Sound-generated Space

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Jesper BondeThe Royal Danish Academy of Fine ArtsSchool of Architecture, Copenhagen, Denmark jb@jesperbonde.comwww.jesperbonde.com

Abstract

Canmusicbetranslatedintoarchitecture?Isitpossibletotransmitthemusicalatmosphericqualitiesofagiven pieceofmusictoanarchitecturalspaceasatmosphericspatialquality?Thisresearchdealswiththeperceptionandrelationshipbetweenmusic,body,andarchitectureinordertodevelopanarchitecturaldesigntoolbasedonthequantitativeandqualitativeparametersofmusic.Bydigitalizingtheprocessescontrollingtheproductionofmusicandarchitecture,itispossibletolinkthetwoartformsina3Dvirtualdesignsetup.Asimultaneousdevelopmentoftwoarchitecturalprojectsandthetheorybehindthem,formabasisforaresearchdiscussingdifferentaspectsofthetranslationbetweenmusicandarchitecture.Throughdynamicanimations,thearchitecturalspaceandprogrammearetransformedbytheactionofmusic.Theargumentationisbasedpartlyonthespatialqualityofthenalarchitecturaloutput,andpartlyonthedesignmethod´sabilitytocreatespace,thatthedesignercouldnotimaginewhentheprocesswasinitiated.Keywords:architecture,music,parametricdesign,animation,methodology,computationaldesign

1. Preface

Isitpossibletotranslatemusicintoarchitecture,inawaythatthespacegeneratedholdsauniquespatialquality?Untilafewyearsagothetranslationofmusicintoarchitectureconsistedofanabstractsketchinterpretingagiven pieceofmusic,whichthenprovidedabasisforthedesign.Today,botharchitecturalandmusicalproductionisdigital.Thetwoartformscanbedeductedintoalmostsimilardigitalparametersandthroughthisdeductiontheycanbetranslatedintooneanother.Thepurposeofthisresearchistodiscoverawaytoconnectmusicandarchitecture–tocreateasymbioticrelation-ship,wherebothhaveaneffectontheother.However,thetranslationbetweenmusicandarchitectureisnotmainlyaquantitativetranslation,butaqualitativetranslationbasedonquantitativeparameters.Musicbecomesadesigntool,whendesigningarchitecturalspace.Itsinherentatmosphericqualitiesaffectthequalityofspace.Theperceptionofarchitectureandmusicisvitalwhendealingwiththisrelationship.Whenexperiencingarchitec-ture,thebodymovesthroughspaceandthearchitectureisstatic.However,whenexperiencingmusic,thebodyisstaticandthemusicisdynamic.Thiscontrasthastobeconsidered,whentranslatingthetwoartforms.Neverthe-less,usingthebodyasanentityoftranslationbetweenarchitectureandmusicgivestheopportunitytoresearchonamoresubjectiverelationshipbetweentheperceptionofmusic,body,andspace.Onepossibilityistomovemusicthroughthearchitecture,inordertoapproachthesubject´sperceptionofspace.Anotheroptionistomakethemusicstaticandthearchitecturedynamic,inordertogetclosertothesubject´sperceptionofmusic.Thisresearchdiscussestheprosandconsofbothmethods.

2. Music and Architecture

Soundisarepetitivetransmissionofsoundwavesthroughair.Itcanbedenedbythepropertiesofsoundwaves:frequency,wavelength,period,amplitude,andspeed.Thehumanearcanperceivefrom20Hzto20kHz–butinthegeneraldenitionofsound,frequenciesunderandabovethisintervalisalsoincluded.Eventhoughsoundcan bedescribedfromthesephysicaldenitions,thisresearchdealswithamorecomplexcompositionofsoundwaves,wheredifferentsoundscreatestructures,rhythm,notesandnallybecomemusic.Therelationshipbetweensoundandmusiccanbecomparedtotherelationshipbetweenbuildingandarchitecture.Therearesomeatmosphericlay-

2ersinarchitectureandmusic,whichcannotbefoundinbuildingandsound-ortoputinanotherway:theentitiesofarchitectureandmusiccannotbegrasped,perceived,andanalyzedinaphysicalway.However,thecontainerofarchitectureandmusic,whichisbuildingandsound,canbeanalyzedanddeductedintotheory.Musicandarchitecturearebothspatialartforms.Musicdealswiththespaceofthelistener,whichinsomecasesissimilartothearchitecturalspace,althoughitcandifferwhenusingforinstanceheadphones.Furthermore,musicisalsoanartformdealingwiththeconceptoftime-usually,linearitywithinadenedtimeframe.However,the perceptionofarchitecturedoesnotnecessarilyhavetobewithinagiventimeframe.Therefore,theperceptionofarchitecturecandifferfromtheperceptionofmusicintermsofdenitionofspace,andtheconnectiontotheconceptoftime.Thisresearchdiscussestimeandspaceinconjunctionwiththetranslationbetweenmusicandarchitecture. Newdigitaltechnologiesprovideapossibilityformusictoinuencethearchitecturalspaceinground-breakingways.Musiccandirectlyinuencethephysicalenvironmentandnotonlytheatmosphere.Insteadofbeingasec-ondaryelementaddedafterthedesignofthebuilding,musiccanbeusedasadesigntool,whendevelopingformandfunction.Musicwillgainspatialrelevanceonequaltermswithotherarchitectural,artisticeffectslikelight,materiality,andprogramme.Anyquantitativeparametercouldbeusedasadesigntool.However,musicholdssomeinherentqualitiesbesidethequantitativeparameters,whichcanbeusedtocreateatmosphereinanarchitecturalspace.Musiccreatesatmo-sphereinthespaceofthelistener,andbyusingthemusicasaspace-generatingparametertheatmospherecanbetransmittedfrommusictoarchitecture.

3. Technology and Methodology

Bydigitalizingtheprocessescontrollingtheproductionofmusicandarchitecture,itispossibletolinkthetwo.Thesetupcanbeconsideredasamachine,wheredifferentquantitativeinputscreate3Ddiagramsdescribingaspatialsequence.Inthisway,itispossibletoobtainthesamedifferentiationinthespatialsequenceasonecanhearinthemusic.The3Ddiagramsformthebasisforarchitecture,discussinggeneralarchitecturalproblems,butwithanextralayer-themusicalpointofdeparture.Ingeneral,itisalinearmethodologyconsistingofseveralnon-linearintermediateprocesses-feedbackloops.Thetranslationofmusicintoarchitectureisconductedasrepeatingexperimentswithaqualitativediscussionofthearchitecturaloutput.Theaimistodevelopandchallengethearchitecturaltoolboxthroughaspecicmethodthattransformsmusicintoarchitecture.Theresearchisbasedontwoarchitecturalprojectswithtwodifferentapproaches–twodifferentwaysoftranslat-ingmusicintoarchitecture.Oneisstartingfromamusicalperspectiveandtheotherfromanarchitecturalperspec-tive.Theargumentationisbasedpartlyonthespatialqualityofthenalarchitecturaloutput,andpartlyonthedesignmethod´sabilitytocreatespace,thatthedesignercannotimaginebeforehand.Thearchitecturalprojectsandthetheorybehindthemaredevelopedsimultaneously.Itisnotatheoryprovedbytwophysicalarchitectural projects,norisittwoprojectsrationalizedbyposttheory.Thetheoryandthearchitecturalprojectshavebeende-velopedinasymbioticrelationship,wherethepracticalandthetheoreticalhaveequallyinuencedtheresearchbyahermeneutical,phenomenologicalapproach.

4. Sound-generated Space_ Housing for Musicians

Thisprojectusesthetranslationofmusicintoarchitectureinawayclosetotheperceptionofarchitecture.Thetranslationisseenfromanarchitecturalpointofview,wheremusicisanimatedalongapathsimilartoabody´smovementthroughspace.However,architectureisseldomexperiencedasonespatialsequence,butasseveralindependentsystemsinteractingwithinagivenform.Therefore,theanimationismadefrom80differentindepen-dentsystems,interactingwhenplayed.Onbasisofthedeploymentofthearchitecturalprogrammeonthesite,musiciscomposedtocontrolananima-tionofthebuilding,whereeachinstrumentcontrolsachoreographedspatialsequence.Byanimatingthemusicalongthepathsoftheprogrammeitispossibletotranslatethemusicintoananimationofachoreographedspatialsequence.

3Onesystemcanbesetuptoperformlive(Figure1),byre-cordingmusicinto3DStudiomax,wherethesoundaffectsthedynamicsofaparticlesystem,whicharedeforminganobject.However,whenusing80simultaneoussystems,soundhastoberecordedinadvance,inordertoaffect80differentparticlesystemsanimatedalong80different paths(Figure2).Thetimeframefortheanimationisthetimeitwouldtakeapersontomovefromthestreettoanygivenroomalongtheprogrammedeployedonthesite.Theoutputoftheanimation(Figure3&4)holdsanar-chitecturalqualitydifculttodescribewithoutreferringtothemusicanimatingit.However,theanimationinitselfishighlyinuentialonthenaloutcome.Itiseasytorecog-nizethefeaturesoftheanimationwiththedifferentpathsanddynamicsofthemusicworkingalongit.Nevertheless,thearchitecturalresultiswithoutreference,andthereforeholdsapotential,beingtheoutputofaprocess,thede-signercouldnothavepredictedwhenitwasinitiated.Theoutputhasthenbeendevelopedaccordingtootherarchitecturaleffectslikematerialityandlight(Figure5).Still,theatmosphereofthearchitectureisfaithfultotheatmosphereoftheoriginalmusic,andthearchitectureistrulyaproductofthemusicalpointofdepartureandthedynamicanimations.

PianoMBOX 2SoundmoduleActiveStudio MonitorsPro ToolsCamtasia

3D Studiomax

Sound (.Wav)Video (.avi)

Laptop

Zoom H2Stereo micSoundmoduleParticle system

speed

Regular shape

paticle displacepath animation

Animated geometry