Library of the Faculty of Architecture, Chulalongkorn University

When the Bangkok map becomes an artwork on the library wall — and also reduces reverberation

| Chula Architecture Library x Trandar ZIVANA |

"Do acoustic ceilings always have to look boring?" "Can acoustic materials and design be one and the same?" "If walls could talk, what stories would they tell architecture students?"

At the Faculty of Architecture Library, Chulalongkorn University — the walls don't just reduce sound, they are telling the story of the entire city.

📖 The Story of the Project — When a Designer's Library Needs Meaningfully Designed Walls

The Faculty of Architecture Library is not just any ordinary library. It is a space where the nation's next generation of students and designers come to think, research, and create new visions for the city and society.

Every detail in this space is not just decoration, but a message. A message conveyed to those who enter the room to know that — they are in a space that values creativity.

The challenge was not just to "reduce reverberation" but to "make acoustic materials part of the place's story."

🗺 The Concept That Changed Everything — The Bangkok Map on the Architecture Library Wall

No image better conveys the meaning of studying architecture than a map of the city.

The city is a cumulative work of designers from every generation. Every road, every building, every neighborhood is a product of design decisions made piece by piece over several decades.

Transforming the Bangkok Metropolitan map into a CNC artwork on Trandar ZIVANA is not just decoration, but a reminder to every student in the library to reflect on something larger than themselves —

They are learning to design a city where millions of people will live.

🛠 Material Chosen — Trandar ZIVANA, Colored and CNC-cut into a Map Shape

✅ ZIVANA — Where Acoustics Meets Fine Art Craftsmanship

Trandar ZIVANA is not just an acoustic panel that's simply installed on a wall. It is a material designed to support a wide variety of processing.

In this project, ZIVANA was put through a CNC Routing process to intricately carve it into the shape of the Bangkok Metropolitan map, including detailed roads, canals, and complex urban structures, before being colored to achieve immediate visual depth and dimension.

The result is a wall that offers both visible beauty and perceptible acoustic properties in the same piece of work.

🎨 CNC & Color — Techniques That Transform Acoustic Materials into Art

What makes this project unique is the two-step process working in conjunction.

CNC Routing carves and engraves the map's shapes into the surface of ZIVANA, creating depth, shadows, and dimensions that change with the direction of light throughout the day. Simultaneously, the carved shapes increase the surface area for sound absorption, improving the acoustic performance of the panel.

Coloring adds another layer of visual interpretation to the map, giving different parts of the city distinct identities and weights. Main roads, historic districts, rivers, and the complex network of Bangkok are rendered in a way that is both beautiful and legible.

🔊 But Behind the Beauty — ZIVANA Is Constantly Working on Acoustics

What most people don't see is what ZIVANA quietly does every day.

A library with many users simultaneously generates sounds of turning book pages, keyboard clicks, quiet conversations, and reflections from the floor and ceiling. These accumulate into reverberation that unknowingly disrupts concentration for reading and working.

ZIVANA absorbs those sound waves every time they hit its surface, reducing the reverberation in the library to an appropriate level for reading and working, without anyone in the room feeling like they are in an "acoustically treated" space — they simply feel comfortable working there.

✨ The Result — Walls That Deepen with Every Glance, Spaces That Calm with Every Sit

When Trandar ZIVANA was fully installed, the Chula Architecture Library received not just an acoustic upgrade, but a new landmark that became part of the space's identity.

Students who enter the library don't just come to find information; they come to sit in a space where every detail feels thoughtfully designed for them. Walls that tell the story of the city, in a room quiet enough for ideas to flow.

"The best libraries don't just store books — they store an atmosphere that allows ideas to grow beyond oneself."

Project: Faculty of Architecture Library, Chulalongkorn University. Space type: University academic library. Main material: Trandar ZIVANA. Special process: CNC Routing & coloring. Artwork pattern: Bangkok Metropolitan map. Benefits: Reduced reverberation & enhanced design dimension.