Choosing Fabric - Interior Design for Residential Cinemas

Stretched fabric panels are a feature in nearly all residential cinemas. Used to hide audio equipment and acoustic treatment they can appear as wall-to-wall finishes, large panels alternating with other features such as columns and as floating panels. Halo lit, stepped, finned, combinations of angles and shapes, there are many ways to design using fabric in a residential cinema. When choosing the fabric to achieve these designs there are some core principles to consider which will be set out in this guide.

Acoustic Transparency
The most important consideration when choosing a fabric for Residential Cinema panels will be how acoustically transparent it is.

The primary use of stretched fabric panels is to hide unsightly audio equipment and acoustic treatment from view; however, a great deal of work will have gone into specifying this technology to deliver optimum audio experience for the user. It is a priority to minimise disruption to these tech calculations.

Audio leaving speakers and subwoofers needs to freely pass through fabric into the room.

see Acoustically Transparent Surfaces image in gallery

Audio also needs to pass back through fabric to meet acoustic treatment panels and be reflected, reverberated and/or resonated correctly to the acoustic plan.

The acoustic transparency of a fabric can be achieved via several variables.

1. The density of the weave, where a looser weave will be more transparent.  
2. Thickness of the fabric, thinner fabrics will absorb less sound. 
3. The weight of the fabric, heavier fabrics are more acoustically absorbent.
4. If a fabric I perforated or has a perforated backing, this will work to help address the above factors.

Some fabric manufacturers will state the acoustic transparency of their fabric ranges. It is good practice to select an appropriate, pre-specified range of fabric as a starting point as this is the most important consideration.

In scenarios where a pre-specified acoustically transparent fabric that matches the design scheme isn’t available or if a fabric has been approved before acoustics have been considered SRND can help. SRND has an acoustic fabric testing facility that can determine the transparency of a fabric and how that will impact the sound passing through it. Find out more here https://srnd.store/blogs/learning/testing-acoustic-fabric-performance.

see acoustic test rig in gallery

Fabric Stretch
Whether using the SRND Fabric Walls aluminium frame panels or traditional track systems fabric wall panels are based around the principle of stretching fabric across a large area and tucking the edges of the fabric around the perimeter. The goal is to create a taught, clean finish free of pinching, creases or sagging, leaving a result that looks like a solid surface.

Ideally fabrics used in stretch fabric systems can have a small amount of stretch to allow for cutting tolerances and avoid creasing while tucking, yet not so much a taught finish cannot be achieved.

The fabric should maintain its structural integrity when stretched, there should be no danger of tearing.

Be aware of how stretching the fabric opens the weave, too open a weave will give the fabric a visually transparent look revealing whatever is hidden behind the panel.

see Skewed/Bowed Weave image in gallery

If the fabric weave has a distinct pattern pay attention how distorted that pattern becomes when stretched, the can become a particular issue at the corners of panels.

There is no easy, statistic or specification for testing how a fabric stretches and how that will apply to a stretch fabric panel, it is best to order samples or test lengths from suppliers and trial them.

Gloss and Reflectivity
It is best to avoid using glossy or highly reflective materials across large expanses within cinema rooms as the they will pick up light from the screen and/or projector and become distracting.

There are exceptions but as a rule of thumb manmade materials such as polyester, nylon and acrylic tend to be higher gloss than natural materials such as wool or cotton.

Printed Fabrics
It is possible for printed fabrics to be acoustically transparent and have the appropriate level of stretch. If printing custom graphics, it is recommended to work closely with a printer to understand what fabrics they have available for printing and the specifications required for the artwork.

Textured Fabrics
Textured fabrics can result in uneven acoustics, if the pattern is small this can even out, however larger pattern will provide patchy acoustics.

Textures can also create an uneven section making tucking less reliable.

Stick to flatter textures that avoid large sections of variation in depth.

Additional testing for stretch and acoustics is advised.

Patterned Fabrics
As mentioned, printed patterns can be suitable for residential cinema fabric panels depending on the fabric used.

Woven patterns can be workable with a flat weave, where the pattern adds depth or texture testing before ordering is highly advantageous. Textures and depth can cause problems with even acoustics, stretch and tucking.

Repeat patterns similar to those found on wallpaper can be difficult to align when tucking fabric. The stretch can alter the end point of a pattern and tucking will take up several centimetres of fabric. It is best to isolate panels using repeating patterns, this can be achieved by using sections of wide trim, columns or even LED strips in between fabric panels.

see room mural wallpaper image in gallery

Fabric Dimensions
Most suitable fabrics will be sold on rolls that provide lengths in excess of any fabric panel that would be specified for a residential cinema. However, fabric roll widths are limited and will dictate the maximum width of a fabric panel.

It is important to account for fabric for tucking when measuring for stretched fabric panels.

For Fabric Walls Panels 50mm per edge is required for silicon edge and tucking.
For example, a rectangular Fabric Walls Panel that measures 1000mm x 800mm would require 1100mm x 900mm of fabric.

see Fabric Dimensions diagram in gallery

Recommended Fabrics
SRND recommend several fabrics that are available for purchase on the SRND store as part of the Fabric Walls System or as a standalone order. These fabrics have been tested against the outlined criteria and specified for projects by SRND and SRND partners.

Our range Includes fabrics from Camira & Ultrasuede and can be found in the Products-Fabric section here...

https://fabricwalls.uk/collections/fabric