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Sound and Space: Structure, Movement, and the Senses

Cathy Hopkinson (MS Report, 2013)

Renzo Piano’s “Ark” for Prometeo: A Tragedy of Listening. Photograph of musicians practicing walking around the audience below. Moving sound source creates a sense of space. Image from Pellisier, Alain. “Entretien Avec Renzo Piano.” Techniques et Architecture. (1985) Page 104
Renzo Piano’s “Ark” for Prometeo: A Tragedy of Listening Photograph of musicians practicing walking around the audience below. Moving sound source creates a sense of space. Image from Pellisier, Alain. “Entretien Avec Renzo Piano.” Techniques et Architecture. (1985) Page 104
Renzo Piano’s Ark for Prometeo: A Tragedy of Listening. Diagram showing the concept of three layers of sound motion via the loudspeakers, creating a sense of space through sound. Image from Nono, Luigi. Verso Prometeo. Ricordi, 1984. Page 43
Renzo Piano’s Ark for Prometeo: A Tragedy of Listening Diagram showing the concept of three layers of sound motion via the loudspeakers, creating a sense of space through sound. Image from Nono, Luigi. Verso Prometeo. Ricordi, 1984. Page 43
Music for Sound-Joined Rooms,” located at the 21st Century Cultural Information Museum in Tokushima, Japan. Images from Pamphlet Architecture 16: Architecture as Translation of Music Pages 35, 33
Music for Sound-Joined Rooms,” located at the 21st Century Cultural Information Museum in Tokushima, Japan. Images from Pamphlet Architecture 16: Architecture as Translation of Music Pages 35, 33
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Renzo Piano’s “Ark” for Prometeo: A Tragedy of Listening. Photograph of musicians practicing walking around the audience below. Moving sound source creates a sense of space. Image from Pellisier, Alain. “Entretien Avec Renzo Piano.” Techniques et Architecture. (1985) Page 104
Renzo Piano’s Ark for Prometeo: A Tragedy of Listening. Diagram showing the concept of three layers of sound motion via the loudspeakers, creating a sense of space through sound. Image from Nono, Luigi. Verso Prometeo. Ricordi, 1984. Page 43
Music for Sound-Joined Rooms,” located at the 21st Century Cultural Information Museum in Tokushima, Japan. Images from Pamphlet Architecture 16: Architecture as Translation of Music Pages 35, 33
Renzo Piano’s “Ark” for Prometeo: A Tragedy of Listening Photograph of musicians practicing walking around the audience below. Moving sound source creates a sense of space. Image from Pellisier, Alain. “Entretien Avec Renzo Piano.” Techniques et Architecture. (1985) Page 104
Renzo Piano’s Ark for Prometeo: A Tragedy of Listening Diagram showing the concept of three layers of sound motion via the loudspeakers, creating a sense of space through sound. Image from Nono, Luigi. Verso Prometeo. Ricordi, 1984. Page 43
Music for Sound-Joined Rooms,” located at the 21st Century Cultural Information Museum in Tokushima, Japan. Images from Pamphlet Architecture 16: Architecture as Translation of Music Pages 35, 33

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The paper discusses ways in which architectural projects can be designed, built and used in performances such that their audiences perceive space more extensively through sound. Design variables such as movement, structure, and physical characteristics of sound (i.e. locationing, centering, ephemerality, and the physical properties of sound waves) contributed to the creation of spaces in three case studies that are intentionally articulated by sound, thereby treating architecture as a musical instrument. This research has been undertaken in order to broaden and deepen our understanding of how sound enriches the spaces around us every day, whether or not we are aware of it, and to identify repeatable design characteristics of which architects may utilize.

Cathy Hopkinson