Hear and Now: Sound as Architectural Medium

Architecture renewed its age-old relationship with the allied art of music with particular vigor during the 20th century. Architects often looked to music to find formal and structural metaphors that could provide the theoretical underpinnings for their work. Recently, however, it has been technological advancements that have inspired a new generation of designers to weave sonic elements into the architectural fabric. This paper examines three areas of digital technology first pioneered by composers, musicians and sound artists that have now been adopted by architects wishing to explore issues of time, indeterminacy and transformation in their work. The first of these, digital sampling, re-imagines the architect as an electronic bricoleur, applying the cut-and-paste techniques initially used in the composition of electroacoustic music to the built realm. Second, computer applications allowing the creation of trans-generic interpretations – using sound as an analog for motion, or reinterpreting sonic expressions as physical forms – are being utilized with dramatic results. Finally, emerging technology in sound generation and reproduction, and interactive composition have opened new possibilities for sonically informing space.If it is true, as Walter Pater wrote in the 19th century, that “all art constantly aspires towards the condition of music”, then these recent cross-disciplinary developments may play an important role in moving the art of architecture closer to that objective.

Volume Editors
Marilys R. Nepomechie & Robert Gonzalez

ISBN
0-935502-54-8