VANCOUVER, B.C. — In the world of high-end hospitality and private dining, atmosphere is currency. From the dimming of lights to the weight of the silverware, every sensory detail is meticulously curated to curate an unforgettable experience. Yet, one of the most powerful elements of ambiance is often invisible—and frequently overlooked until it goes wrong: acoustics.
For Iain Fletcher, Director of Club Outlets at Vancouver’s prestigious Terminal City Club (TCC), the connection between sound and guest retention is axiomatic. “I’ve been to some places in the city with thoughtful acoustic treatment, and the experience is memorable,” Fletcher reflects. “But there are also restaurants I might not return to because they’re just too loud. And I can’t help but think how often others feel the same—but don’t tell the people running the restaurant.”
That philosophy recently drove a high-stakes, highly delicate acoustic overhaul at TCC. Situated in a prime downtown location on West Hastings Street, the private members’ club is a bustling hub for Vancouver’s business elite, offering state-of-the-art fitness facilities, expansive banquet and meeting spaces, a premier members’ lounge, a fine-dining restaurant, and a private dining room.
However, following a recent, visually stunning aesthetic renovation, club leadership noticed a troubling trend: business lunch traffic in the main dining area was declining. Despite the room’s striking new visual design, the space had unwittingly become an acoustic trap. Hard, sound-reflecting surfaces had replaced soft furnishings, and carpets had been stripped away. The result was a dramatic spike in ambient noise, a sharp drop in speech intelligibility, and a growing reluctance among members to host their daytime business meetings at the club.
The challenge wasn’t just fixing the sound; it was doing so without compromising the interior design that had recently earned the restaurant widespread critical acclaim. To solve this complex puzzle, TCC turned to a dream team of acoustic innovators: audio manufacturer Primacoustic and AV integration specialists Paramount Automation.
Main Facts: The Challenge and the Solution
At its core, the Terminal City Club project was a masterclass in balancing conflicting design requirements: high-performance noise reduction versus strict historical and aesthetic preservation.
When hard architectural finishes bounce sound waves unchecked, they create compounding reverberations. In a restaurant setting, this sparks the notorious "Lombard effect," where patrons unconsciously raise their voices to be heard over the rising din, driving the room’s decibel level higher and higher until conversation becomes nearly impossible.
TCC needed a solution that would dramatically tame this echo chamber effect without altering the award-winning interior architecture. The intervention required a bespoke, hybrid product deployment. Primacoustic and Paramount Automation relied on a specialized inventory featuring Primacoustic’s eco-friendly EcoScapes PET (polyethylene terephthalate) panels alongside studio-grade Broadway glass wool acoustic treatments.
Key facts of the installation include:
- The Location: Terminal City Club, 837 W Hastings St, Vancouver, BC.
- The Integrator: Paramount Automation, renowned for detail-oriented, high-end AV and architectural acoustic deployments.
- The Manufacturer: Primacoustic, a global leader in architectural acoustics.
- The Materials: Primacoustic EcoScapes precision-cut PET panels (offered in custom thicknesses and color-matched shades like ‘Slate’ grey and ‘Glacier’ white) paired with high-performance Broadway ‘Arctic White’ glass wool panels.
- The Scope: The main restaurant dining area and an adjoining private lounge.
Chronology: From Aesthetic Regret to Acoustic Harmony
Phase One: Diagnosis and Discovery
The journey to acoustic recovery began shortly after TCC’s interior renovation concluded. While the physical space looked modern, elegant, and sophisticated, its operational success began to flag. Fletcher noticed that the venue’s core demographic—busy professionals requiring quiet environments for confidential conversations—was beginning to bypass the restaurant during peak lunch hours.
Upon analyzing the space, Fletcher pinpointed the root cause: the removal of sound-absorbing carpets and soft furnishings in favor of sleek, minimalist, hard-surface architecture had crippled speech intelligibility. Sound waves bounced endlessly between glass walls, hardwood or polished floors, and bare drywall.
Phase Two: Inspiration from New Westminster
As TCC management began researching potential remedies, Fletcher happened upon online case studies and video testimonials showcasing a strikingly successful acoustic intervention executed by Primacoustic and Paramount Automation at Piva Restaurant in nearby New Westminster.
“One of our previous managers had actually started working at Piva,” Fletcher recalls. “Seeing his comments, and a video showing how it sounded and looked before and after, we thought we’d give it a shot.”
Crucially, TCC reached out to Paramount Automation with a strict mandate: “The restaurant had won several design awards, so we wanted people to hear the difference, but not see the difference.”
Phase Three: Crafting the Custom Design
Paramount Automation tapped their resident master craftsman, Marty Nightingale, to spearhead the design phase. Nightingale quickly realized that standard, off-the-shelf acoustic panels would fall short. The restaurant’s dining room and attached private lounge presented a maze of architectural constraints: floor-to-ceiling glass walls, complex structural millwork, pre-existing decorative lighting, mirrors, and custom laminate walls.
Nightingale collaborated closely with Dylan Bubel, Primacoustic’s Western Canada Sales Manager, to engineer a seamless integration plan.
The strategy was two-pronged:
- Ceiling Treatments: Studio-grade Broadway glass wool panels were flush-mounted to the ceiling above the main dining area to catch and trap vertical reflections between the floor and ceiling. In the private lounge, a base layer of ‘Glacier’ white EcoScapes panels was installed, overlaid with custom-cut PET strips to mimic the room’s original recessed, coffered ceiling aesthetic.
- Wall Treatments: Above the restaurant’s glass patio doors, ‘Glacier’ white EcoScapes panels were deployed on drywall sections to maintain visual continuity. Meanwhile, the most intricate part of the installation took place at eye level above the dining tables.
Phase Four: The Artisan Execution
The trickiest component of the project involved recreating a series of textured grey felt wall features originally installed during the room’s renovation. Because these elements sat directly at eye level above the tables, there was zero margin for error.
“Those are at eye level on the walls above the tables,” Nightingale explains. “So there was no place to hide a rough edge or seam.”
The installation team stripped away the underperforming felt material. In its place, they laid down an initial base layer of ‘Slate’ grey EcoScapes PET panels. Next, Nightingale and his team individually hand-cut and layered a variety of customized strips on top of the base, meticulously matching the dimensions and contours of the original design.
Though constructed from multiple precision-layered components, the final result looks as though it was sculpted from a single, continuous, monolithic panel.
Supporting Data and Technical Insights
To appreciate the success of the Terminal City Club installation, one must examine the acoustic properties of the materials deployed by Paramount and Primacoustic:
- Primacoustic Broadway Panels: Composed of high-density (6 lbs per cubic foot) inorganic glass wool, these panels offer superior absorption coefficients across all frequencies compared to standard open-cell foam. By flush-mounting them to the ceiling, the team targeted early reflections, drastically reducing the overall reverberation time (RT60) within the room.
- EcoScapes PET Panels: Manufactured primarily from recycled plastic water bottles, EcoScapes represent the cutting edge of sustainable architectural acoustics. They offer high acoustic performance while satisfying green-building standards. Their rigidity and ease of precision-cutting make them ideal for custom architectural applications where color matching and clean edges are paramount.
- Acoustic Performance Metrics: While exact post-installation decibel drop metrics vary by room volume, typical restaurant treatments utilizing this combination of Broadway and EcoScapes materials achieve a reduction in reverberation time of 40% to 60%, pushing speech clarity indices (such as STI) well into acceptable ranges for intimate conversation.
Official Responses: Voices from the Project
The partnership between Primacoustic and Paramount Automation is built on a foundation of mutual respect, shared values, and a refusal to back down from complex architectural challenges.
Marty Nightingale of Paramount Automation highlights the synergy between the two companies:
"At Paramount Automation, we’re outside-the-box thinkers. So it’s a perfect fit, because with both Paramount and Primacoustic, it’s like, ‘this is a challenge, not a problem — let’s figure it out.’"
Drew Campbell, founder and owner of Paramount Automation, echoes this sentiment, praising the collaborative ethos that drives their joint ventures:
"We work well together because we’re like-minded, because we complement each other. And Primacoustic is always open to feedback, which fosters a ‘how can we do this better’ approach."
For Iain Fletcher and the Terminal City Club, the proof of that collaborative philosophy is firmly in the pudding—or, more accurately, in the dining room’s newfound serenity.
"Right away, it’s something you can feel when you walk into the restaurant," Fletcher concludes. "The acoustic performance exceeded our expectations by far. The unbearable echo has been replaced by a soft murmur of voices. Our members can conduct business meetings at the club because they can hear each other over the crowd. And I’ve increased the music volume to create a welcoming ambiance."
Perhaps the highest praise, however, comes from the club members themselves, who have registered the sonic upgrade without ever spotting the hardware. Fletcher notes with satisfaction: "I have had people ask what we did and where the panels are, so they’ve noticed a difference [in sound], but haven’t seen a difference."
Implications for the Commercial and Hospitality Sectors
The success of the Terminal City Club installation serves as a case study for restaurant owners, hospitality executives, and interior designers worldwide. For years, a false dichotomy existed in commercial interior design: creators had to choose between stark, minimalist modern aesthetics (which prioritize hard surfaces, glass, and concrete) and comfortable acoustic environments (which historically relied on heavy drapes, upholstered furniture, and clumsy, obtrusive wall panels).
The TCC project proves that modern acoustic engineering—exemplified by Primacoustic’s versatile product lines and executed by expert integrators like Paramount Automation—renders that compromise obsolete.
By utilizing precision-cut PET systems like EcoScapes and high-density glass wool panels like Broadway, properties can successfully safeguard their aesthetic integrity while radically improving functionality. In an era where online reviews, word-of-mouth recommendations, and guest comfort dictate profitability, eliminating the "dreaded restaurant echo" is no longer a luxury—it is a commercial necessity.
Looking to Transform Your Space?
If your commercial project, restaurant, office, or hospitality venue requires class-leading sound control combined with design-forward flexibility, the solutions are closer than you think.
Visit Primacoustic.com to explore their comprehensive product lineups, including sustainable PET sound control systems, EcoScapes Blades, Dimensional Baffles, and Contour Panels. Alternatively, contact their team directly to schedule a consultation with an expert acoustic specialist and take the first step toward crafting your own acoustic masterpiece.
