The Home Crowd

I stumbled upon a scan earlier today from the May 1962 issue of Playboy magazine of the “Playboy Townhouse” for the affluent, on-the-go, bachelor.  It’s a beautiful rendering done by Humen Tan (I really hope that’s not his/her real name) of a design commissioned to designer R. Donald Jaye by playboy to highlight the swingin’ bachelor lifestyle.  This great example of 60’s modern life is captured in this article with furnishings and furniture for which some have remained stylish and modern decades later.

The section of the townhouse highlights the spatial and elemental qualities of the townhouse…the central pool, the open air under a retractable skylight, the teak wood paneling, and lots and lots of concrete.  This rendering also explains the space usage by it’s contents, most of which were specified in the townhouse article.

Note that the servants quarters at the bottom right are not furnished, seeing as how no bachelor outside of Bruce Wayne should be living in the city with a butler anyhow.  Also, a modern design feature that would be scrubbed first after the first estimate is the concrete waffle slab used for the floors.  They might as well have put the garage on the roof as strong, overbuilt and expensive as that would be.  But they’re dreaming out loud, so we’ll side with artistic license on that one.

And what better bachelor bed that the rotating playboy bed, highlighted in an earlier article of the magazine.  Great spot for entertaining ‘guests’, it rotates 360 degrees to face the fireplace or the television with built in conveniences such as telephone, refrigerator and bar.  And who wouldn’t want to watch some TV on that mammoth 21-inch screen.  They didn’t specify what kind of TV it was, but I do vaguely recall George Jetson calling Mr. Spacely over it from time to time.

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This is going on the short list of “Things I want”. Quiet Solution’s soundproof drywall boasts that one 5/8″ sheet is acoustically equal to (8) layers of standard 5/8″ drywall. Not many of us have the square footage to spare by packing in an additional 5 inches of drywall to the interior of your homes. Also, don’t count on any of your doors functioning properly to account for that. That would never happen of course, as it would be simpler just to construct a masonry wall, than build up a mountain of gypsum.

photo credit: djweitzner

Seeing as how the average interior wall has an STC (Sound Transmission Class) value of about 34, good enough to separate your family but still hear their conversations through the wall. Partition common walls separating apartments, townhomes and condos are required to have and STC of 50. Which is good enough to keep your business your own, yet still allows your neighbors to share their musical tastes with you….like it or not. Most of Quiet Solutions’ QuietRock products sport an STC of at least 50. They have an interactive sound example page at their website which allows you to experience the contrasting STC values as if a garage band was playing in the next room.

The best possible soundproofing solution they currently have has an STC value of 80, which is meant for home theaters and can be reached by adding two layers of their 1 3/8″ to a stud wall. This assembly, I imagine, when used in master bedroom applications, will bring upon the end of the phrase “Stop it! You’ll wake the kids!”

HGTV’s “I want that!” showcases the QuietRock product in the video below

There are other uses of course. Making your home feel solid and quiet and every sound in it’s place can be appreciated by everyone in your household. Finally get that media room/home theater you’ve always wanted? Now keep it ramped up way beyond bedtime. Oh, and those neighbors you have? You know the ones, the ones who, at best buy, go straight for the stereo demos and their accompanying volume knobs until products drop from the shelves, and your sanity drops from sight? Yeah, treat your exterior walls.

The downside of course for this product is the price. Prices start at 40$ (volume purchase) for a 4′x8′ sheet, and only go up from there with higher rated products. Standard drywall is of course, considerably less, but to gain a comparable STC rating using a combination of standard drywall, resilient channels and other various products would bring the project budget closer to what you would have spent by just ordering soundproof drywall.

- Quiet Solutions’ Website