Spaces we hear : closing the gap between architecture and the soundscape
Clayton, Natasha
Date
2018Citation:
Clayton, N. (2018). Spaces we hear: Closing the gap between architecture and the soundscape (Unpublished document submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Architecture (Professional)). Unitec Institute of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10652/4656Permanent link to Research Bank record:
https://hdl.handle.net/10652/4656Abstract
RESEARCH QUESTION:
How can architecture benefit from a design process driven by sound investigations?
ABSTRACT:
This project is concerned with what R. Murray Shafer has termed the ‘soundscape’, the aural equivalent of a landscape. The design of such a soundscape has the potential to enrich both spatial qualities and the experience of architecture; however, the potential for this integration is not always fully utilised. Often, we see architecture manifest itself visually, with little attention to how other senses can be stimulated. This results in a disconnection between architectural intention and the way it is experienced.
This project explores aural sensitivity through a method that questions the way a space is perceived and experienced.
We notice a naturally close relationship between sound and architecture when buildings have the express purpose of housing music. Here, the relationship between sound quality and the architectural environment is obvious; however, the integration between space and sound occurs purely on a practical and programmatic level. It does not address the poetic potential of auditory phenomenology. In such a case, on one side the auditory quality becomes a narrow application of acoustics through a specific method that offers little flexibility in architecture. At the other end, the soundscape is not included in the process of design, as it is often unrecognised in the visually dominated discipline of architecture.
In contrast to this narrow interpretation of the relationship between sound and architectural space, this project aims to understand the possibilities of the soundscape and its contribution to the quality of spatial experience. It does so through investigations and experiments with sound in architectural space. This project involves an exploration into an aural sensitive dimension in architecture and its effect on the human relation to space. The intent is to expand methods of design for architects and to bridge the gap between architecture and aural experience.
PROJECT QUESTIONS:
1) How does the environment influence the perception and the interpretation of sound?
2) How does sound change our experience of the surrounding space?