Exploring the Relationship Between Sound and Architecture
Abstract
Human beings have five senses which are all important in our daily lives, They are vision, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. All of these senses play an important role in how we experience our world. Our bodies are in constant and ever changing interaction with our environment. Architects can use this knowledge to better understand how these senses influence the relationship between the space and the end user.
Most people will identify visual sense as perhaps the most important sense for architects – and a lot of emphasis is put on this. The drawback of focusing a single sense such as vision is that a dominance of a visual outlook may result in an unbalanced relationship between the space and the user. When an individual enters a space all five senses come into play in various configurations (with touch, small and taste predominately in the near space and sound along with vision in the far space). Upon entering people ‘feel’ a space rather than just ‘see’ it. There is an ongoing dialogue between the entire body and the space. Those involved in architectural design should be aware of this holistic interaction.
With this in mind we can identify that sound is a very important sense to understand as architects. Along with the other senses it helps us with our perception and recognition of a place. Hearing aids in a three-dimensional experience and helps us to identify our place within a space. By removing the visual component and focusing on the sonic we can take steps to alter the character of a space.
This course is aimed helping you to understand the role that sound plays in spatial perception and architectural design. It is hoped that the study of sound withing architectural space will encourage discussion among practitioners and lead to greater utilization of the medium as a design input. Thus leading to the creation of ‘sensory spaces’ and a greater multi sensory engagement between the architect and the end user.
Possible Ideas relating to the Architecture of Sound:
Introduction - Understanding the Acoustic Environment (the invisible architecture)
Difference Between ‘Architecture of Sound’ (behavioral) and Acoustical Engineering (scientific)
Sound Relating to Buildings (history of spaces made for sound)
Basics of Sound Overview (vibration, frequency, magnitude etc)
Sound/Space Interaction (propagation, reverberation, reflection, transmission etc)
Audiology (human auditory sensory system)
Speech Acoustics (vocal sound making)
Sensory Impairment (understanding needs of visual impaired etc)
Effects of Noise (unwanted sound and its effects)
Performance Spaces (concepts relating to concert halls, theaters, galleries, churches etc)
Sound Related Topics:
Acoustic Ecology
Sound Archaeology
Location Recording
Sound Art
Cymantics
Soundwalking
Deep Listening
© 2022 Jimmy Peggie