RECAP #3 - "The Sound of Architecture" at Yale School of Architecture

Yale School of Architecture
"The Sound of Architecture"
October 5, 2012 2pm - 4pm

From Telephones to Tabernacles

Following a yummy lunch at The Book Trader Cafe, just across the street from the school (BLT on sourdough is highly recommended), I returned for the afternoon session that was held in a lecture hall in the adjacent building. It was certainly nice to have a change in scenery, however the new venue was so cold that I spent every remaining lecture for the next two days bundled up in my sweater and coat! This was not a desirable scenario, but we all endured...

ARCHITECTURE MEDIATING SOUND

Graeme Lawson “Constructing Silences in the Ancient World: Identifying Acoustical Seclusion and Detachment in the Archeological Record”
               The overarching theme for the first lecture of the afternoon was actually quite interesting despite the somewhat awkward presentation. Lawson began with photos of several Neolithic pipes (In which it seemed Lawson’s main academic focus lies) which, though puzzling at first, served to illustrate the difficulty of resisting the desire to overlay contemporary notions of use and modes of occupation onto ancient artifacts. The pace soon picked up with the introduction of specific sites where the interaction with the human body was embedded in the architectural form of the ruin/artifact thereby aiding immensely in gaining an understanding of its original purpose. Lawson first presented some examples which were not as clear (organ loft at the Pieta church in Venice, whispering walls at St Michaels at Fulda) which then led to examples of more explicitly formed spaces including the trenches beneath the choir stalls at St Peter Mancroft in Norwich where jars were built into the walls to improve qualities of resonance. Ultimately, Lawson ended with the example of Greek “Exedra” were small semi circular structures generally made of stone with tall backs. These structures can be found in a variety of locations, but in most cases they were used to create spaces of enclosure within social spaces such as the audience of an amphitheater, in bathhouses and in parks or pretty much anywhere that encouraged conversation. What I especially appreciated in this presentation was the connection that was drawn between a desire for a particular acoustic condition and the evidence of how the physical structure achieved the required qualities of sound. In other words there was a direct correlation between the sound space produced and the architecture which shaped it.

Carlotta Daro "Sound Networks and the Public Sphere"
                Carlotta Daro, a diminutive woman, followed Graeme’s talk with a presentation of the development of the telephone and its physical presence within urban space. Daro was interested in addressing the “public sphere” in relation to the private “private sphere” through the medium of telecommunication. It was fascinating to begin to think about the impact of devices that allowed for the space that sound travels to be stretched from source to receptor. This disjunction of the voice from the body was particularly noticeable with invention of the radio and the ways in which technologies of this kind began to shape interpersonal dynamics. From my notes I cannot identify whether Daro had a position that she was taking relative to these topics, however I feel that it could possibly be my own fault as opposed to that of the lecturer’s. I can certainly understand the interest in this research particularly since it is a phenomenon that is continually evolving and continually shaping our own interactions and experiences.

Joel Sanders “ Making Sense: New Media and Social Space”
                I anxiously awaited the lecture by Joel Sanders since I had previously read of his work with Karen van Lengen on the Mix House proposal and the Sound Lounge project. His talk was well organized and featured a number of interesting ideas, though I was rather put off by the sequence of images at the end of the lecture showing a variety of promotional photographs of Apple products (iphones and ipad) as it seemed out of place and almost like an advertisement (Apple takes over the world! Well, Yale at least...). Sanders began with a presentation of a brief timeline of “technosonic architecture history” which included: the greek amphitheater, Chartres Cathedral, the impact of the printing press (the written word), the industrial revolution, the mid-century office, noise abatement, electro-acoustics, living room listening, PC ergonomics, and portable devices. Following in the theme of Daro’s lecture, this sequence was meant to illustrate the progression of changing relationships between inhabitants, space, and technology. For instance, the separation of sound and source which allowed sounds to be directed toward individual listeners rather than existing as a collective experience, the human disembodiment caused by PC ergonomics, or the lack of sensing bodies in public as currently distracted individuals wander the streets while focused on their portable mobile devices. Sanders hopes that the next steps in this progression will more explicitely attempt to re-awaken multisensory body engagement, and presented a few of his own projects in which he proposes ways for achieving this. The Mix House which was conceived of by Sanders in collaboration with Karen van Lengen and Ben Rubin, tries to re-empower the inhabitant and heighten acoustic awareness within a residential construction by integration moving portions of the building which are able to capture exterior sounds and re-project them into the interior space of the house at the touch of a screen by the user. I personally am not attracted to this type of solution because I feel as though they are only simulating a re-engagement with the exterior environment and are continuing to use technology as a mediator which creates more distance between the physical and the perceived. The Sound Lounge attempted to use distinct physical forms in conjunction with holoscopic speakers (audio spotlights or sound showers) to define zones of inhabitation within a lobby space. Apparently the final installed effect was not as successful as they had hoped, mostly due to the nature of the space as a transit space and passage. I am certainly interested in many similar ideas that Sanders brings up, such as the desire (and importance) of reawakening sensory awareness of place, and creating experiences that link the “eye and ear, the mind and body and the physical and virtual”. I am just not convinced by many of the multi-media immersive proposals that have been explored so far, and personally care more about reconnecting the inherently physical nature of spaces with the ambient conditions they create.

Joel Sanders

John Durham Peters “The Morman Tabernacle as Theologically Embedded Soundscape”
                To conclude the first half of the afternoon session, Peters presented a somewhat bizarre, yet intriguing, lecture on the role of the Morman Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, Utah. Peters explained that the tabernacle acts as an “acoustically sensitive voice box” which emanates the word of God. This is a fitting description, as the acoustics of this space are world famous. The roof, roughly shaped as an ellipse, was built by a bridge builder entirely of wood and subsequently acts as an acoustic sounding board. The adjacent temple with its towering, solid stone structure, orthogonal organization and emphasis on silence, can be understood as the “male” counterpart to the “female” tabernacle, which in contrast, is defined by its rounded wooden roof and organic materials (rawhide binding, horsehair insulation), but mostly as a structure to be filled with sound. The tension produced by this juxtaposition is interesting in itself and I wish that Peters had continued with more of an analysis in this vein. Instead, he started talking about the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and randomly introduced the notion that the choir was the “whitest” homogeneous collective group (in the country? in the world?). How is this relevant? The audience nervously started shifting in their seats as Peters continued pursuing this train of thought (accompanied by several slides showing performances with several African American featured artists). Regardless of the way the lecture ended, the bulk of the talk was illuminating and well researched, and I enjoyed the analysis of such an iconic acoustic structure.

The next recap will cover the last afternoon session of the first full day of the symposium and the keynote lecture by Liz Diller.  Check back in a few days for the post!