of K-12 schools. Based on the LEED rating system, it addresses issues such as classroom acoustics, master planning, mold prevention and environmental site assessment.



There are several other LEED Rating Systems (eight at last count) for specific facility types or applications. LEED for New Construction is one. LEED for Commercial Interiors is another. LEED for Shell and Core and LEED for Retail are still others.

LEED for Schools differs significantly from all the other LEED Ratings Systems in the specifics surrounding classroom acoustics. LEED for Schools has specific ratings points which are awarded for achieving (in design) acoustical parameters for reverberation, ambient noise levels, and to a certain extent, sound isolation between adjacent spaces. Generally, classrooms are required to be generously finished with efficient sound absorbing materials, ambient noise levels due to HVAC systems are required to be controlled to specific limits, and sound isolation between adjacent spaces is encouraged to be addressed with sufficient demising construction.

LEED for New Construction does not carry the specific acoustical requirements that LEED for Schools possesses. While rating points can theoretically be achieved under LEED for New Construction for acoustical parameters, under the Innovation in Design category, they likely are a minimal part of the entire rating process.

Cinemas would likely fall (Dare I presume? No, I could very well be wrong on this point) under the LEED for New Construction guidepost. Ironically, if cinemas were used as schools such that they could be considered “Core Learning Spaces” as defined by LEED, typical acoustical criteria adopted by cinemas today would easily meet the LEED for Schools requirements.

But, alas, exhibitors have not yet learned how to realize that untapped potential source of revenue.

Until that happens, the things that designers try to incorporate into their buildings to highlight sustainability of site, materials and resources, water and energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, and other similar measures are more often going to work against achieving proper acoustic criteria in cinemas. So you’re skeptical of that bold claim? Here are a few examples:

LEED for New Construction urges buildings to take advantage of natural light transmission into the building as much as possible. Sunlight transmission to buildings occurs from above, so ceilings are often discouraged in common areas leading to classrooms and cinema auditoria. Oftentimes, these ceilings are used for dual purposes—sound absorption for the space and noise control of HVAC equipment suspended above the ceiling. Nobody likes to look at or listen to noise from a heat pump or fan coil unit in the common areas, so the equipment is often pushed into the classroom or cinema auditorium, which is not a good thing for the acoustics of the space, especially in the case of heat pumps which also have compressor noise to deal with in addition to fan noise.

LEED for New Construction encourages the efficient use of water resources. Storm water retention and re-use in grey water applications (toilet flushing, etc.) generally introduces piping runs that don’t always play well with a cinema auditorium that likes quiet surroundings.

LEED for New Construction identifies fiberglass and mineral fiber insulations solely as thermal insulations. While these materials have significant acoustical benefit, their thermal insulating qualities are not very space-efficient compared to other polystyrene products. Therefore, when the only rating point benefit that can be had from a six-inch fiberglass blanket is found in its R-value, architects and engineers in pursuit of lower building cost and energy and space efficiency are going to opt for a much thinner and more efficient polystyrene, which by the way absorbs sound about as well as a cannonball absorbs water.

LEED for Cinemas as a separately defined category of the LEED Rating System may not be just around the corner. However, a cinema project can achieve LEED certification. But be sure your design team is properly equipped (with an NCAC member acoustical consultant, of course!) with the expertise toward ensuring that your cinemas aren’t returning to the noise palaces of yesteryear in their effort to attain the ultimate in sustainability.