Auditory Architecture

“Wherever we are, what we hear is mostly noise. When we ignore it, it disturbs us. When we listen to it, we find it fascinating.” – John Cage

“Designers, engineers and city planners can enhance the quality of life as well as sound artists, composers and musicians.” – Pauline Oliveros

What sense dominates the design and experience of architecture? Sight. However, architecture is not solely reliant on visual perception but encompasses a multi-sensory engagement. Sound plays an important role in how architecture and spaces are experienced. Not only within acoustically driven spaces (ie. theaters, concert halls, soundscape installations), but within our daily interaction with architecture. The loud chatter in a bar, the shaking floor of a concert venue, and the silence of a church are all unique sound characteristics of architecture. Close your eyes and you can easily escape the visual aesthetics of architecture, but it is almost impossible to escape the sounds produced within a space whether they be direct or ambient.

The acoustic properties of materials are used to create barriers that contain and block sound. But putting up a wall is a blunt method of acoustic control and creates cellular spaces that lack the communal interaction of both people and sounds. The merging of noise within a communal space can create harmonious and even therapeutic sounds. Can an open space be strategically organized to create acoustic boundaries without utilizing walls? Can sound itself be used as a spatial divider?

Throughout this project, I have investigated the effects that materiality and spatial organization have on acoustics. These methods involve the use of barriers to subtract or deflect sound. But we can also embrace sound by using an additive method to tune the acoustics of a space. By feeding sound into different areas of a space, we can create spatial differentiation and separation through acoustic tuning without the need for dividing walls. Changes in volume, intensity, and tone can create different sonic atmospheres within these spaces by creating invisible barriers. This allows for different spaces to maintain auditory privacy, with communal spaces still benefiting from the harmony of acoustic and visual interaction. Sound has always been used in the background of architecture, but by bringing it to the foreground we discover new means of spatial organization and create new ways of experiencing architecture through our ears.

Sound healing has been practiced for thousands of years, and recently we have seen a resurgence of audio therapy and sound baths. Audio therapy sessions are often composed and curated for optimal effects, but the therapeutic properties of sound can be harnessed from everywhere around us. Deep Listening is a practice that began in the 1970s and emphasizes the importance of absorbing ambient sounds throughout the day to increase awareness and become more present in our surroundings. If sound has so many powerful health benefits, why do we reserve sound healing for audio therapy sessions and sound baths? By implementing sound healing into the spaces we occupy, we can create more peaceful and productive environments.

The thesis revolves around the Sonic Module, an elliptical panel that uses transducers to convert audio signals into vibration along the rigid surface. These vibrations create a new sonic environment underneath the module and the parabolic shape allows for sound to focus directly downwards. Sound now becomes the primary driver of spatial creation by creating pools of sonic environments. By implementing these concepts onto Gloria Molina Grand Park in Downtown Los Angeles, a new experience is added to the public space. A canopy stretches over the park creating new spaces through additive sound and shade. Different sonic zones prioritize higher or lower tones, which allow occupants to feel anywhere from relaxed to focused. The park remains visually open, however the sound and shade created by the canopy allows occupants of Gloria Molina Grand Park to escape the noise pollution of the urban DTLA environment.

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Alexander Davis