Stairwells and Reflections: experiment #2

This is a continuation of experiment #1 using the same technique, but in another location.  The study was conducted at the Linden St. studios which are part of the department of Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.  

This stairwell is only two floors as opposed to the previous site which was 5 floors.  Also, the materials in this stairwell are not nearly as uniform as those at the previous site.  Here the material is predominantly exposed brick.  The stairs are concrete filled metal pan construction.  Also, as you can see in the photos below, there are two walls interior to the building that are constructed of wallboard.  This contrasts with the monolithic construction of the previous site which was entirely concrete.

 

first recording of my voice as heard in the clip above

final recording of my voice as heard in the clip above

From the analysis above, it can be determined that the resonant frequency of this stairwell is somewhat lower than the stairwell in experiment #1.  This stairwell has a resonant frequency of about 160Hz compared to the 200Hz of the stairwell in experiment #1.

I am beginning to think of these studies as sonic descriptions of the volume of spaces through the medium of the natural resonant frequencies of that space.  In some ways, this starts to remind me of the large scale cast sculptural pieces by the artist Rachel Whiteread who reinterprets familiar objects and spaces by casting their negative and creating a positive.

Untitled (Stairs)  2001, Rachel Whiteread

Untitled (Domestic), 2002, Rachel Whiteread

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Precedents: Alvin Lucier and Max Neuhaus

Alvin Lucier (b.1931)    website: http://alucier.web.wesleyan.edu/
 
The inspiration for the last experiment was a piece by Alvin Lucier called “I am sitting in a room”. In that piece, as he describes in the text that he reads, he is interested in the process of the gradual disintegration of speech and the reinforcement of the resonant frequencies of the room he is occupying. As he describes in the book Chambers,   

“space acts as a filter, it filters out all of the frequencies except the resonant ones. It has to do with the architecture, the physical dimensions and acoustic characteristics of the space.”

I think the specific effect of space on sound exposed by Lucier’s piece provides a method which could be utilized to directly impact an occupant’s understanding of the architecture they inhabit. 


Max Neuhaus (1939-2009)    website: http://www.max-neuhaus.info/ 

There are several aspects of the work by Neuhaus that I find fascinating:

- the location of many of his pieces in transient spaces with the idea that anybody has the opportunity to find the work (public sites)  
- using sound to add a presence, growing a new place with a sound presence
- accumulation of the inaudible which then becomes audible  
- process: how do you attach sound to the space and then build the work by building its sound  
- unseen sources: located within ventilation chambers, disguised as drains in the ground etc.

Times Square (1977-1992, reinstated in 2002) exemplifies many of these qualities as it is located within a subway ventilation chamber beneath a grate in midtown Manhattan in Times Square. In the midst of the chaos and “noise” of the site, Neuhaus builds a thick textured drone that projects a volume of sound up from beneath your feet. With no markers indicating the entity as an artwork, the passerby may unexpectedly encounter this resonant presence or may not.

Max Neuhaus, Times Square, 1992. Colored pencil on paper. Available at: 
http://www.diabeacon.org/sites/main/timessquare

Time Piece at Dia: Beacon 2006, with variations also located at Graz (2003) and Stommeln (2007), employs the sudden "sound signal of silence" in order to expose the sounds of the everyday.  A gradual entrance of a granular texture fades in over a period of several minutes before the hour strikes.  On the hour, the sound is abruptly discontinued which leaves the listener with the sensation of loss.  I am intrigued by the power of such a simple concept.  One's ears calibrate to their surrounding aural environment and might not even perceive the additional layer of sound that Neuhaus has imposed on the site.  However, the violent introduction of absence compels the listener to re-frame their relationship to the surrounding environment.  The effect of these works can somewhat be experienced here in the last 2-3 minutes of the video about the Sommeln work.

Max Neuhaus, drawing for Time Piece Beacon, 2005. © 2005 Max Neuhaus.
Photo: Cathy Carver.

Stairwells and Reflections: experiment #1

inspiration:  

Alvin Lucier - "I Am Sitting in a Room" in which he reads the following text:

"I am sitting in a room different from the one you are in now. I am recording the sound of my speaking voice and I am going to play it back into the room again and again until the resonant frequencies of the room reinforce themselves so that any semblance of my speech, with perhaps the exception of rhythm, is destroyed. What you will hear, then, are the natural resonant frequencies of the room articulated by speech. I regard this activity not so much as a demonstration of a physical fact, but more as a way to smooth out any irregularities my speech might have."

Original performance audio (1969) available here:

http://ubumexico.centro.org.mx/sound/source/Lucier-Alvin_Sitting.mp3

reinterpretation:

GUND HALL north stair @ Harvard GSD, Cambridge, MA in which I read the following text:

"Evacuation

If an alarm is sounded, or an announcement is made, proceed to the nearest stairwell or doorway and walk to the nearest exit and close doors as you proceed. Make sure that people around you are also leaving."

The following images are spectrograms of the first and final recordings in the "Evacuation" series.  In the first image (the original recording) you can see a number of the formants of my voice present as I read.  The second image shows how the resonant frequencies of the stairwell are reinforced until they completely dominate the spectrum.  From this spectral frequency display we can see that the resonant frequency of this particular stairwell is about 200Hz. 

first recording of my voice as heard in the clip above

final recording of my voice as heard in the clip above

Having performed this preliminary experiment, I would like to continue to develop my investigations around this idea of hearing the volumetric quality and natural resonance of stairwell spaces.  While in this first experiment I have used my voice as a way to excite the resonant frequencies of the space, I would like to continue doing some tests on whether solely the ambient sound present in a stairwell might be able to tease out the most essential qualities of the space.  

I would also like to pursue testing this technique in a number of other stairwells as a way to compare the acoustic characteristics of programmatically, and because of code restrictions, to some extent geometrically and materially, similar yet physically distinct stairwells. 

in each situation take note of:
     - dimensions (plan and section)
     - number of floors
     - materials  
     - adjacent spaces (machine room, cafe kitchen etc...)

Stairwells and Reflections: potential site #3

GUND HALL north stair @ Harvard GSD, Cambridge, MA

The stairwell (pictured above) is a particularly reverberant space which is immediately noticeable when you begin to move through it.  The five-story space is continuous from the first floor to the fifth floor ceiling, and is constructed of thick concrete walls so that all exposed surfaces are hard and reflective.  Subsequently, any signal or sound that is produced within the space lingers for several seconds due to reflections off all the surrounding hard surfaces and the extensive vertical geometry of the space.  The clip below demonstrates this phenomena.  I recorded myself clapping on the top floor of the stairwell.  Take a listen: You can clearly hear the reflections of my clap for several seconds after the initial impact.  In a space with more absorptive surfaces and smaller geometry, the experience would not be nearly the same.  Try clapping in the room you're sitting in now for comparison.

Egress stairs, which are required enclosures in most buildings in case of fire, are usually unused, un-inhabited and forgotten spaces in buildings, but because of code requirements dictating material etc. have distinct acoustical qualities.  As such, I am interested in their unique situation within the realm of architecture and acoustics.  In addition to reflections, I am also fascinated by the ambient sound of these spaces.  Depending on adjacent program and/or machinery and air circulation within the structure, these stairwell spaces create sound environments that are far from uniform across their vertical section. 

The following clip is created by alternating segments of recorded sound from various levels within the stairwell. The piece begins at the highest accessible level, the 5th floor. With duration of approximately 15 seconds, one’s ears become accustomed to the sound. It soon can be considered background noise. Suddenly, there is an abrupt change in the sound. Using a “jump cut”, the second segment is recorded on the 1st floor. It is higher and sharper. Soon, however, our ears become accustomed to this level’s unique hum, and the sound becomes a baseline once again. The successive segments are taken at the landing between the 4th and 5th floor, next at the landing between the 1st and 2nd floor, then the 4th floor, then the 2nd floor and so on, until the sequence ends at the 3rd floor.  

It is only when one stratum is directly compared to another that a difference is recognized and distance traveled can be appreciated. Through the displacement of each level’s ambient sound, it is revealed that there are actually distinct differences between the sound at varying levels within the same space.

I would be interested in conducting a comprehensive survey of the acoustics of these spaces. Each stairwell, though limited by code requirements, is also shaped by the specific conditions of the building they are a part of. This endeavor would be an experiment regarding the auditory perception of our surroundings. Are our ears constantly calibrating to our environment? At what point to they become aware of the inherent sound qualities of a specific location within a space?

Space for Listening: potential site #2

CARPENTER CENTER @ Harvard VES, Cambridge, MA

 

There is an interesting area located below the curved section on the west side of this Corbusier building here on the Harvard Campus that may lend itself to some kind of acoustic intervention.  The experience of walking along the delineated pathway is characterized by a feeling of compression as one enters a space of shadows, moves beneath a portion of the building and past a subterranean zone that drops 3-4 feet in elevation to one side.  Here in this cool belly of concrete and within a grid of columns, the sound of the street, the trees and the sky are collected.  In this space it is impossible not to feel the architecture.  

 

 

 

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Taking Away Sound: potential site #1

GUND HALL south entrance / Student Exhibition Wall @ Harvard GSD, Cambridge, MA

Student Wall at Harvard GSD

intention:  to create silence in a place of considerable "noise" in order to encourage a heightened physical engagement with a space of transition

Located next to the south entrance into Gund Hall at Harvard Graduate School of Design, this intervention would engage the visible space of the public street and the acoustic space of the building lobby.  It would capitalize on the moment of transition between exterior and interior space and the moment of interaction that occurs during this process.  By building out from the wall with acoustically absorptive materials, it would be possible to achieve an acoustically insulated space where one becomes abruptly aware of their body within the space.

GSD Student Wall intervention options: acoustic wedges, foam lining, thickened wall structure

GSD Student Wall intervention options: shaping the space with various wall thicknesses

sources of sound:

          - street traffic, pedestrian traffic, mechanical equipment noise, proximity to fire station, interior building activity

possible materials: 

          - rigid insulation, memory foam, stacked corrugated cardboard, mineral fiber panels, batt insulation filled wall structures, fiberglass wedges, carpeting

Disregarding the inherent difference in acoustical properties of absorbing wedges and memory foam due to materiality, what are the spatial implications of these two materials when applied to a space?  How do people interact with a structure that projects into their field of movement?  Most likely it deters physical contact as compared to the soft and enveloping characteristic of memory foam, which invites physical interaction.

anechoic room (photo: KIOKU Keizo)

anechoic room

visco-elastic foam (memory foam)

studio foam egg-crate

Precedents:

Mafoombey Acoustic Space - Kalliala and Ruskeepää

Tactical Uses of a Belief in the Unseen - Deborah Stratman

Magma Architecture - “head-in | im kopf” Exhibit

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