For ArchitectsAcoustic & Decorative Plaster Specifications
It’s a performance problem. The NRC rating tied to your spec is a tested result, specific to layering, cavity depth, and substrate conditions.
Cadence · © Taufik Kenan
When the finish is decorative plaster, the material itself is the architecture.
The Problem
Every NRC figure in your specification was earned through a specific tested assembly. The plaster system, layering thickness, the cavity behind it, the substrate it bonds to: all of it matters. Pull one thread and the number unravels.
Why It Happens
Acoustic performance is invisible to procurement. A substitute system may match the finish description in the spec while delivering substantially lower NRC performance. Senza solves it at the spec stage, before bids go out.
“A comparable product approved in the field can carry a completely different acoustic performance profile, and nobody on site will know until the building opens.”
Performance Is in the Assembly
It’s the difference between a room that performs and one that doesn’t. Specification documents make that delta visible, and legally defensible, before a single bag is mixed.
What Senza Does
Senza partners with architects to write specifications that survive procurement, with language, data, and qualifications that close the substitution window.
Clause-level language that makes performance equivalency a testable standard, not a visual match. Drafted to survive RFI, submittal, and bid-phase pressure.
Service 1 of 6
Beyond Decorative Performance
In high-end commercial and institutional interiors, decorative plaster has displaced tile, millwork, and paint as the primary material statement. Senza furnishes and installs these systems with tested materials, qualified applicators, and specifications built to survive procurement.
Explore Finishes
Sustainability & Certification
Lime-based plaster systems are among the most sustainable interior finishes available. Lime hardens by absorbing CO₂ from the air, actively reducing the building’s carbon load over time.
All Senza lime-based finish systems (Venetian, Tadelakt, clay, and Marmorino) are completely solvent-free and zero-VOC, supporting LEED EQ credits and WELL Air concepts.
Lime plaster absorbs carbon dioxide as it cures, recrystallising back into its original limestone state. This carbonation continues over the material's life.
Correctly specified lime finishes do not degrade the way acrylic or gypsum systems do. They harden over time, develop a natural patina, and self-heal minor hairline cracks.
The Material Is the Architecture · Decorative Plaster Systems
How It Works
Senza reviews room acoustics targets and finish briefs together, identifying acoustic system requirements, decorative finish intent, and how both coordinate into a single, coherent material narrative. At SD or early DD, when changes are cost-free.
You receive complete CSI specification sections (09 84 13 for acoustic, 09 23 00 for decorative) with substitution restriction language, tested data packages, sustainability documentation, and installer qualification requirements.
Senza reviews any submitted alternates and provides written equivalency determinations. For decorative systems, this includes finish review against specified composition and approved sample boards, so what is installed is what was designed.
