RECAP #4 - "The Sound of Architecture" at Yale School of Architecture

Yale School of Architecture
"The Sound of Architecture"
October 5, 2012 4pm - 6pm

"If you see better, you think you can hear better"  - Liz Diller

I am happy to report that several of the afternoon lectures incorporated sound and/or video clips! Hurrah! I had been waiting for the “sound” in the “sound of architecture” to be put forth and explored, and while I may not have been completely satisfied by the content of the clips that made it in (always hoping that my particular interests might be addressed), I was nevertheless glad they were present as part of the discussion.

REPRESENTING ACOUSTIC ENVIRONMENTS

Ingram Marshall “Alcatraz”
                With photos by Jim Bengston and a soundtrack by Marshall, “Alcatraz” creates a haunting visual and aural experience that projects the solidity, mournfulness, mystery, and history of the defunct prison island in San Francisco Bay. The piece is broken into several parts of which we listened/watched the following:

Introduction
The Approach
Inside
Rules and Regulations
Cell Doors
Solitary
Escape
End

In general I was more drawn to the soundtrack portion of the composition which incorporated recorded sound, composed sound and speech. Repetition and distortion were used to create rhythms and multiple layers occurring simultaneously created areas of richness and depth within the piece. While Marshall claimed otherwise, the photos had the effect of appearing as in a slideshow, and which I therefore found lacking intensity and relevance. Often there were moments where I was unable to discern the actual image that appeared due to the superimposition of two images, however I suspect that this inability to gain clarity and resolution was most likely part of the intention. Here is a clip on youtube of the sound (without images) of the last movement “End”. What do you think?

Jonathan Sterne “ Sampling Space: A Simple Theory of Convolution Reverb”
                Sterne, known for his books: “MP3: The Meaning of a Format” and “The Audible Past: Cultural Origins of Sound Reproduction” (neither of which I have read I must confess) presented a talk which was concerned with reverberation. More specifically, the process of coding acoustic qualities of physical space into virtual/digitally determined spaces, or convolution reverb. Convolution reverb basically uses the measured impulse response of a physical space and then overlays the resulting information on a digital signal in order to produce the effect of that signal occurring within the original physical environment. The process itself is fascinating and the concept poses questions of reality and artificiality within the realm of sound. Sterne clarifies that he is interested in the “acoustic representation of acoustic space” and the multiplicity of spaces that can be experienced through an audio signal augmented by convolution reverb. I was unable to determine (or decipher from my notes) what position Sterne was taking on the subject, but I can see the blending of spaces through sound leading to a wide range of explorations and proposals. You can visit Sterne’s website here: http://sterneworks.org/ to learn more about his essays, books, and courses.

Randolph Jordan "Constructing an Acoustic History of Vancouver on Film"
                Jordan, who’s “ongoing research explores the intersections between audiovisual media, sound studies, and urbanism” presented a talked that addressed the impact of film sound on soundscape research, specifically within the setting of Vancouver. He used clips of several movies including, “Madeline Is...”, “The Grey Fox” and the particularly intriguing “Hastings Street” which can be viewed on vimeo here: https://vimeo.com/19191802 as examples for the investigations. The filming for Hastings Street took place in 1962 while the post production was completed in 2007. This disjunction creates a false truth that, unnerving as it is, elicits a heightened response and sensitivity to contextual relationships and visual and aural alignments. I do believe that Jordan was the only speaker to address the significance of sound in films, yet clearly there is a rich history within this area of study. Jordan develops his research by focusing on the environmental conditions (as opposed to musical soundtrack) and in doing so brings together the dynamic qualities of video with the dynamic qualities of sound recording. I wish there had been a little more time spent discussing the topic in the broader sense before diving into the extremely site specific study of Vancouver.

Liz Diller “B+/A-”
                Diller’s lecture (for which I have copius notes, and to which I was attentively listening) was an honest, clearly structured explanation of three projects which differed widely in scale, construction, and intention and yet were similar in that they really did not have much to do with the topic of “sound and architecture” in the first place. I have to admit that I was disappointed about this, and found it curious that a symposium with such a specific theme, with such a wide range of possible topics within that theme, didn’t ask a lecturer that was more directly related to the practice of shaping spaces of sound or constructing sounds of space. What a missed opportunity to expand the horizons of the architectural world! Regardless, Liz Diller was a phenomenal speaker who managed to imbue her tone with the quality of familiarity and competence, and who spoke articulately (despite arriving 20 minutes late) and knowledgeably on an array of topics, though only addressing the relationship of sound and architecture peripherally at best. She herself acknowledged her lack of interest and expertise in the field and wondered how it came to be that she was the keynote speaker for such a symposium! In any case...
                Blur Building: The Blur building, which was constructed for the Swiss Expo of 2002 was an “attempt at creating pure atmosphere.” Diller and Scofidio were focused on creating a place where all visual and acoustic references were eliminated. This was achieved by pumping lake water through the “structure” of the building (essentially plumbing) and through high pressure spigots which created a fine mist. Despite the (what I think is magical in itself) “white noise” that was created by the spigots which spewed out the filtered lake watert, there was also a Christian Marclay sound piece (of mic’d dripping water) that was periodically perceptible within the “building”.
                Whitney Retrospective: Apparently distressed by the fact that they were asked to do a retrospective as if it was already time to sum up and look back on the work they had previously done (in 2003!), D&S instead conceived of an installation which simultaneously existed in the present and yet was increasing destroyed so as not to exist in the future. First a series of walls were erected to create areas of isolation, then, the mechanism with which they would be deconstructed was attached as robotic drills were mounted to tracks along the length of the walls. These drills would move from coordinate to coordinate and drill ½” holes through the wall structure leaving behind a hole until these holes became so dense that the wall could no longer support itself. Basically it became a 3 months drilling performance project where the wall competed for attention with the museum.
                  Alice Tully Hall: The title of the lecture comes from the acceptance that, from an acoustic standpoint, the original (pre renovation) Alice Tully Hall was a B+/A- hall which meant that is was a good multipurpose hall, but imperfect for all programs. Diller Scofidio & Renfro were tasked with improving the hall to make it a “great chamber music hall” which also worked for other programs while providing intimacy with the condition that they could not lose a single seat in the hall and were only able to change the interior cavity to a depth of 18” off the wall. Not only that, but they needed to reshape the walls in order redirect sound reflections to the center of the hall (at present they had the tendency to gather at the edges, a “gutterball” effect). At this point the analysis that dealt with the acoustical qualities of the space were left behind and the rest of the lecture recounted the EXTREMELY challenging process of developing wall panels that behaved appropriately acoustically and that had the quality of glowing from behind. The process was just SO involved and really a labor of love, determination, and might I add, willingness on the part of the client that I will refrain from repeating it here (not even sure if I could, it was quite a struggle really). It is amazing to me that DS&R were able to push this research and development intensive wall panel system through and ultimately install it in the final scheme particularly as it had to meet specific technical requirements (the necessary acoustic mass was achieved by laminating heat formed polyester resin with wood veneer as thin as paper), had to create the desired atmosphere (intimacy was achieved through lighting and material which were integrated into one system), and had to be constructed within an extremely short time-frame (16 months start to finish). Now that is was I call an accomplishment!