KARIKA / Journal
Acoustic design, written from the studio.
Articles on noise reduction, cavity depth, open office treatment and the day-to-day decisions an acoustic specifier faces. Plus project notes from rooms KARIKA has been drawn into, in Bangalore and across India.
Polyester felt vs rockwool vs foam — which acoustic panel for Indian offices (2026)
An honest comparison of the three materials Indian offices keep choosing between — NRC, fire rating, lifespan, recyclability, and cost — with the cases where each one is still the right call.
Acoustic panels vs soundproof panels — what's the difference, and which one do you actually need?
The most-confused pair of terms in acoustic specification. Why acoustic panels and soundproof panels solve completely different problems, how to tell which one your room needs, and what each one actually costs to install in India.
How to reduce echo in a room — a practical guide for offices, home theatres and meeting rooms (2026)
Where echo comes from, how to diagnose it, how much treatment your room actually needs, and where to put the panels. Written for offices, home theatres, restaurants and meeting rooms in India.
Why cavity depth matters more than panel thickness: a 12 mm panel can swing NRC from 0.60 to 0.92
Cavity depth is the half of acoustic specification that gets ignored. Same panel, same material, different mounting. Same product can rate NRC 0.60 or 0.92. Built on KARIKA's 9 absorption curves from Intertek 2025.
Open office acoustic treatment in India: 7 design moves that work (and 3 that don't)
Built from real Bangalore office installs. The seven acoustic moves that actually solve the open-plan noise problem in Indian workplaces, and the three popular ones that waste budget. With panel specifications, cavity depths, and what to put on your drawings.
What is NRC? An Indian architect's guide to noise reduction coefficients (2026)
How NRC is measured, what the single number actually tells you, why two panels with the same NRC can perform differently, and how to verify a manufacturer's claim. Written for architects and acoustic specifiers in India.
Wave ceiling, open workplace
A 5,200 m² floor plate where conversation moves freely. The wave baffle in umber pulls reverberation down without reading as an acoustic product.
Whitefield, Bangalore
Faceted ceiling, teal
Triangular panels rotated to break the flat plane of the slab. The teal reads warm under recessed light, cool from the open windows.
Indiranagar, Bangalore
Meeting suite, warm accents
An eight-person meeting room in two warm-bound KARIKA polyester acoustic colours: KA-7942 and KA-7948. The wall reads as one surface, in Bangalore.
Koramangala, Bangalore
Bosch straight baffle ceiling
An open atrium served by a continuous baffle in charcoal. The baffle absorbs above 250 Hz; the slab does the rest.
Adugodi, Bangalore
Grid ceiling, forest
A square grid pattern that reads from the floor as a quiet ceiling and from a phone camera as a portrait of the slab. Both readings are correct.
Domlur, Bangalore
Patterned wall, sand
A 6.4 m wall surface laid in a half-drop bond. The pattern was cut on the same CNC pass as the colour library swatches.
MG Road, Bangalore
9 mm vs 12 mm acoustic panel: a note
9 mm sheet runs 2000 GSM, 12 mm runs 2400 GSM. The acoustic difference is mid-frequency absorption, not headline NRC.
Studio note
The cut edge matters
Each swatch in the colour library is cut from a finished sheet, not a sample. The cut edge is what the architect sees on the drawing.
Studio note
The Journal updates as projects complete, new articles publish, and credits are released.
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