Architecture and design practice KSS were appointed to redesign the changing suite for Premier League Southampton Football Club. Rockfon® Mono® Acoustic was chosen to help ensure the perfect environment for pre-match preparedness at the club’s St Mary’s Stadium.

Pacy and Wheatley Acoustics Director Craig Wheatley, “We were very pleased to be tasked by KSS to create the innovative ceiling at Southampton FC. Mono Acoustic was the perfect fit for the aesthetic and acoustic requirements of the installation which revolved around a central, elliptical lighting feature.”

Realising the architect’s vision 

The curved layout of the changing room space and the high specification brought to every facet of its interior demanded precise engineering and detailing throughout.  

KSS Associate Director Michael McCollum commented, “Excellent acoustics are fundamental to creating the right atmosphere, and good speech intelligibility is critical. The wall and floor finishes are necessarily of resistant materials, and so the acoustic analysis determined a class A acoustic absorber was required for the ceiling. Rockfon was specified by KSS as it was able to conform readily to the curvilinear geometry of the room and to achieve the double curvature demanded by the central recessed, back lit oculus.  In terms of design, Mono Acoustic provides a high quality, monolithic appearance fulfilling the brief for a single, unifying, neutral ceiling element, enclosing but not dominating the space.”

One team, one dream 

Pacy and Wheatley worked alongside high specification fit out and construction specialists, ITS Interiors.

ITS Director Chris Howe said, “Rockfon Mono Acoustic was used to great effect in Southampton FC’s state-of-the-art changing rooms. We constructed the ceiling substrate, including the bespoke central elliptical former, off-site in kit form. Once this was installed and painstakingly prepared, the Pacy and Wheatley team applied the Elegant Render. We then installed the illuminated ceiling section to create the central focal point. ”

Craig Wheatley, “The space does not benefit from natural light, so the fact that ROCKFON Mono Acoustic achieves 87% light reflection and 99% light diffusion, is highly desirable helping create the perfect environment for these elite athletes to communicate with their teammates and to focus.”

For more information: [email protected]  www.rockfon.co.uk