The three leaf problem

[ollie wrubel]

Hi all,

My first post, probably first of many as I am designing a studio inside of a
church and I want it to be as good as is practical.

I've read a bit here and elsewhere about the three leaf concept, but I'm still vague about it.

The church was built in 1800. Outside walls are wide cedar clapboards over loosely spaced 1x pine over studs, with interior walls of lath and plaster and no insulation betwqeen. I think step one for me to improve both soundproofing and heat retention is to build a second, floated wall inside of the outer church wall. In a nutshell, my question is - how many 'leaves' is this? Should my new wall have sheetrock only on one side? I'll be building Iso spaces just inside of this wall - can I sheetrock one side of the Iso wall, one side of the new soundproofing wall, and call the church's outside wall the third leaf? By the way, this room is big - 50X50 feet with ceilings 23 feet at their highest point, and there are windows which I would like to keep by framing heavy glass into my new walls. (same leaf question applies there, too. The current windows are old glass and there are aluminum storm windows outside.)

Thanks for reading this far! This seems like a great site, attended by very helpful people. Only problem so far - I don't see an emoticon for grateful!

-Ollie