consulting founded 1992 headquarters san francisco ca united states offices in los angeles ca & raleigh durham nc key people lisa thorburn president steve thorburn principal james horn associate principal derek meares associate principal website 1 thorburn associates inc. ta is a design and engineering firm specializing in the collaborative practice of acoustically integrated architecture air . the company founded in 1992 by lisa a. thorburn cts and steven j. thorburn pe cts d cts i maintains offices in california and north carolina . ta provides acoustical consulting and technology system engineering to architects facility owners and end users around the world . projects include new construction and renovation for the commercial corporate leisure public residential house of worship and retail industries . contents 1 philosophy and practice 2 notable projects 3 articles 4 awards 5 external links philosophy and practice edit ta advocates acoustically integrated architecture air a holistic best practice which seeks the optimal interface of disciplines for a result that supports the specific intended uses of the building . the architect and building designer team up with the acoustician systems designer at an early conceptual stage of the project to make the most of their complementary expertise . in practical terms air is applied by envisioning a structure and its systems as a whole in which architectural elements are aesthetically and functionally integrated with the technical systems that are essential components of today s buildings but also represent significant sources of noise hvac mechanical systems reinforced audio plumbing . air isolates or zones areas of noise generating components and activities from quiet areas controlling the travel of noise from one area to the next controlling the acoustic or reverberant buildup of sound and controlling noise at its source . the goal is an environment that facilitates community communication and interaction . air also endeavors to take into account acoustics sightlines and lighting needs to design optimal presentation spaces within a building with a view to the audiovisual systems it will contain . steven thorburn sits on the executive committee of the themed entertainment association and is a regular columnist for systems contractor news 2 . notable projects edit the gsa san francisco federal building at seventh and mission streets is a new office complex completed in 2006 and managed by the u.s. general services administration . the 18 story 605 000 square foot 56 200 m2 leed certified leadership in energy and environmental design structure features conversational stairwells designed to foster and facilitate interaction between employees . the extra deep stair landings with built in window seats allow people who meet on the stairs to move out of the way of foot traffic to chat . an acoustical wall treatment designed by ta in cooperation with the architect thom mayne of morphosis prevents the sounds of conversation from spilling out of the stairwells into the office spaces . encounters between employees are further supported by the elevator system which stops only at every other floor . as a result employees are frequently obliged to use the stairs which saves energy and promotes physical exercise . the building received an award from corenet global 3 in the category of public sector and government during corenet s annual summit in denver colo. on april 30 2007 . thorburn associates and spl were the audiovisual consultants working with james harb architects in the 2003 conversion of the 1912 medinah temple in chicago into the 130 000 square foot 12 000 m2 bloomingdale s home & furniture store for federated department stores macy s . trade journalist dawn allcot in the january 2004 sound and communications magazine 4 describes the project at 600 n. wabash ave. in the city s river north area as walking the tightrope between maintaining the historic integrity of the building and installing top of the line av systems to enhance the shopping experience . the southwest securities financial markets center at baylor university hankamer school of business in waco tx received a grand prize for classrooms and training facilities from presentations magazine 5 in 2005 6 . ta was system designer working with architect stanley g. love aia . articles edit sculpting sound matching music and acoustics to ambience archi tech magazine jan feb 2005 7 practical applications of display technology church production magazine june 2008 8 buying a videoconference system they ll actually use av technology magazine may 2008 9 music too loud maybe ... sound & video contractor january 20 2005 10 bloomingdale s home and furniture retail traffic magazine may 1 2004 11 how to optimize your presentation environments pro av magazine april 2004 12 morphosis united states federal building arcspace october 14 2007 13 waking up the neighbors bring on the stadium noise but quietly stadia magazine january 2002 14 awards edit themed entertainment association thea award awarded themed entertainment association thea outstanding achievement award for paramount s king s island tomb raider the ride 2002 universal studios amazing adventures of spiderman 2000 universal studios islands of adventure 2000 columbus center of science and technology cosi audio video and control system engineering services and acoustical design 2000 building of america award 2007 project the mountain view senior center northern california region s most important new construction renovation 2007 project san francisco federal office building general service administration aia winner of architecture & excellence award 2007 project plaza apartments 15 sugen inc. south san francisco ca was awarded 16 first gold leed certified biotech lab and was also awarded aia san mateo county sustainable san mateo county green building award 2006 17 samceda awards of excellence environmental action award 2005 external links edit thorburn associates official website infocomm international official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title thorburn associates & oldid 678065769 categories companies established in 1992engineering companies of the united statestechnology companies of the united states navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 27 august 2015 at 05 34 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view