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Justin Bennett (1964) originally Barry Blesser received his Berend Jan Bockting (1983) Sound artist Cilia Erens
British, studied sculpture Ph.D. in 1969 from mit, and studied media and culture as (1946), a planner by training,
in Sheffield and sonology at for the following nine years, well as journalism and media at introduced the so-called sound
the Royal Conservatoire in he continued as an associate the University of Amsterdam. walk to the Netherlands
The Hague. He completed his professor of electrical He has written for, amongst in 1987. She uses everyday,
education in the early 1990s engineering and research others, the vpro Gids and mostly unmixed sound in her
with a post-graduate study at scientist in the Cognitive De Groene Amsterdammer sound walks, sound panoramas
the Jan van Eyck Academy in Information Processing magazines. He is currently and soundscapes. She is able
Maastricht. He has been living Group. One of the pioneers an editor with de Volkskrant to penetrate deeper layers of
and working in The Hague of digital audio technology newspaper, where he writes being without resorting to
since then. The sounds of the during the 1970s, he developed about media, art and film. He text, using the audible space
city, in all their diversity, are the first commercial artificial likes personal, human stories as her speciality. One of her
an important part of his work. reverberation system, which behind the art and the artists, best-known works is Silencer,
He makes sound cards of cities was used extensively in and he has a weakness for a sound performance about
such as Beirut and The Hague, adding spatiality to recorded abandoned industrial sites, the silence of not speaking. In
in which he alerts the listener- music. For the last 40 years, reflective skyscrapers, and every artwork about sound,
observer to phenomena that he has provided technical the artistic extremities in the chosen form is part of the
initially are not immediately and management consulting electronic music and Asian content.
perceivable. He continues services to more than 50 cinema. Listening to her compositions
to do this in an original and companies worldwide, founded always results in a new
experimental way, without several high-technology reality within the existing
resorting to tricks or formats. companies, received numerous one: an augmented reality.
Bennett explains his fascination patents and published in a wide Countless listeners experienced
for sound as follows: Noise is variety of professional journals. that during sound walks
the sand between your toes, the In 2006, after five years of in Rotterdam, Taipei,
chink in the chain, the music reseach on the physical and Broekpolder, Amsterdam,
that keeps you awake and the cognitve experience of sound Berlin, Yogyakarta and other
sea that lulls you to sleep. Noise in space, mit Press published places.
is coincidence, chance and luck. his book Spaces Speak, Are You
Noise is the vibration of life Listening? Experiencing Aural
itself. Architetcure.
biographies
Raviv Ganchrow (1972) After being classically trained Maarten Kloos (1947) studied Lieselore Maes (1978) was
completed his architectural as a pianist and composer architecture at the Delft born in Belgium and has lived
studies at the Cooper Union, in Poland and Russia from University of Technology in Amsterdam since 1981.
New York in 2000, and received the age of five, Sebastian from 1966 to 1976. During and As a student of geography at
a second degree from the Janusz (1978) began his after his studies he worked the universities of Utrecht
Institute of Sonology at The architectural education in for various architects in and Amsterdam she was
Royal Conservatoire in The Poland and Germany and Amsterdam and Paris. From particularly fascinated by
Hague in 2004. His practice completed his masters degree 1979 onwards he taught the geography of the city. She
focuses on interrelations at the Amsterdam Academy of architectural design at Delft completed her internship at
between sound, place and Architecture in 2005. University of Technology and arcam Amsterdam Centre
listener, aspect of which He gained his professional at various academies. From for Architecture, and has
are explored through sound experience while collaborating 1981 to 1986 he was head of the continued to work there on
installations, writings as with well-regarded department of architecture at a project basis ever since. In
well as the development of architectural practices the Amsterdam Academy of 2010, for example, she worked
sound-forming technologies including Herman Hertzberger, Architecture. Over the years on the exhibitionMusic, Space
such as Wave Field Synthesis. nl Architects and Abbink De he has given many lectures and Architecture. In addition,
His sound installations Haas architectures. at architecture schools and she worked for the Physical
and sound works have been Currently he combines institutes at home and abroad. Planning Department of
exhibited in the usa, France, practicing architecture with Kloos has written numerous the City of Amsterdam. She
Austria, the Netherlands and composing and performing articles for various was also involved in the first
Norway. He has been teaching his music. His architectural publications, including foreign exhibition of the Van Eesteren
architectural design in the projects have been exhibited magazines such as LArchitecture Museum in Amsterdam New-
graduate programme at Delft in arcam, the Amsterdam dAujourdhui and Werk, Bauen West.
University of Technology, and Centre for Architecture, + Wohnen. From 1976 onwards
is currently a faculty member at while his compositions he published regularly in
the Institute of Sonology. have been performed in het Wonen-ta/bk (which later
Concertgebouw Amsterdam became Archis). In addition, he
and Van Gogh Museum was architecture critic for de
Amsterdam, among others. Volkskrant newspaper from 1979
In his work he concentrates until 1986. Important books by
on the dialogue as an Kloos include Le paradis terrestre
effective means of on-going de Picassiette , Alexander Bodon,
communication. Its target is architect, Schiphol Architecture
to increase view of multiple and Godin van de Zuidas: De
perspectives in order to create Minervalaan - as in tijd en ruimte.
a new understanding of a In 1986, Kloos co-founded
situation that demands change. arcam, the Amsterdam
Amsterdam, a city which has Centre for Architecture. In
a long tradition of culture and his capacity as director of
debate, plays a key role in this arcam, he has organized
process. many debates and exhibitions
He is a visiting critic at the about new architectural and
Amsterdam Academy of spatial developments in the
Architecture and at the Amsterdam area. He launched
at the Delft University of and is editor-in-chief of the
Technology. arcam pockets, a series of
multilingual paperbacks. In
addition, Kloos has initiated
much talked-about projects
such as Boomtown Amsterdam
(1988) and the (digital) map the
arcam kaart (1995).
In addition to his activities at
arcam, Kloos has contributed
to many public debates and
publications and has been a
member of various competition
juries and advisory committees.
He is a member of the board
of the Van Doesburghuis
Foundation in Meudon and the
foundation Europan Nederland.
Until recently he was also
a member of the board of
Platform Architectuur Lokaal.
In 2000, Maarten Kloos
was awarded the prestigious
Rotterdam Maaskant Prize.
Annette Bos. Tabula Rasa
David Tins. Calming parc
Chris Verstappen. Urban volume
Kim Verhoeven. Space in four parts
Kim Verhoeven. Space in four parts
Jasper Smits. Pavilion at Westkapelse Kreek
Jasper Smits. Pavilion at Westkapelse Kreek
Jasper ten Bosch. Phase patterns
Jasper ten Bosch. Phase patterns
Jurgis Dagelis. Monument for human greed
Jurgis Dagelis. Monument for human greed
Narda Beunders. Mobius music walls
Narda Beunders. Mobius music walls
Nirya Zurheide. Pavilion traffic
Nirya Zurheide. Pavilion traffic
Meritxell Blanco Diaz. Shhhh...listen!
Research Reflections Projects 05
Music,
Space and
Architecture
Introduction
Maarten Kloos
Theme 22
Machiel Spaan
Research 30
Urban space
Justin Bennett
Sound collecting 35
Cilia Erens
The audible space 43
Architectural space
Rob Metkemeijer
The acoustic space 51
Sjoerd Soeters
A74523 in relation to M39762 61
Jacob Voorthuis
Thinking boundaries in the production of architecture and music 67
Machiel Spaan
Musical approaches to space 77
Experimental space
Berend Jan Bockting
Three compositions for the Noorderkerk 95
Lieselore Maes
Music, Space and Architecture exhibition at arcam 105
Intrinsic space
Barry Blasser and Linda-Ruth Salter
Eventscapes: the aural experience of space 131
Raviv Ganchrow
Shapes of time: an experiential account of sonic spatiality 141
Bart Visser
Creating space 147
Foreword
Aart Oxenaar
director Amsterdam Academy of Architecture
20
foreword
21
Theme
Maarten Kloos
22
introduction
23
introduction
Many people will take the view that space, and thus
architecture, is absent in that situation. It makes more
sense, however, to argue that space is very much present
there, only turned inward. In other words, that an interior
space exists (you could call it virtual) which plays a
role in the experience of music. Countless photographs
and film sequences of musicians listening to one of their
own recordings on headphones make clear, by their
facial expressions, for example, that this is how one can
summon up maximum concentration. Indeed, the degree
of concentration often seems to be nothing other than the
reflection of inner space.
Musing about music, space and architecture, in a decor by Zaha Hadid and in the company of Karlheinz Stockhausen
(Westergasfabriek, Holland Festival, 6 June 2010).
26
introduction
27
introduction
28
Research
Machiel Spaan
30
introduction
33
urban space / Sound collecting
34
Sound
collecting
Justin Bennett
35
urban space / Sound collecting
36
The space I have described is
urban space / The audible space
37
Anyone who has become
urban space / The audible space
38
urban space / Sound collecting
Recording with microphones in your ears1 Or a place: plaza, atrium, park, alleyway.
seems to be closest to your own perception of Or a thing: a flag in the wind, boat horns in the
sound. But its not only the sound that you will harbour.
capture, but also the movements of your head
and body a breath, a sniff, a footstep. When But often I will just walk. An aural derive
you listen back to the recording on headphones, following your ears is a great way to explore
its as if you are really there, but someone else is a place, but sometimes I will follow someone
there too the ghost of the body of the recordist is in order to be taken somewhere unexpected.
also present on the tape. The recording becomes a trace, a line drawn
through the city.
Other microphone techniques shift focus
and perspective to different degrees. 2 Small Im especially fond of recording walks which
microphones can go where your ears cant cross acoustic thresholds: moving from a
inside a bottle on a beach perhaps. Then the busy street into an echoing passage or sleepy
resonance of the vessel can be a stronger element courtyard, or from an expensive shopping
in the recording than the surrounding noises. street into a poor area with kids playing street
Attach a contact microphone to a window and football. The recordings reveal just how much
it turns into a huge microphone. Are you then our hearing can tell us about the urban fabric.
listening to a sheet of glass, or are you hearing
the world as if you were a sheet of glass? One can use technology to reveal the acoustic
signature of a space.3 Space itself is then heard,
I might go to a city to plan to record an event: distilled. But in everyday life the spaces of
a market, demonstration or ceremony. the city are sounded by the activities that
/DAT379/funicular_
descent.aif
/DAT328/madrid_ Many voices, close to the
fountain_pump.aif listener. Behind these, heavy
The sound of a fountain traffic. Footsteps on stone
with voices and birds in steps lead us away from
the middle distance. The the traffic into a resonant /2009/bcn01/macba_plein_
microphone is resting on a space. Beeping and clunking soundscheck.wav
wall, accidentally picking machines check the flow of Skaters on a plaza create
up a mechanical vibration the crowd. The soft hum echoes from the buildings
(the pump for the fountain?) of escalators and other when their boards hit
which creates a musical machines fills the space as the ground. Someone is
drone underneath the other we descend quietly to the testing a PA system with a
sounds. platforms. microphone.
39
urban space / Sound collecting
take place in them. The interaction between No matter how purist your approach is to
productive or playful activity and acoustic making a recording, when its played through
space creates a social sonic space. Children loudspeakers into a room the equipment and
playing or skateboarders use sound to signal the acoustics of the space change the sound into
their activity, laying claim to the space. If you something else. The result is never the same as
listen to recordings of public spaces, can you the original soundfield and not even the same as
hear if they are socially successful spaces or the signals recorded onto the tape.
not? Conversely, could one base a plan for a new
public space on an acoustic design? Electronic manipulation of sound is for me
primarily an extension of the recording
There is much debate in the world of phono process. Its like zooming into the sound to
graphy on how much one is allowed to change hear it more clearly. Using filters, you can scan
sound once it has been recorded. And just as with through the frequency range of a recording for
photography there is a spectrum of different interesting details which can then be separated
approaches ranging from the sonic snapshot to from the background noise. Transposition
the framed or even staged recording. (varispeed) plays the sound at different
speeds, moving unnoticed frequency areas into
For me a recording is a trace made by a listener. the audible range.
A listener engaging with the soundscape and
making choices by choosing when to record, This process is a special form of listening,
with which microphone, from which distance or re-interpreting the sound to intensify what it is
by moving. Just being present in an environment that I find interesting.
changes the way that it will sound.
/DAT290/bcn_roof_
telinga.aif
We hear noises from the
surrounding streets and
houses (voices, cooking,
air conditioning, a siren,
bells). I move the microphone
between different resonant /the_well/work/istik_b_res- /sundial/Den_ Haag_roof/
chambers from buckets and 12_ LPF.wav dh_ 21.08.2005.15.32.00.wav
a tin bath on the roof, through A very resonant droning Birds chattering. Distant
the kitchen and bathroom sound in which voice-like traffic. A dog barks, a child
to an echoing airshaft in the details can be detected, shouts, then another. A
centre of the building. sometimes a phrase of music. distant aeroplane.
40
urban space / Sound collecting
This reinterpretation can start to suggest over the course of a day. Later I edit these
compositional strategies. But every process sounds chronologically into a piece lasting
creates more distance between the listener just a few minutes. The acoustic signatures of
and the original recorded event, eventually the cities and their daily rhythms can thus be
replacing it with a new perception altogether. (subjectively) compared. At first I thought that
after I had made a few of these pieces it would
Editing sound is, of course, also a form of become boring, and that I would stop. But I
manipulation creating musical or narrative realized that the repetition of this process,
form. In extreme cases, the minute splicing of despite or perhaps because of the boring
sounds can create new ones. 4 Generally though, bits, was teaching me to listen to the city in a
I like to keep sound in large chunks. Sounds for different way. For instance, trying to find the
me are not objects, samples that I have hunted moment, usually between three and five in the
and captured, but excerpts of life which reveal morning, when there is something in the city
spaces, atmospheres, movements and rhythms. that I can call silence a different silence for
Even when strongly processed the rhythms every city in the world.
and movements are still present in the resulting
sound. The Rhythmanalyst will listen to the world,
and above all to what are disdainfully called
On its own this sound doesnt tell anyone very noises, which are said without meaning, and to
much, it only makes sense in context. This murmurs, full of meaning and finally he will
is a fragment from a project called Sundial. I listen to silences.5
make acoustic portraits of different cities by
making timed recordings at a single location
41
urban space / The audible space
42
The
audible
space
Cilia Erens
43
urban space / The audible space
44
Wherever we are, what we
urban space / Sound collecting
45
High and low, bright and
urban space / Sound collecting
46
urban space / The audible space
47
urban space / The audible space
Inner-city boundary
First of all, we examined the boundaries of
the inner city. At Mr. Visserplein, opposite
the academy, two roads into the city converge
with one residential and retail street, the
Jodenbreestraat. Wearing blindfolds, students
started to distinguish elements such as
reflection, layers in sound, sound movements
and densities (Fig. 3). Behind them they heard
diffuse and occasional sounds at different
pitches on a small surface, such as the click of
iron, voices, bike tyres on asphalt, the ringing
of bells, the soft hum of engines sounds (Fig. 3) Examining the audible boundaries at the Mr.
that surface independently of one another and Visserplein, Amsterdam
then recede again. And all this mixed with
a continuous flow of noise from the passing
traffic. It turned out that the blindfolded
students experienced the audible boundary
of the city centre more strongly than those
without blindfolds.
City boundary
After that, we selected as city boundary
the transitional area between the end of the
Rijnstraat and the start of the A2 motorway to
Utrecht. We examined whether, and how, we
could make the idea of a city boundary audible
in a final presentation. We started by listening
to the A2 (Fig. 4). There was the prevailing,
indifferent hum of motorized traffic, and
closer to the road we heard the low-frequency,
unambiguous soundtrack produced by engines
and tyres on asphalt. Definitive proof that the
city and its inhabitants were nearing came in
the form of the rattling warning sounds created (Fig. 4) Listening to the A2 motorway
for blind pedestrians, which mixed with the din
of engines. The end of the motorway had been
signalled. Ten metres further and the sound
landscape had changed completely. Suddenly
the sound of traffic was reflected. And at
precisely that point it mixed with the music
and bustling noises emanating from inside a
building. A loud bell sounded briefly through a
speaker and blended with a metallic soundtrack
that gradually intensified. And we also heard
48
urban space / The audible space
footsteps on slabs, tyres and horses hooves on I was familiar with the appearance of the
asphalt, and the distant sound of a concertina chosen research sites, but that does not imply
coming from the same direction as a stationary that I automatically heard what I saw. Relative
vehicle with its heavy engine still running, silence is necessary to make diversity audible.
from which something was being unloaded. In Silence and diversity as two essential qualities
short, suddenly a diversity of city sounds that for a human scale in an urban environment.
rose and receded again.
Can we also come up with objective criteria
We measured the distance between the sounds to measure the sound patterns of urban spaces
furthest from each other in the transition and compare them with one another? Can
zone between motorway and city. Sound those audible criteria be captured by any unit of
homogeneity was located 340 metres away from measurement? And how could you then deploy
sound diversity, a manifestation of the small- them in a design process? The search for the
scale character that we also conveyed in the answer begins with listening to the audible
final presentation. space.
49
architectural space / The acoustic space
50
The
acoustic
space
Rob Metkemeijer
51
architectural space / The acoustic space
52
Sound and space are
architectural space / The acoustic space
inextricably connected,
interlocked in a dynamic
through which each performs
the other, bringing aurality
into spatiality and space into
aural definition. This plays
out in an acoustical occurrence
whereby sound sets into relief
the properties of a given
space, its materiality and
characteristics, through
reverberation and reflection,
and, in turn, these
characteristics affect the
given sound and how it is
heard.
Brandon La Belle. Background Noise. London 2007, p.123.
53
In sound-architecture the
architectural space / The acoustic space
54
architectural space / The acoustic space
and constantly varying signals. It is like trying Diffusing all these complex sounds into the
to see the interior of a space in a light that space occurs with time delays of approximately
changes colour and intensity very quickly and 50 milliseconds per 15 metres. Reverberation
irregularly, like randomized disco lights. in a space can take a few seconds. The sound
Learning to see in this way takes time, and one will have travelled a few hundred metres
may need many several different experiences to before becoming inaudible. This means that
get a representative picture of the space. And it when the latest audible reflections reach our
is highly probable that people will see the space ears, the sound will have travelled around in a
quite differently after such an experiment. moderately sized room a number of times so the
reverberant sound which determines a major
Back to sound, the reflecting boundaries of the part of the quality of tone contains information
space add many repetitions to the signal, which of the whole space and all of its boundaries.
cause significant and audible time delays to the This is very different from seeing the space,
first , direct signal heard. The sources signal where all boundaries are perceived as parallel
and the acoustics are heard simultaneously, so it information at the same time.
is not easy to separate the two. Yet our auditory
system is equipped to hear the music and the Intimacy
space more or less separately. The direct sound from a source to the
listener and these early reflections provides
In theory, a continuous white noise, information about the distance to the source
broadband signal (similar to a continuous white and the dimensions of the space.
light for the visual perception of a space) would
be the most suitable way of hearing a space, An important finding of one of the most
but our perception system is not trained for important studies on concert hall acoustics in
this. A very short pulse (which basically has a the early 1960s by Leo Beranek made clear that
broadband spectrum) is suitable, however. A a significant factor for the quality of sound in
musician that wants to get a first impression of a hall is its intimacy, which hinges on the time
the acoustics of a space, claps his hands to hear delay of the first reflections after the direct
the response to the pulse. sound. Halls, even large ones, that provide such
reflections will produce intimate sound.
Blending sound
The acoustics of concert halls are extremely The quality and character of the first reflections
important for music. Music played by natural are determined by the position and acoustic
instruments needs to be blended, smoothed properties of the spaces boundary elements.
and amplified by the space. A violin sounds The design of these elements is important,
weak and thin outdoors, but it can sound warm especially around a stage and in the front
and full in a closed space or even when only of a hall. This is where the real size and the
supported by a few sound-reflecting surfaces. perceived acoustic size of a hall can be made
more or less independently of each other.
A reason for this is that violins and most other
instruments radiate sound in a highly complex A similar effect, suggesting a large space in a
way, different for all tones. The acoustic space small room, can be attained by adding strong
collects the emitted sound from all directions, and well-delayed first reflections plus long
mixes it and diffuses it into the space to the ears reverberation by electronic means. These
of a listener. systems are often used by singers.
55
architectural space / The acoustic space
(Fig. 3) Musikverein Vienna, high, and not wide, to enhance intimacy and spatial hearing
56
architectural space / The acoustic space
57
architectural space / The acoustic space
(Fig. 4) Town Hall Christchurch (New Zealand). Typical design for strong early (lateral) reflections in a large hall.
58
architectural space / The acoustic space
(Fig. 5)
59
Iannis Xenakis. Metastaseis, 1953
A74523
in relation
to M39762
Sjoerd Soeters
61
architectural space / A74523 in relation to M39762
When the invitation reached me to write a text I am not so widely gifted. I generally try to
on the relationship between architecture and explain to clients and students that urban
music, that request was accompanied by the planning and architecture are not scientific
introduction of a mitigating circumstance. I had fields of practice, that there are countless
already given a brief talk in the Noorderkerk interpretations and just as many implicit
in Amsterdam to introduce the ambitious objectives. I state on these occasions that it
performance of musical works covering almost certainly is not rocket science and that the
all of Western musical history, starting with most important goal should be to keep it simple
Bach and leaping forward to Iannis Xenakis enough for ordinary mortals such as you and
and John Cage. me and the average working-class stiff to
understand and appreciate.
In this brief introduction, I attempted to
convey to the audience at the concert how In music, it is largely the same, with the
privileged and free such a programme is in difference that no matter how exceptionally
comparison to what is considered decent and serious some music may be music appears to
normal in the world of architecture. In the have been made exclusively for experience,
divided world of architecture, you have near- emotion, inspiration and pleasure. With the
religious conclaves of modern architecture exception of the ceremonial aspect, the task
on the one side, which basically focus mainly of contributing colour and charm to events,
on avant-garde examples, and on the other conferences, parades and marches in which
side you have the denomination of cultural the music sets the mood of the audience, music
heritage conservationists, local historians, seems able to imagine itself free of the burdens
preservation societies and so on. Both sides are and limitations of functionality.
more or less subsidized, and have organized
themselves into societies with spokespersons, Since architecture and music exist in an equally
writers, photographers, publishers, non- enormous variation and wealth of types
profit association boards, subsidy review and appearances, shifting these reflective
committees, and so on and so forth. Both sides counterparts closer to each other may lead to
are fairly intolerant, and anyone venturing an infinite series of inspirations, resulting in
into the demilitarized zone between the two metaphorical flights of fancy in which A20785
entrenched viewpoints must realize the not is associated with M69735. I hope there is a
inconsequential danger they face. Music is mathematician following this, one who can
not like that; such scope, such disinterested calculate the absolute number of combinations
interest, such concentration and rapture. for us. If a subsidy is available to work out
all those pairs, it would be possible to puzzle
The relationship between architecture together a thick but comprehensive standard
and music has already been the subject of a reference, which I will recommend to my
great deal of writing and imagination. In my students. Sales are sure to be high!
immediate vicinity, there are also people who
occasionally, in referring to their personal Embedded in the context of my own occupation
history, illuminate their multi-talented nature with urban design projects, I have abandoned
by noting that they had, at some point in time, the analysis of A18654 and M37659 on
to choose between architecture and music. the extent to which sound still resonates and
I always wonder at such moments, while reflects in the architectural space and the space
sampling their comments and wondering what between the notes in both architecture and
they have done up until then, whether they music and left that topic to its own devices.
would actually have made it much farther than Similarly, I have not taken up the proffered
that if they had pursued music instead. Perhaps gauntlet of A64923 in combination with
these diverse individuals are those in whose M49786, which compares the use of the term
minds both disciplines have been brought to colour in music and in architecture. However,
fruition in such balance that they are able to since we were about to listen to Bach, Iannis
write an in-depth essay on the topic. Xenakis and John Cage, it seemed to me that
62
Power is a non-stop tape, and
architectural space / A74523 in relation to M39762
63
What is patent in music must
architectural space / A74523 in relation to M39762
also be so in architecture.
Thus, with proportion as a
projection of the harmony of
the universe, its basis both
scientific and religious was
quite unassailable.
Colin Rowe. The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa and Other Essays. Cambridge, MA 1987, p. 8.
64
architectural space / A74523 in relation to M39762
it would be appropriate to discuss series of of waiting for the next toot, the next piano
consecutive notes compared to the individual note or strike of the drum. Sounds here are not
note, trumpet blare, strike of the drum you structured in series; instead, they are at most
understand what I mean: A74523 in relation to placed in series of contrast at random intervals.
M39762. In the modern city, buildings do not stand
shoulder to shoulder with their face or mask
As a complete layman, I experience most directed towards the public space; rather, they
classical music as a series of sounds that are stand isolated in free-floating space. They can
coherently connected, not only within a be appreciated primarily as they stand on their
measure of music, but also in the composition own, distinct. Their forms of expression are
in which themes are introduced, elaborated iconic, autonomous, completely individual.
on by various instrumental arrangements Cohesion is not the aim here. As in Cages
and developed up to a climax or left endlessly music, one might almost suspect that the
chasing its own fugue-ridden tail. In traditional composition here could only have been created
cities, this metaphor insistently comes to mind by a toss of the dice.
when I walk past a series of buildings that
enclose public spaces, in which the buildings Performing a piece by Cage is an exciting
all look a bit alike but are also a bit different experience because all conventions are set
yet sufficiently similar to be in harmony. aside; enjoying it requires considerable
In terms of atmosphere and mood, the series concentration. The cd that I have of his music is
of public spaces are the adagios, allegros and at my disposal; I could play it any time I like, but
andantes, with the exceptional structures I have not chosen to listen to it twice.
taking on the solos in the composition. All these In areas where modern urban architecture is
aspects, in urban architecture as in music, can practised, excursions arranged by architects
be enjoyed as a harmonious whole, both as a and city planners demand the same devoted
total composition and in every last detail. With concentration. For people who live or work
or without counterpoint, it is called harmony, there all their lives, it is generally not their first
cohesion. choice.
Xenakis composes in a sort of cloud of sounds The question that can be asked in both
that are so closely positioned in space, or in architecture and music is this: how much
time, that they can no longer be separated or distance can there be between buildings and
distinguished. These sound clouds could be notes, in space and in time, before cohesion
compared to pointillist painting (P28749); and coherence have receded so far into
translated into urban architecture, I would the background that they can no longer be
ideally compare them to villages that have perceived? And then: could it not be said that
grown organically, or phenomena like the cohesion is a condition of perceived beauty,
favelas, where countless houses stand huddled or in any case a deep and abiding desire of
against the hills, seemingly without structure, mankind?
hierarchy, beginning or end, at least when
viewed from a distance. The individual grains
are small, but many grains together create a
painting or a piece of music that does not lend
itself to precise definition; it is a collection, a
cloud.
65
Ton Rooijmans. Graphical analysis of the composition of the Basilica Palladiana, Vicenza.
Graphical analysis of listening to architecture: horizontally, the rhythms are visible from left to right. Vertically, the
chords are visible, different elements that are accordant with one another on different levels. The further along the time
line, the more detailed the rhythms and the mutual relations.
66
Thinking
boundaries
in the
production of
architecture
and music
Jacob Voorthuis
67
architectural space / Thinking about boundaries in the production of architecture and music
Where does the boundary between music and surface of concepts with which people try to
architecture lie? simulate reality so as to be able to use their body
well in their environment.3 This model does not
Put in that way, the question makes us assume pretend to have reached any ultimate truth it
the existence of a boundary. That might is a simulation of reality that appears to work.
seem self-evident a boundary between two The pattern formed by the connections in this
concepts is after all commonly demarcated by a virtual network shows a certain cohesion from
definition: definio in Latin means to bound, set the point of view of a person who is directing
bounds to, limit, terminate, define. Boundaries his gaze outwards towards the world in which
are drawn to mark out property for the he lives: the perspective, for example, of my
purposes of management and husbandry. Does current view of architecture as a discipline, or
it make sense to see architecture and music as the perspective of your earlier view of music, in
owners of their own territory? Would such an which the various things crowding in on that
approach not inevitably lead to border conflicts? view are related to one another and measured
Ludwig Wittgenstein advised us not to look against one another in the play of a discussion.
at the formal definition of a word but rather to Seen on the basis of such a model, there does
consider its actual use in our language. 1 This not need to be any boundary drawn between
essay is an attempt to answer that call. The architecture and music: they constitute
position it takes is that the words architecture colourful strands within the braided continuity
and music refer to specific relationships of human experience. Nevertheless they can,
between the human body and its environment, just like a territory, be mapped. But how?
and manage these relationships in the economy
of our understanding. They do this by providing Architecture and music are produced in
the discussion about certain processes and stages by the ordering of our environment
their products with a network of significance, in a design (the virtual space of the drawing
a framework of concepts articulated against or a composition), the performance (the real
a conceptual field that constitutes our being- or actualized space of the design made into a
human. 2 Every instance of use has its origin building or the actual performance of a piece
in the same source: the person making use of of music) and the experience of these, whereby
something. But how are we to represent that the virtual and the real are attuned to each
framework of concepts? This essay explores other in the representation of them. 4 The point
the issue at the hand of the concepts tectonics, of view of the I leads the way in this process,
movement and rhythm. by drawing things together. In discussions
with others, I disciplines the words used
Nowadays we tend to think about meaning in order to bring out my meaning. Music,
using different metaphors from those common before it is anything else, is a word able to
during the Roman Empire: no longer as a shape a discussion by relating a special set of
partitioned landscape divided into lots and relationships between body and environment
requiring border guards motivated by imperial and thereby determining them in their
ambitions, but as an intimately braided virtual significance. The sentence this is architecture
network of coordinates plotting a complex or this is music form judgements with reference
68
architectural space / Thinking about boundaries in the production of architecture and music
to a special spatial experience. In the use of 1. Through the pattern that emerges when
such a sentence we order the tableau of the each discipline orders the network of
environment we are undergoing through our concepts within the field of human usage
senses and measure it against our experience, and the hierarchies each institutes, thereby
making it cohere into an experience of, in this portraying themselves from the point of view
case, an instance of architecture or music. The of the user.
sentence, THIS is music! involves a selection 2. T he instrumental concepts they each make
and ordering of our environment in experience; use of make them appealing from their own
it is the judgement of a person in a special user perspective.
environment where something special is taking 3. T hrough the way the disciplines come
place, which is clearly the focus of his attention together, assembling around a particular
and which therefore guides the selection event and then, so to speak, do their own
and stitching together of the elements of the thing, as for example with the theme death
tableau presented to his senses. However, just or marriage, themes that have a musical as
because the word music denotes and judges well as an architectural dimension in the
a special experience as being a musical one, continuity of space.
does not of course mean that architecture
is not simultaneously present as something Id like to elaborate on the first two, leaving the
that is also being undergone. In fact, the two last to your own imagination.
are able to complement each other well and
invariably do so; the spatial experience of
beautiful music contributes to the experience First distinction: the portraying of a discipline
of a sublime architecture and vice versa. They
both denote and thereby manage their own The philosopher Roman Ingarden asked
processes of production and exploration, and himself the question: where is music situated?6
do this with the single voice of our humanity, Can we localize music? That turns out to be
using whatever seems useful or is known to rather difficult; it is much easier, on reflection,
work effectively. Both develop within our to show where it is not. With regard to the
human capacity for exploration and the practise place of music in the environment, it is clear
of our bodies in using our environment. Man that music cannot be situated on the page
is confined by the possibilities and limitations where it appears encoded in the form of musical
of his body in organizing his experiences and notation which, with the right interpretation
placing them within the production process of and the help of a musical instrument as well as
being, such that, for example, I can say: I am a practiced musician, might lead to music. In
someone who likes most of Beethoven and all this way we can point out the various stages of a
of Bach and for this to mean something.5 The musical experience where the music manifests
senses are collectively instrumental in the itself in the form of something it cannot be
production of space. Architecture and music said to be: a vibration, an echo, a memory
are thus conceptual aspects of an I that help us of a movement, an analogy or a coded aid to
direct the special relationships between body memory within the environment to be called
and environment. They are different in that up. Nowhere here is it localized as a momentary
they are responsible for managing different feeling or the celebration of movement in being
processes. How do we then distinguish moved. And if the production of music requires
between the two? The distinction between the a pattern of air vibrations to penetrate the
two disciplines is made using this alternative body through its ears, its stretched skin and
model in at least three ways: its muscles, what then? Can we localize music
69
architectural space / Thinking about boundaries in the production of architecture and music
in the body? Not, in any case, as vibrations in use this judgment to refer to very different
the air those are and remain mere vibrations. experiences in fact reinforces the view proposed
Even with a pattern, they do not yet constitute here.Music isnt a thing, it is a judgment upon
music. Those patterns must be translated an event in the environment in which the body
by the ear and the brain into sound, a purely finds itself.
psychosomatic phenomenon, and this is then
distilled into music through skilful and well- Is that any different for architecture? No it
practised feeling, a knowing enjoyment or even isnt. Architecture also refers to a word with
a resolute distaste. which the process, that is the design process,
the process of making and the process of spatial
Neurological studies increasingly show that the experience together lead to the product that
construction of music lies in the coordinated is architecture, such as a well or badly judged
effort of the different parts of the brain. The design, a somatic memory of a space, perhaps
cerebellum, the amygdala, the prefrontal cortex expressed by appreciation, perhaps even
and various other parts work together, one articulated as a refined critical judgement, but
measuring rhythm and beat, another producing usually cherished in silence in the form of a
a primal emotional judgement that is later happy familiarity or intimacy, a well-practised
reassessed and nuanced in the cerebral cortex space, a space I know and can do.8
in the light of an individuals experience.7 The
enjoyment of music takes shape in conducted The bodys answer to music is a feeling; it is
feeling and motor movement, a dextrous and laughter, tears, deep joy and the smouldering
elegant movement that carries a proprioceptive simulation of wintery melancholy; it is dance,
component that in turn transfers meaning expression, movement, the rocking and the
back into the environment. As such, music gestures of the body. The bodys answer to
itself is not the feeling or the movement that music architecture is the movement through, alongside,
inspires. Music cannot be localized in the body; over, under, in and out, a place-related and
as it concerns a concerted play of the body in place-determining act, the orientation of the
its environment, it concerns a reciprocal game body to light, sound and sight. Music manifests
in which the I coordinates and determines the itself as a somatic answer to sound, and that
relationship between the two. Music might be is no different for architecture. Architecture
better conceived as a word with which a set of manifests itself in the bodily answer to a
correlative relations between the body and its spatial package of boundaries that architecture
environment is denoted and given character coordinates or manages in perception and
and cohesion. Music is an aspect of the I that discussion. Music as a term manages the bodily
can make statements such as I think this is music. production of musical rhythm in movement
In this statement, the word never transcends and emotion while architecture concerns the
its status as an abstraction, a virtual pattern bodily production of social space (let us not
articulated upon a field of concepts; the feeling, forget here that space in the work of Immanuel
the enjoyment, the movement, the sound, the Kant refers first and foremost to the organizing
memory, the experience have to be brought and portraying capacity of the human mind,
together and conducted in the production a space that, without this filtering and
of music as if they together constituted a therefore determining aspect of our perceptive
symphony orchestra of connected elements capabilities, we would never be able to know).9
playing together. And if the experience
of undergoing music is practised well and The body learns to recognize rhythm, timbre,
succeeds, then we arrive at the judgement: Ah! meter, harmony and melody so as to bring them
What beautiful music. The fact that many people into coordinated play, and it practises them
70
I've always thought that it
architectural space / Thinking about boundaries in the production of architecture and music
71
As something becomes a
architectural space / Thinking about boundaries in the production of architecture and music
72
architectural space / Thinking about boundaries in the production of architecture and music
to an apex of refinement, thus producing the Tallis Spem in Alium nunquam habui, and
experience of music. 10 The body thus explores recorded it individually so that each voice could
its possibilities. In this way, the construction be given its own speaker within a space. Visitors
of music may be said to be a compositional and to the installation could walk through the space
explorative capacity situated in the responsive and experience the music either as a whole
movements and judgements of the body that or they could privilege an individual singer,
answers sound as music. depending on where they stood in the room
and how they moved through it. Architecture
and music are immersive, spatial arts. Music
Second distinction: the use of concepts, is not the product of one resonance box, the
phonotectonics, movement, rhythm instrument, but a Russian nesting doll of sound
boxes, of which the ear and the stretched skin of
The musical instrument is responsible for the body are only the last before the vibrations of
the sound and especially for the timbre and air and membrane are translated into electrical
behaviour of the sound it produces when played. impulses and transformed into experience.
Architecture is also an instrument: the sound This nested series of sound boxes is subject to
produced by a violin is always further shaped by architectonics and to phonotectonics. A special
the material and space of the environment it is example of architecture and music as tectonics
played in. Phonotectonics is concerned with the in tune with one another is the Vithala Temple
way that materials come into relationship with in Hampi. It is a musical temple in the most
one another so that they help determine the sound literal sense of the word. The story (of which
we hear. 11 The sound produced by our bodies there are a number) is that the temple was built
allows us to initiate the production of meaning in honour of a dancer whose movements were so
with phrases such as: Who is this bathroom tenor spell-binding that the local lord decided to build
I keep hearing? Sound is the product of our body a space as a musical instrument to accompany
in the translation of air vibrations that are her dance. The pillars of the peristylium are
formed when materials come together. When designed as stone chimes. This story produces
two materials are conjoined in a construction both the architecture and the music.
or its cladding they make meaning possible.
This aspect of architecture is called tectonics, This confluence of music, dance and
from the Greek word tekton, carpenter. architecture reveals, by way of movement,
Tectonics constitutes a sub-discipline within what may be the most beautiful relationship
architectural design that concerns itself between music and architecture, namely that
specifically with the making, that is, the choice they are not just immersive spatial arts but that
and articulation of materials when related to they are special because of the way they each
questions about the environment, the situation answer movement in their own way. Dance is
and the desired programme of a projected the somatic and spatial answer to music; it is the
design: in short it concerns the selection, production of space in movement, the answer
placement and configuration of materials to sound, rhythm, metre, harmony and melody.
to create a good space. 12 Through tectonics, The body lets itself move and be moved by music
music and architecture meet in the concept and thus makes music spatial not only by making
of space. Paul Valry remarked that a person it visible, but also tangible, in the rocking,
experiencing music is necessarily immersed in stretching, bending, proprioceptive body and
both. A good example of this is the work Forty giving order to the place where the dance occurs.
Part Motet (2001) by the Canadian artist Janet Experience is the answer of motion to emotion.
Cardiff. She took each voice from Thomas Architecture is evident here in a number of
73
architectural space / Thinking about boundaries in the production of architecture and music
ways. Architecture is, as we have seen, itself faade of Palladios Basilica thus becomes
an instrument of sound. A Stradivarius is the a rhythmic composition when one reads its
instrument that gives a form to the vibration sequence of columns, entablatures, openings
of strings. The architecture in which the and projections from left to right or the other
Stradivarius is played does no different and way around. We can teach ourselves that kind
compounds the result. It determines the of reading; it takes practice and refinement.
manner in which these vibrations work in However, architectures rhythmic aspect goes
space, and thus determines the way the body much further than that. After all, a person has
picks them up. 13 But that is only the beginning. to move through space; the movement creates
Architecture as a built structure is a composed a second more profound rhythmic experience:
package of borders such as walls, openings, the rhythmic stride past shifting surfaces,
divisions and filters through which the body the rhythm of openings, and the sequence
moves according to the rhythm of its own of volumes, etc. But it is yet more complex.
workings. The composition of surfaces and I compose my experience by turning my gaze
frames through which the body moves knows during my motion through the building. That
two aspects, namely the composition of those creates architecture as a temporal experience
areas and frames, designed by the architect, of superimposed fragmented images braided
and the perception of that composition in the into continuity. However, even that is only
moving body that thereafter reconstructs half of the story. The experience becomes
the composition of the architect into its own richer when my eyes and ears, taste and smell
experiential architectural composition. To work together, and when the experience can be
arrive at the production of space, that is to practised a second or third time, each measured
say, the production of architecture, a moving against the earlier, thus making it grow in
body must answer the buildings call through wealth and refinement. Every building is a
his experience of it. The motion of the body unique sensual composition that is determined
through the space of the building causes the situationally by a concrete person: composed by
static structure to move in our experience of them into an experiential event in the form of a
it through the dynamics of sound, the spatial portrait.
location of those sounds, the succession and
meeting of colours and textures, light and
shade and objects. The organization and Conclusion: the new map
continual composition of views and mutually
shifting frames make the walk through the In their use, the words architecture and music
architecture, the route architecturale, a musical coordinate discussions about the production of
experience in that the experience becomes a space. That production consists of the design,
composition. Architecture is an experience in the performance, the perception and, above
which the body moves and is therefore moved. all, their reciprocal dependence. Thus they
Music is the bodily emotion that moves the coordinate or manage not so much a territory
body. as a process of production, each making use
of the entire human capacity to take in our
We can make this argument more specific. environment and compose it according to the
Music has rhythmic qualities. So does focus of our attention, whether that be the
architecture. Rhythm is immediately experience of architectonic space and/or that
perceivable in music; it is perhaps its most of musical space. Both words form an aspect of
elementary aspect, or in any case its most human enterprise as a whole, the exploratory
convincing call to movement. How does capacity of people to put their own bodies and
architecture use rhythm? In two ways. When environment to use for the purposes of growth,
architects design a faade, they can do so self-maintenance, reflection, exercise or
by considering the building linearly. The practise and development.
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architectural space / Thinking about boundaries in the production of architecture and music
If we want to map architecture and music, we The pattern that the abstraction architecture
end up with a diagrammatic scheme in which creates in servicing the coherence it attempts
the experience of a person takes up a central to maintain and develop between various
position, allowing itself to be differentiated concepts that call it to use, shares coordinates
only in order to answer that experience in with the field of concepts that is called up by the
some action, thought and/or movement. In the abstraction music, though not all of them; most
most literal sense we arrive at a pragmatism, importantly, they both look at the concepts
from the Greek work , or act. The from their own desired purpose and their
words architecture and music form a finely- own experience. That difference creates the
woven, delicate and changeable network of possibility that they each make use of the same
virtual relationships in which concept and concepts in their own way. Both disciplines,
interpretation become possible in discourse for example, use the verb to compose, but they
such that they offer direction to the act of each compose using a different set of conceptual
design, composition, performance and instruments, their own repertoire of means
experience. and materials in the service of their own
desired goals and on the basis of the specialized
The model offered here as an alternative does competency of the user. There is, however,
not prohibit us to see music and architecture in something strange about the singularity of
the old way. That would reinstall the famous these concepts, means and goals: they do not
paragone, a conversation game based on a belong to the discipline, there is no ownership
playful rivalry between disciplines demanding here that would grant exclusive privilege to a
skilful and opportunistic border controls and particular use. It points rather to a singularity
military prowess that, however, inevitably in the use of shared means. To illustrate with a
partitions the continuity of human experience simple example, it is not the sound or a material
in order to control and rule. From the point of that belongs either to architecture or music,
view offered here, that becomes unnecessary. it is the use that is made of it in experience
The difference is now constituted in the way that determines the distinction. Using the
that, for example, different kinds of tools and word architecture, we search for the space of
their particular uses develop to work together architecture and bring it up for discussion, and
at something that is the product in which they with the word music, we, in fact, do much the
all play a part. Tools, material, knowledge and same but then in search for the space of music.
expertise assemble around a challenge the
making of a cupboard, for example and are
then all used by a person according to their
specific abilities or suggested possibilities,
each requiring their own movements and each
judged according to their own criteria of finish
and excellence, but all working towards a single
product: the cupboard. Words and their use
are, according to this analogy, the tools and at
the same time the material as well as the skill
to employ them in relation to the challenge
to be captured in words: an experience.
They come together around a discussion or
a description and take their proper place; in
this way they form a complete and carefully
braided event with meaning, an experience of
meaning carefully positioned in the light of the
experience of being human and making a well-
reasoned attitude possible.
75
76
Musical
approaches
to space
Machiel Spaan
77
architectural space / Musical approaches to space
You can understand space by interacting with The Music, Space and Architecture research
the environment with your whole body. Feel project at the Academy of Architecture aims to
the city, the building and the space with all of guide students to discover space anew. Various
your senses, just like the craftsmen who use design projects on a number of scales research
their entire body to build, nail and paint it. Let the way sound, alongside familiar parameters
all of your perceptions work together towards such as usage and technology, can influence a
this: measure the space with your strides; smell design task, process and the resulting spatial
the trees, the streets, the rain; feel the handrail, design.
the doorknob and the wall; sense your weight
on a hill or a staircase. Using an analysis of sound as the starting point
for a design assignment confronts students
In the introduction to his book The Eyes of the with a more layered spatial experience.
Skin, Finnish architect Juhani Pallasmaa asks
the following: Architecture has the capacity of The goal is to bring students to an awareness of
being inspiring, engaging and life-enhancing. the meaning of sound in the spatial experience
But why is it that architectural schemes which of the city, the street, a place and space.
look good on the drawing board or the computer From this new awareness, spatial designs
screen can be so disappointing in the flesh? incorporate parameters beyond the visual. This
This question is the beginning of a call to break generates different descriptions, definitions
through the domination of visual experience and notations of space and spatial experience.
and the designers focus on formal solutions. It offers experiences that are not always
Pallasmaa urges architects to use all of their obvious. The assignments force students to
senses when making a design. The interaction adopt an investigative attitude and lead to more
between the design and smell, feel, taste, sight comprehensive spatial insight and awareness.
and sound creates a deeper and more authentic It is a journey towards the musical approach of
experience of space. space.
78
architectural space / Musical approaches to space
The proportions of a space For the 1958 World Expo pavilion in Paris,
One often-cited similarity between Iannis Xenakis used a mathematical formula
musical composition and spatial design is that he had deployed earlier in composing the
the application of the rules of proportions. piece Metastasis. He projected this formula both
Harmonic relationships and orders play an on time and space; not only in music, but also in
important role in both disciplines. Pythagoras architecture.
and later Plato already developed the idea The mathematical proportions are translated
that the beauty of both music and architecture into music and architecture. Not in a scientific
comes from their use of correct proportions. way, but in an intuitive way. Xenakis used the
mathematics as a generator of creativity, as
In the 1951 lecture by Dom Hans van der architecture historian Sven Sterken describes
Laan, entitled Muziek en Architectuur (Music it. 2
and Architecture), he suggests that a thorough Xenakis also worked on the faades of the La
knowledge of music offers great advantages Tourette monastery, in which he explored
to the architect. Van der Laan seeks the rhythmic patterns. Here his inspiration was
ultimate dimensional system. 1 In the lecture, the numerical proportions he had used in the
he compares a number of pitch systems and orchestral work Le Sacrifice. In a first design he
describes how they deal with the perpetual tried to give the faade a rhythm using a direct
area of tension between structure (harmony) translation of the rhythm of the musical piece.
and the atmosphere (melody) of a piece of But this concept led to a boring and predictable
music. Van der Laan compares this area of division of windows. Fed by his intuition,
tension to a theme from architecture: the he translated the rhythm on a more abstract
construction (tectonics) of a building, the level. He replaced rhythm with density. In the
relationship between structure (construction) faade, this led to window mullions that are
and its appearance (image). The widening and at times closer and other times further from
narrowing of end- or mid-spans, the addition one another. From that moment, the design
of friezes and cornices, the installation of question was no longer about the individual
capitals and podiums are all procedures that distance of each mullion from the next, but
create differences through the addition of much more about zones of greater or lesser
elements, that bring the building and its parts density. This allowed Xenakis to give himself
to light. Dom Hans van der Laan invites a the poetic freedom to play with the rhythm.
design attitude where the tensions between
construction and image be accepted and used in
the expression of the building. Van der Laans
inspiration for his own system of dimensions
is derived from pitch systems and harmonic
approaches in music. He goes further in
translating them into architecture than simply
using the rules of proportions. His principles
represent an attitude towards building itself,
one that suggests that the appearance of a
building springs from the structure, the
construction and the detail.
79
architectural space / Musical approaches to space
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architectural space / Musical approaches to space
81
architectural space / Musical approaches to space
82
architectural space / Musical approaches to space
Chris Verstappen
83
architectural space / Musical approaches to space
Aldo van Eyck is always searching for The space is delimited by other means: the
indeterminate space in his work. As, for yells of children, the feel of the soil, benches
example, in his design for the Orphanage, for the elderly. Richard Sennett describes
where he took the lead from Bachs fugues. the multipurpose spatial character, or Van
The overlaps in the square plans, shifting Eyck's playgrounds, in detail in his book
relative to one another, are the in-between The Craftsman and concludes that it is the
spaces that the programme rubs up against and choreography of movement and the contact and
where people come together. It is ambiguous awareness ceremonies that make Van Eycks
space that is not directly defined, space that playgrounds so special.4 It allows children
does not have its own walls. In Aldo van to learn in play and they are encouraged to do
Eycks playground design for Amsterdam, so together. These ceremonies take place in
this ambiguity also plays a role. Van Eyck the ambiguous space that is not determined
consciously makes no division between the by physical boundaries. The design of them
playground and the street, between sandbox requires more than merely a visual approach.
and grass. He wants to teach children how they Feeling, but certainly also hearing, provide an
should deal with these ambiguous transitions in interesting input. This kind of spatial design
urban space. It awakens curiosity, challenges does more than facilitate use. It creates areas
and allows children to experience the space with space for meeting, improvisatory use and
and boundaries. Other users, teenagers and unexpected movement.
grownups, are likewise encouraged to use the
space. This increases the interaction between
the neighbourhood inhabitants.
84
Wir verstehen im
architectural space / Musical approaches to space
Allgemeinen Architektur
nicht mehr, wenigstens
lange nicht in der Weise,
wie wir Musik verstehen. ...
Und noch jetzt mchte man
fragen: wen unsere neuere
Musik die Steine bewegen
knnte, wrde sie diese zur
einer antiken Architektur
zusammensetzen?
Friedrich Nietzsche. Menschliches, Allzumenschliches Ein Buch fr freie Geister. Leipzig 1878 -1880, p. 112.
85
Space is in our experience
architectural space / Musical approaches to space
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88
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89
architectural space / Musical approaches to space
Pauline Degrand
90
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91
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Jasper Smits
92
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Ninja Zurheide
93
94
Three
compositions
for
the
Noorderkerk
Berend Jan Bockting
95
experimental space / Music, Space & Architecture
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Trevor Grahl. Musician placement in the Noorderkerk for Metaxa, 2010
97
experimental space / Music, Space & Architecture
98
Whether the music of
experimental space /Music, Space & Architecture
a region developed as
predominantly melodic
or rhythmic depends on
whether the race of people
were historically housed or
unhoused, dwelling in reed huts
or in tents, in houses of wood or
stone, in houses and temples
high vaulted or low roofed, of
heavily furnishings
or light.
Wallace Sabine: Buildings for music cited by Michael Forsyth 1985, p.3.
99
The acoustic behaviour
experimental space / Music, Space & Architecture
100
experimental space /Music, Space & Architecture
that coloured and shaded the But when your music is stood there all alone. Thats
sound source, like a filter. By performed in a church, he how I constructed a certain
having the woodwinds in the continues, you have to use social space. The song, which
other rooms, their sound was the space, since the space has is about the darker side of
literally taken by the room. an influence on the music, love, starts with a large group
You couldnt simulate that in whether you like it or not. and ends with one person
any other way. You had to be The Noorderkerks acoustics who is left alone. Ive never
in the church, in that space, to are obviously not suited for been so close to creating
experience that. chamber music that would a composition with such
just fade away in space. But political significance.
Grahls main goal was to its perfect for large fields
teach people to see music, of sound. One of the ways Tienstra learned to make use
without being able to see in which Tienstra used the of silence in the church, since
the musicians. He smiles: space was by composing the silence takes up a certain space
Ironically, they were looking 4.6-second church reverb in too. One of the lecturers
at the space, which blended his work. On another level before the concert said
well with the subject of this he created, like Grahl, an churches are the guardians of
project. Its interesting that unorthodox set-up for his silence, Tienstra says. That
we live in a culture where musicians. really stuck with me. If you
you dont have to see the wander through a crowded
source of the sounds you hear. But unlike Grahl, Tienstra city like Amsterdam, walking
Theyre just there, on the wanted movement on stage. inside a church makes all
radio, in the supermarket Having singers all over the sound disappear. The space
everywhere. But when you place immediately created a is not defenceless against
have real musicians play real feeling of space. The audience all the sound on the outside.
music people have different didnt know where to look, As a composer you kind of
expectations. When they hear before even one tone of music battle this silence. Silence has
sound played by real musicians had been played. become an increasingly more
who cant be seen, they act important subject to me when I
in complete surprise: wow, Also, movement throughout write music.
whats happening? the space added an extra
dimension to his piece. During
Twenty-three year old Rens the concert the choir started
Tienstra wanted to use the to sing in small groups,
space as an additional after which each member
instrument for his disappeared behind the choir
composition, which focused on pews, until one person was left
a choir spread throughout the in the middle. Thats where
church. To him, thinking the impact of this huge space
about space while composing could really be felt, Tienstra
music is not unique. I think says. It was a beautiful image:
the overall picture is very you could still hear the others
important. The position of a while the last choir member
reading desk, for instance. Or
a musicians outfit. The way
coffee tastes during the break.
I try to devote attention to
every seemingly unimportant
detail.
101
matin, temps electrique
experimental space / Music, Space & Architecture 11
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Max Knigge. Matin, temps electrique: for small choir and peculiar orchestra, 2010 (page from score)
102
experimental space /Music, Space & Architecture
103
experimental space /Music, Space and Architecture exhibition at a rca m
104
Music,
Space and
Architecture
exhibition at
arcam
Lieselore Maes
105
experimental space /Music, Space and Architecture exhibition at a rca m
Music exists thanks to audible noise, The acoustic objects on display shared a
constructed from sounds; architecture exists common bond in that they all were related in
thanks to tangible matter. Architectural space some way to noise and sound. In a few cases,
is physical and therefore quantifiable, while the sound clearly concerned music; in other
musical space is immeasurable, since it is cases, opinions might differ. The space around
largely the product of the personal associations the objects or rather: caused by the objects
of the individual listening to it. The relationship could not be seen anywhere and was perceived
that music and architecture experience in differently by each visitor to the exhibition.
space is based to a considerable extent on the That perception existed solely in the minds of
power of suggestion. That suggestion of space visitors, depending on their individual capacity
was the main focus in the Music, Space and for thought association and willingness to think
Architecture exhibition from 24 September to along the lines of the object. The perceptive
13 November 2010 in the gallery at arcam, the viewer and listener will have noticed that
Amsterdam Centre for Architecture. the various objects suggested levels of scale
arranged in a series, from the sweeping space
of the city to the pure intimacy of Bach and the
silence in which everything comes together.
106
experimental space /Music, Space and Architecture exhibition at a rca m
107
experimental space /Music, Space and Architecture exhibition at a rca m
Acoustic Mirror
Museum Wings of Liberation,
Best
Acoustic mirrors were
used in the Second World
War to detect enemy planes
across great distances. The
enormous dishes picked up the
sounds of the aeroplanes and
conducted them directly to the
operators ear. The listener
could manually aim the dish
when he heard something,
calling out the angle at which
he had received the plane
noises to a second person, who
could radio the report in to
headquarters. The device can
be considered a primitive and
far from reliable precursor to
the radar we use today.
108
experimental space /Music, Space and Architecture exhibition at a rca m
109
experimental space /Music, Space and Architecture exhibition at a rca m
110
experimental space /Music, Space and Architecture exhibition at a rca m
Philips Pavilion, Le
Corbusier, Iannis Xenakis,
Edgard Varse
Atomium, Brussels
At the 1958 World Fair in
Brussels, Philips displayed
a construction of its own.
The aim was to give a
demonstration of the advanced
technology achieved by
Philips, using the most
state-of-the-art resources
of that time to build it. Le
Corbusier was asked to
design the building, but the
collective artwork that the
project ultimately became is
attributed in part to architect/
composer Iannis Xenakis (who
developed the architectural
concept) and composer Edgard
Varse. The show of sounds
and images displayed there,
the Pome lectronique,
seems to have been the first
of its kind. Varse composed
music for the show set to film
footage by Le Corbusier. The
three models of the Philips
Pavilion in the arcam
exhibition offer an impression
of the process it took to
find the right shape for the
pavilion. At the exhibition, the
original Pome lectronique
projected in the structure was
projected from the base, using
the original sounds.
111
experimental space /Music, Space and Architecture exhibition at a rca m
112
experimental space /Music, Space and Architecture exhibition at a rca m
Wall/Sound Separator,
Cilia Erens
Vedute Foundation/nai,
Rotterdam (manuscript 0127)
In this spatial manuscript from
the partial collection Acoustic
Architecture Architectural
Acoustics curated by the
Vedute Foundation, space
is seen as an intrinsic part
of the built environment.
Distinctions are made
between indoor and outdoor
noises, and the latter seem to
contain the former. Where
something is demolished,
the object that was created
by construction and took on
its own world of sounds will
vanish. Indoor sounds mix
with sounds from outdoors
until the moment when the
walls have been taken down
completely; those sounds
have died down and outdoor
sound supplants indoor
sound. The spatial document
in the exhibition represents
the demolition site at that
moment when the final walls
of a building are torn down
and what was inside, and the
sounds it made, now come to
an end. Ribbons, fences and
gauze separate the listener
from the demolition process
and act as protection for the
sound separator: the static of
roofs and walls. The listener
becomes part of the walls final
minute as a sound barrier, is
still standing inside but hears
how the wall is torn down from
outside. The materials used
in the piece come from actual
demolition; the sound is played
in real time and is not mixed.
113
experimental space /Music, Space and Architecture exhibition at a rca m
114
experimental space /Music, Space and Architecture exhibition at a rca m
115
experimental space /Space to listen
116
Space
to listen
Sebastian Janusz
Machiel Spaan
117
experimental space /Space to listen
The Academy of Architecture organized a series of lectures as part of the Music, Space and
Architecture event. This Capita Selecta series featured an additional programme of performances
by Justin Bennett, Raviv Ganchrow, Sebastian Janusz, Jacob Kirkegaard and others. Each
performance transformed the academy building into a space of sound in its own way. These sound
spaces rendered parts of the building audible and allowed listeners to experience them. On each
occasion the academy became an instrument that invited the audience to wander around and
discover the space by ear.
Urban sounds and the silence of a church Justin Bennett performed his piece Sundial
Artist and sonologist Justin Bennett collects in the Great Hall of the academy. Sundial is a
the sounds of cities. His work expressly series of compositions in which he analyzed
connects to the city, the architecture and the daily rhythm of a number of cities. Bennett
the urban surroundings. He is interested in edited sound recordings that he made over the
the creative potential of noise the form of course of a full day in a city (from midnight
undifferentiated sound that we usually refer to to midnight) into a 12-minute compilation: a
as disquiet and din. Noise represents the basic spatial scenography in which the city wakes up,
energy of the city, but it is scarcely accessible to breathes, lives and sleeps. Various cities were
the unpractised ear in its stacked, opaque form. performed in the Great Hall, each with its
own sound and rhythm. A remarkable aspect
In The Shotgun Architecture project, Bennett was the mingling of the presented sounds with
collected the sounds he heard after he fired a the real-time sounds of Amsterdam. You can
pistol in an urban space along the Zuid-As in always hear the city in the academy building.
Amsterdam. By listening to the recordings of The sound of the city seeps in through the
the echoes of the pistol shot, listeners could find slits in window frames and door openings and
out information about the format, the form and becomes part of the total sound space, and the
the material of the buildings around the site. performance by Bennett seemed to enhance
Each surface and each material reflects sound this experience. The sounds of Rome, Berlin
in a different way and the sound signature and Istanbul intermingled with the noise of
of each place is unique. 1 The relation between Amsterdam.
sound and architecture in Bennetts oeuvre lies
in the abstract space between the time-based Sound artist Justin Bennett calls himself a
nature of sound and the physical nature of listener above all else. Listening carefully
space. It is in this interim space that he succeeds reveals a wealth of information about the
in distilling the essence of our daily experience city, the street, the buildings and the space.
of the built environment. 2 By contrast, artist Jacob Kirkegaard takes
a particular space, and not the entire city, as
the starting point for his voyage of discovery:
an intuitive search for a new artwork. He
transformed recorded silences from spaces in
the Chernobyl nuclear power plant into a sound
installation in this way, and sound created
by the space in his own ear became a sound
sculpture.
118
experimental space /Space to listen
Jacob Kirkegaard displayed his aion in the Kirkegaards aion does the very opposite. It
hall of the Theaterschool.3 Sound and image sucks the listener deep into the atmosphere of
transported the imagination to the bleak yet his spaces. The audience is totally swept along
poetic atmosphere of four spaces inside the by the silence discovered, a silence that makes
Chernobyl nuclear power plant: a church, an more and more sound as you venture deeper into
auditorium, a swimming pool and a sports the space. You become one with the space.
hall. Kirkegaard recorded the silence inside
these spaces. The sound recordings were then The building as instrument and soundscape
played a number of times in the same spaces Raviv Ganchrow emphasizes that sound
and recorded again. Repeating this procedure establishes a connection between the body and
ten times, one after another, meant increasing space. There is a sensory interaction between
the density of the layers of sound, as a result sound and the body. We listen with more than
of which a unique sound full of overtones our ears. If we learn to listen to the space in
emerged in each space. Accordingly, each a different way we can experience the space
space brought forth its own primeval sound. differently through sound, just like tuning an
instrument. What Ganchrow attempts to do
Kirkegaard drew inspiration for this project with his installations is to render audible the
from Alvin Luciers I am sitting in a room. In this sound of a building that we no longer hear. With
performance, Lucier searched for the unique his installations he transforms buildings into
sound of the space. By recording his own voice (sound) instruments. 4
in a room, then playing it and repeating this
procedure a number of times, he was left with In his Double Sway installation, Ganchrow
just the resonation of the space. The repeated let sound walk through the gallery of the
reflections of sound waves completely absorbed academy building by recording sound, playing
the voice. The result was unique to the space in it, and then continually recording and playing it
which the performance took place. Each room again at another strategic spot in the building.5
has its own melody, concluded Lucier. Repeating this exercise right around the gallery
resulted in a spatial sound loop. The sound
Justin Bennett brings the sounds of cities into walked through the gallery from one side to
the building, thereby allowing us to share in the other. And the listener influenced the loop,
his own soundscape. The sounds around the since his sounds were also recorded and played.
academy building seeped deep inside at various Additionally, the sounds of the city became part
points. The performance by Bennett enabled of the sound sculpture. Because of the position
us to experience these sounds better and opened of loudspeakers and recording points, the space
up the night and day rhythm of the building of the gallery became part of the instrument.
to us. The materials of the floor, ceiling and corners
influenced the sound reflections. The form
of the gallery, the corners of which are not
perpendicular but angled, became audible in the
composition.
119
experimental space /Space to listen
120
experimental space /Space to listen
121
experimental space /Space to listen
Ganchrows work alludes to that of the Moving through the building, the audience
Austrian sound artist Bernhard Leitner. His heard fragments played by the individual
works, among them Space-Swing (Raum- musicians. Sound passed through the corridors,
Wiege) and Sound-Space (Ton-Raum), deal with door openings and stairwells of the building.
the audio-physical experience of spaces and The performance transformed through the
objects whose form and content is determined movement of listener, who could thus create
by the movement of sound. The sounds and their own compositions. Place and time became
sound sequences move through space and unique to each listener. The building assisted in
create a new architectural environment. This this process by serving as a sound box, a sound
composition of sound material and also of medium and a dcor.
movement adds new qualities to the space and
adds an extra layer to the architecture. Leitner You could compare this approach with the
builds architectural sculptures in an invisible Helikopter-Streichquartett that Karlheinz
(and new) system of sound patterns and pitch, Stockhausen performed during the Holland
articulation and dynamism, harmony and Festival in 1995. Four string players performed
contrast. in four helicopters that circled overhead in the
air above Amsterdam. The sound was recorded
Sebastian Janusz, architect and musician, and played at a central location. That resulted
analyzes the conventional musical ensemble in in two simultaneous performances: one in
his Deconstruction of an Ensemble performance. the outdoor space of the city with the four
Each of the musicians of the band called circulating helicopters; and one in the interior
NO|me performed a composition at the same space (music hall) where the sound produced
time, each in a different space of the academy by the four string players was brought together
building.6 The performances were recorded to form a single musical execution. Sebastian
and played simultaneously in the Great Hall. Janusz added another layer to this in his
Except that here the audience could hear performance at the Academy of Architecture.
the composite sound produced by the three The spaces of the different musicians were
instruments together. Each of the three spaces carefully selected to determine the tone and
is acoustically different in character: piano colour of the sound. The different spaces for
in the low and long gallery; double bass in the percussion, bass and piano became part of the
tall timber stairwell; and percussion in the instruments and the sound that they produced.
closed and isolated model workshop. During
the performance, the three different spaces Both Ganchrow and Janusz interpreted the
and their acoustic properties were explored academy building as a music instrument.
simultaneously through music. The acoustic Whereas Janusz actively made music at
dimensions of the academy building just like different places, thereby turning the building
the instruments formed an essential part of into an important extra instrument that
the concert. The academy building thus became made the composition merge with the venue,
a complex acoustic instrument. Ganchrow allowed the space of the gallery
to determine the sound by allowing it to
constantly reflect through part of the space.
The sounds in and around the space were
boosted, distorted and carried by the space
itself. Janusz used various acoustically specific
spaces in the building as extensions of the music
instruments. The spaces became sound boxes.
Ganchrow made a specific acoustic space of the
building audible, not by adding sound to it but
by transporting the sound already present in
the space.
6 Jan Lemmens (timpani, percussion),
Yrjn Rankka (double bass) and
Sebastian Janusz (piano).
122
Architecture is not a
experimental space /Space to listen
synchronizing phenomenon,
but a gradual unfolding. It
consists of a sequence of
tableaux, associated in time
and space. Like music it is a
means of conceiving in time.
Le Corbusier. Die Reihe: a periodical devoted to developments in contemporary music. Cited by T.Pressor, 1958, p 44.
123
The greater the space of
experimental space /Space to listen
124
experimental space /Space to listen
125
experimental space /Space to listen
126
experimental space /Space to listen
127
experimental space /Space to listen
Raviv Ganchrow
128
experimental space /Space to listen
129
intrinsic space / Eventscapes: The Aural Experience of Space
130
Eventscapes:
the aural
experience
of space
Barry Blesser and
Linda-Ruth Salter
131
intrinsic space / Eventscapes: The Aural Experience of Space
132
Hearing shouldnt be equated
intrinsic space / Eventscapes: The Aural Experience of Space
133
intrinsic space / Eventscapes: The Aural Experience of Space
134
intrinsic space / Eventscapes: The Aural Experience of Space
How we experience the eventscape strongly The quality and comfort of an eventscape is
influences our behaviour. Consider two based on the relationship of the inhabitants
professional colleagues at a busy restaurant who to the events within their acoustic horizon.
are discussing a business project. Given their Noise can therefore be considered as
relationship, they have a preferred personal unwanted sonic events that intrude; and
distance, which might be one metre.6 If a high conversely, if events are wanted, they are
level of background noise produces a small not noise. Based on personal preferences and
acoustic horizon, conversation is not possible at cultural biases, a given event may or may
this distance. These colleagues have awkward not be considered to be noise. For example,
choices: move closer to create an inappropriate the eventscape of a natural forest is not
intimate social distance, thus including each intrinsically better or worse than that of a dense
other in the acoustic arena of their normal urban environment. Aural combat arises from
voices; shout to expand their acoustic arena; or conflicting attitudes towards sonic events. The
remain silent without conversing. Emotional quality of an eventscape therefore involves
stress results when the acoustic horizon or arena not only the sonic content, but also the size,
does not match the appropriate social distance. shape and location of the acoustic horizon.
Successful strategies for managing combat
There have always been conflicts about who involve manipulating these aspects of the
owns the eventscape in urban environments, eventscape.
and these conflicts were seldom resolved by
legal regulations.7 In the picture below, William The contours of an acoustic arena are
Hogarth depicts a conflict between a musician determined by the interaction between the
in the parlour of his private home and urbanites intensity of sonic events, which depends on
whose home is the street. (see Fig. 1) From the dynamic behaviour of the inhabitants, and
a visual perspective, there are two distinct the physical properties of the environment,
spaces street and parlour; but from an aural which are relatively static. Physical geography,
perspective, the open window creates a single whether natural mountains and valleys, or
acoustic arena as a shared resource. The creator man-made halls and walls, modifies the acoustic
of the loudest sounds becomes the owner of the arenas. Together they determine a region of
arena. social cohesion. For example, in 19th-century
French villages, citizenship was based on the
In the 21st century, combat over ownership of ability of individuals to hear the bells of the
the acoustic arena has become more ubiquitous. town.8 The bells broadcast information about
Advertisers use televisions in the public areas events such as time of day, call to church and
of airports to insert monetized messages into call to arms. Hearing them contributed to self-
the heads of those waiting for their flights. esteem, emotional well-being, civic pride and
Similarly, cinema theatres are paid to deliver territorial identity. Schafer quotes the resident
excessively loud commercial messages to of a small town who remembers daily sonic
captive audiences waiting for the main feature events entering her acoustically porous living
to begin. As a reaction, individuals often adopt space.9 Her acoustic horizon was extended to
a defensive strategy, using headphones linked encompass the larger social sphere. She could
to portable sound devices in order to suppress identify trades people by the sound of their
the external eventscape and substitute their own. horses. The iceman had a couple of very heavy
Everyone wants to control the eventscape, either cobs the coalman had a pair of substantial
for their own private use or for capturing the Percherons that always walked the dry-
consciousness of others. goods store had lightweight horses and the
6. Hall, E. The Hidden Dimension. New
Chinese vegetable men had very lazy horses.
York 1966. Inhabitants could hear fishing boats returning
7. Thompson, E. The Soundscape of to harbour, children walking home from
Modernity. Cambridge, MA 2002, p.
115. Countryside. Trans. by M. Thom
8. Corbin, A. Village Bells: Sound and from the original French, Les Cloches 9. Schafer, R. The Vancouver
Meaning in the 19th Century French de la Terre. New York 1998. Soundscape. Vancouver 1978.
135
intrinsic space / Eventscapes: The Aural Experience of Space
136
intrinsic space / Eventscapes: The Aural Experience of Space
school, the rattling of leaves in the wind and the Sonic events and acoustic space
neighbourhood dog fighting with the cat.
While the objectscape is usually perceived by
Physical spaces can have unexpected shapes the way in wich the visual system interprets
and sizes, such that the experience of visual ambient reflected light, the auditory system
and aural spaces diverges. For example, large can also perceive objects and geometries by the
spaces with domed ceilings and circular walls way that it interprets ambient reflected sound.
can produce acoustic arenas called whispering A listener can hear the way in which physical
galleries (see Fig. 2). Sound from one location attributes of the environment change sound.
is focused at a physically distant location, We can hear a low hanging ceiling or nearby
combining two widely separated visual regions wall because the low frequencies are boosted
into a single acoustic arena. Thus, two people near those surfaces. We can hear an open door,
standing at opposite corners in the dining the vast volume of a cavern or cathedral, wood
concourse of the Grand Central Station in surfaces, the depth of a well and the openness
New York can hear each other as if they were of a beach. In such cases, we hear properties of
standing in close proximity. Similarly, a pair of the objectscape because sonic events illuminate
widely spaced parabolic reflectors at a science objects and geometries.
museum dramatically demonstrates how a
physical distance of 50 metres can be made to Everyone can learn to hear objects and
have an aural distance of a few centimetres. geometries of the environment, but most people
In these cases, the two senses vision and never attend to this aspect of hearing. Some
hearing rather than reinforcing a consistent blind individuals choose to invest in this skill.
spatial experience, produce quite different Ved Mehta, blind from childhood, described
spaces. Eventscapes and objectscapes can be how he rode his bicycle through the streets of
experienced in contradictory ways. Calcutta using an elevated sense of auditory
spatial awareness. 10 Ray Charles, the world
Modern technology provides us with the famous jazz musician, describes how he learned
means for creating inconsistent eventscapes to navigate entirely with his hearing, never
and objectscapes. Electronically amplified using a cane or seeing-eye dog. 11 One individual
excessively loud music at a rock concert could identify the shape of a traffic sign by
allows the hearer to be transported to a listening. 12 In these cases, the way in which
musical eventscape while remaining in objects and geometries modify sonic events
the physical objectscape of the seating allows listeners to visualize the environment
area. Teleconferencing allows physically which produced the change in the sonic event.
distant objectscapes to be fused into a single Our auditory awareness of objectscapes
eventscape. Individuals separated by large augments our aural experience of eventscapes.
distances can aurally co-exist within the
same acoustic arena. Cell phones allow
unrelated eventscapes to be superimposed
onto each other. Consider an individual
talking on a cell phone while driving a car.
He is in the eventscape of traffic on a busy
road and simultaneously in the eventscape of
his conversation partner who is in a business
meeting. The talker can perceptually switch
between eventscapes without physically
moving. What you see is not necessarily where
you are.
11 Charles, R. and Ritz, D. Brother Ray.
New York 1978. Chion, M. Audio-
10 Mehta, V. A donkey in a world of Vision. Trans. by C. Gorbman from
horses. The Atlantic Monthly 200(1), the original French, LAudio-Visual. 12 Rice, C. Human echo perception.
1957, pp. 24-30. New York 1994. Science 155, 1967, pp. 656-664.
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intrinsic space / Eventscapes: The Aural Experience of Space
138
Listeners never hear the original sonic event At the same time, long reverberation envelops
as it was created at the source. As sound waves the audience in a sea of sound that is not
propagate from the source to the listener, perceived as a sonic event originating from the
they are always changed during the transport stage. Cathedrals, with their extremely long
process by the physical acoustics of the enveloping reverberation, allow inhabitants
environment. The reflections from side walls in to hear the enormous volume of the space and
a concert hall add aural mass to musical events. the hardness of the surfaces regardless of what
A room with plush carpets and upholstered sonic events are illuminating that volume. With
chairs transforms a harsh sonic event, such as reverberation, listeners are located within the
breaking glass, into a mellow event. The notes acoustic process itself and they cannot perceive
of a musical instrument are elongated by the the reverberation as being a source event
reverberation of a concert hall. The audience located at a defined location. The space is made
never hears a pure musical instrument. The audible by the illuminating sound. Directors
physical properties of the environment always of cinema manipulate each of these four
modify sonic events in an eventscape; each components to create a compelling illusion. 13
space creates a unique modification of these
events.
There is a dual relationship between sonic Summary and conclusions
events and spatial acoustics. On the one hand, a
sonic event illuminates objects in a space, such We inhabit eventscapes where dynamic
as sensing a wall by the echo that it produces. sonic events, modified by the static acoustics
On the other hand, spatial acoustics changes of the space, are transported to listeners.
the perception of sonic events, such as music Eventscapes are described by the virtual
performed in a concert hall. We hear objects boundaries of acoustic horizons and acoustic
and geometries illuminated by sonic events, and arenas. Combat over control of the acoustic
we hear sonic events that have been changed by arena has occurred throughout the ages.
objects and geometries. Individuals have complex cognitive strategies
for determining how eventscapes are controlled
A high-quality concert hall exemplifies the and integrated into their daily lives. These
complex relationship between sonic events and strategies depend upon individuals unique
the physical environment (see Fig. 3). Research personal choices, cultural standards and the
into the interdependence of music and spaces state of technology.
provides an understanding of this duality. Eventscapes (experienced primarily but not
A musical performance in an open meadow is exclusively by hearing) and objectscapes
not experienced in a way that is comparable to (experienced primarily but not exclusively by
a performance in a concert hall. In an enclosed vision) have a complex, mutually interactive,
space, the early reflections from the side walls always changing relationship. Because the
and ceiling change music notes by giving them brain fuses visual and aural components of
more aural mass, larger apparent size and eventscapes and objectscapes into a single
stronger intimacy. Musical events originating internal representation of the external world,
on the stage are changed by the enclosing we seldom recognize these four sensory
envelope of the concert hall. mechanisms as being distinctly different.
13 Chion, ibidem
intrinsic space / Shapes of Time: an experiential account of sonic spatiality
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Shapes of
time: an
experiential
account
of sonic
spatiality
Raviv Ganchrow
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intrinsic space / Shapes of Time: an experiential account of sonic spatiality
The following text suggests that the qualities of hearing: on the one hand, hearing a space
of experienced space in sound are inherent within which a sound is understood to be
to, but not measurably part of, an acoustic contained (reverberation) and on the other
domain. Furthermore, audible spatiality is not hand, hearing an inerrant characteristic of
mimetically representative of, or restricted sound (pitch). My hope is that by taking two
to, corresponding visual frameworks of space. disparate positions in auditory sensation,
This is not to say that audible spatiality has an that these examples may indicate other, less
independent existence quite the contrary, it defined, categories of hearing that in turn can
is linked to concrete events. On the other hand, be considered in a similar vein.
heard spaces have no other existence than that
to which our experience attests. At the same This analysis is indebted to an idea of
time, audible spatiality can not be reduced to a immediate experience as the primary
phantom effect. Audible space is ontologically condition from which space (and its
real if not merely for the fact that it is tied corresponding qualities) are seen to arise
to a physical locale (even when that locale is as secondary attributes. In that sense,
recorded), then at least in terms of a status it heard spaces, necessarily include within
maintains within intersubjective categories them sensory encounters with lived-time
of experience. Yet the specific characteristics that suggest embedded attitudes towards
and qualities of an audibly real spatiality, perceptual experience (attitudes that can
I propose, depend on radically subjective- be both intentional as well as unconscious
relational transformations. The suggestion is or absent-minded). Hearing space involves
that any noticeable space in sound is an emergent a particular kind of kinesthetic: namely the
property formed by interactions between specific experiences generated from the friction
listeners and contexts of sound; and that audible between listeners and a locale. The degree
spatial qualities are indicative of expanded, to which spatial attributes in sound are an
resounding, contexts. As a result, the terms outcome of situated perceptual interactions
through which sound-space appears are becomes apparent when examining our
essentially observer-centric, producing a range capacity to localize sound. From the physical
of discernable spatial presences. In addition, (as well as the physiological) standpoint,
the variety of sonic presence experienced by sound is a tactile event, entering the body
a group of listeners at a common location do from the surface of the eardrum. Nonetheless,
not relate back to a presupposed, objective, sound is rarely perceived to be occurring at
acoustic event but rather indicate a form of that position on the body. Instead, sounds
aggregate-realism where the collected experiences are projected unconsciously into external
themselves form multifaceted yet concrete locations from where they seem to be emanating.
appearances, characteristically ambiguous and The process of perceptual localization is a
at times contradictory in temperament. complex matter, but suffice to say that when
hearing is considered from the position of
My attempt is to broach common-sense physical acoustics certain asymmetries arise
notions of audibility by adopting an operative between the position of stimulus waves and the
mode of hearing that suggests a polyphonic perceived location of sound sources.
approach to spatiality. To arrive at an expanded
understanding of sonic spatiality, I will The domain of acoustic propagations itself
compare two perceptual categories, namely could be considered the primary space of
hearing reverberation and listening for sound. Acoustic space, or what could be called
pitch. Admittedly these two examples do phased space, is that territory where tangled
not sufficiently conclude, nor amply explain vibrations travel every which way, oblivious
the broader implications suggested in the to any intentions of a listener. This is also
introduction. None the less the choice of arguably the most measurable space of sound.
these examples has to do with the seemingly After all, the accuracy of wave equations are
unproblematic and clearly defined categories indebted to this particular category of space.
they maintain within common-sense notions On the other hand, acoustic space, with its
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pronounced empirical access, is also the one the impression of expansiveness depends,
space that cannot be entered by way of the quite literally, on durational compounding
unmediated senses. In fact, we can never of successive intervals. It is not the sounding
physiologically hear such a space. It is only by of mute walls that is heard but rather an
way of instruments and calculations (after activation of intervalic-timbral relationships.
sound has been geometricized and frequency Only a portion of sound emitted within a room
has been spatialized) that the pronounced arrives directly to the location of a listener.
dimensional-voluminous character of acoustics Most of what is heard has already rebounded
becomes tangible. off the various walls and surfaces before
arriving at the ears. These movements unravel
Our ears communicate quite a different the time of the sound source, imprinting
spatiality in sound, materialized from within and extending vibrations into the cavity of
continually unfolding modulations. These the room. Sound propagation travels in all
emergent spaces are sustained upon fluctuant directions simultaneously, such that the
interrelations within events. In the absence reflections have a mirroring effect, resulting
of listeners these spaces remain concealed in a rapid onset of crisscrossing sound paths,
potentialities, diffuse and embedded within themselves recursively altered by the acoustic
innumerable vibrational interactions. That is characteristics of the hall. A simple impulse
not to say that the phased space, mentioned emission, such as a hand clap in a room, very
in the previous paragraph, is any more or quickly becomes an immensely complex
less of a space than those perceived through acoustic situation. It takes the attendance of
listening, but simply that the qualitative aspects an active ear to take hold of the multitude of
of a sonic space are dependent on the particular interactions, prolong their perceived presence,
mode of listening that is applied (and this and provide an immediate sense of the
includes technical modes of listening such as progressive interrelations as a whole.
microphone recordings and acoustic cameras).
In other words, Im suggesting that no audible The space in sound manifests only when sounds
space is more primary than any other and that are permitted to linger in the ear. It is important
within a given auditory context. In fact, several to stress that the perception of reverberation,
such spaces may seem to overlap, coincide or itself a fundamental category of sonic spatiality,
even coexist at the same locale. Furthermore, emerges from compounded continuities. The
the biological capacity to hear space (in terms particular lingering that results in perceived
of an ability to discern particular qualities reverberation is achieved by collapsing rapid,
within an audible context) is considered here successive, wave reflections into one another so
in terms of a practice rather than a biological that every instance of now contains shadows
constant. The more one trains certain modes of that which has just past from existence. In
of listening, the more a specific set of emergent reverberation, one cannot distinguish solitary
sonic qualities become noticeably present. sound reflections as they are delivered to
Likewise, the more one expects to find space the listener at too fast a rate to contemplate
within sound, the more those spaces tend to individually. Instead they are comprehended
appear. all at once. This process involves taking hold
of the unwinding time of the sound source
When listening through the unmediated ear, (located in the patterning of propagating
the dimensionality of sound becomes a an audible waves) and coiling that expanded time back
spatiality when it is folded back into experience. around an instance of sensation. In that sense
Sound must pass through a perceptual process the perceived spatial quality of reverberation
of sustain and prolongation before space is not so much an aural impression of the
becomes audible. Reverberation reveals a physical chamber, imparted upon the listener,
resounding presence in architecture inverse as much as it is an encapsulation of all the
to its degree of vacancy. But what exactly is incidental relations between body, place and
heard in architectures confined emptiness? event constituent of that particular instance
In the example of perceived reverberation, of hearing. In other words, the material
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intrinsic space / Shapes of Time: an experiential account of sonic spatiality
and tectonic properties of the chamber only once. Each progressing instant of hearing tone
partially contribute to a much more complex contains within it a buildup of immediately
set of underlying relations conveyed to the preceding moments, thus creating the sensation
listener as a totality. Practically speaking, the of a continuous flow with sustained qualitative
sensation of an audible now is comprised of attributes. More importantly, the perceptual
an immediate past. What is heard in a present process of compounding seems to be a key
moment is a compounding of that which has just factor in the palpable articulation of qualities
occurred, together with the tendency towards suggesting that there may be more than a casual
what is yet to come and made available to relation between what is considered timbral
consciousness all-at-once. The audible present and what is deemed spatial in sound.
is a thickened condition, where instants of
simultaneity melt into one another, forming In my opinion, the distinction between
distinct atmospheric spatialeties. These qualities and spatialities in sound is a
atmospheres, to a certain extent, condense and superficial one, stemming from social habits
embody the central relations in an unfolding invested in the utility of the respective sonic
event. definitions, and that the difference between
sound spatiality and sound pitch is one of
Another category of aural qualia that seemingly degree and not one of kind. On an operative,
bypasses the question of space altogether is that perceptual level, one could consider audible
of pitch. In the case of frequency fluctuations, space as a form of qualitative perception
the perception of discernable pitch arises from or conversely think of pitch as supporting
listening into continuous, periodic oscillations. an unusual idea of spatiality. The latter
The perceived tone height of an oscillation is definition, although somewhat counter
relative to the specific frequency, or rate of intuitive, has in my view more significant
change, at which the vibration alternates. The implications. This is not merely a matter of
specific architectural conditions in which a preference, it has to do with an understanding
periodic oscillation is heard has very minor, if that any materialization of sound into palpable
any, influence on the perceived pitch. In fact, qualities necessarily manifests a corresponding
if one was to transmit the same periodic signal idea of space within which such materials
directly at the ears aperture as well as from are seen to preside. Applying this notion to
the far end of a hall, the same pitch would still the category of audible spatiality, two points
be discernable. It would seem then that pitch to be stated: Firstly, that degrees of perceived
constitutes a distinctly separate sonic category spatiality are an outcome of interactions
than that of space mentioned in the example between observer, event and locale. Secondly,
of reverberation. On the other hand, when that there is no singular sound-space but rather
examining the process through which qualities an open-ended set of spatial territories, each
of pitch, timbre and tone arise, some striking containing its own logic and particularity.
similarities can be discerned. To begin with, Reverberation, pitch and timbre can be
in terms of relationships between stimulus and understood as varying interpretations of the
perceived outcomes, the qualities of pitch have same kind of qualitative experience, namely:
no similarity to the intermittent waves seen in heterogeneous forms of audible spatiality.
specialized photographs of sound propagation
(the phased space of acoustics). Most notably, From the experiential position (and this
audible pitch is continuous and enveloping applies to sensations in general), there is no
whereas the acoustic waves are intermittent, such thing as a perceived qualities devoid of
spatially elongated and enumerative. spatial attributes. Qualities always occur
Secondly, the ear does not count the number of in, on, beside, behind or around
consecutive oscillations when perceiving pitch something else. Returning to the example
but rather compounds motions into discernable of frequency, if pitch can be contemplated in
shimmers. Hearing tone height means that the isolation, e.g. without an intervening space
entire series of consecutive oscillations are of emission, then this suggests the perception
synthesized and conveyed to the listener all at of pitch itself may be a peculiar condition of
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146
Creating
space
Bart Visser
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intrinsic space / Creating space
Years ago I spent New Years Eve in a small With that in mind, I returned from Norway
log cabin, far from the civilized world, in a and started work on an installation in which the
mountainous region of Norway. While there, I audience is in a completely shuttered space and
had an experience that gave me a flash of insight has to come up with their own representation
into what the essential point of it really is for me of that space by experiencing moving light
as an artist. and sound. Various sounds short taps, heavy
thrumming bass notes and glissandos bounce
After a long journey, I arrived at the cabin and off the acoustics of the space. Your ears are
was elated by the rugged, snowy landscape. quite capable of forming an impression of the
The first few days flew past, filled with forays materiality, size and proportions of the space
into the surrounding area and explorations through those perceived sounds. Thats how a
of the mountaintops around me. Such a bat finds its way too: by sending pulses of sound
magnificent white space! At some point, out into the space around it and hearing how
however, a blizzard started, accompanied by they echo back.
howling winds, blowing so fiercely that there
was little else to do than wait inside until the Later, more installations and performances
storm died down. After three days, I was able followed in which the experience of space
to venture outside again; it was still snowing, played a key role. One installation was built
but the storm had passed and I was impatient using a microphone and a speaker to hear the
after the long wait. I followed the contours of unique sounds native to a space. Each space has
the valley. After striding through the snow its own echo and its own timbre. By introducing
for several hours on my cross-country skis, a sound into that space and recording it, and
something started to nag at me. I was uneasy; then recording that echoed sound again and
there was something that had caught me off playing it back again, over and over, a sound
balance and I was unsure what it was. process emerges in which the acoustics of the
space play an increasingly major role with each
I stood still to figure out what had caught my successive recording. In each repetition, the
attention. The falling snow and the horizon echo and timbre have more and more impact
blended together, seamless right up to my feet. on the original sound, until the recorded
I had no idea how far I was looking was it one timbre has receded into nothingness and only
metre or ten, fifty, a hundred? Everything was the sound of the space itself remains. It is like
white; nothing defined the space in which I a very slow feedback process that produces
stood. The same sensation applied to my ears. amazing sounds. At this stage, moving through
What space was I hearing? What sound in the space again with the microphone and the
that space? Silence? No, there was definitely speaker induces a sound pattern that is entirely
a rustling noise. Was it the sound of the falling indigenous to the space itself.
snow? Or the rushing of my own blood? Does
snow actually rustle as it falls? I stood still In another installation, I took thin sheets of
and my ears and eyes seemed like a camera steel, 1 metre by 2 metres, and used a motor to
that is unable to focus. I became aware of how induce vibrations in the steel. The resulting
strongly I orientate myself with my eyes and sound is reminiscent of the familiar thunder
ears, mapping the space in which I stand ... and sheets. The motors that induce the vibrations
how strongly that orientation is imbued with are computer-operated with extreme precision.
emotions, memories, sounds, smells. Take The installation is set up in a fort along the
away that orientation and there is confusion, New Dutch Water Defence Line a defence
unease; all sense of proportion vanishes. structure that flooded the land in response to
threats, which was rendered useless by the time
Back home, the following question occupied my it was completed due to the invention of the
thoughts: If space ceases to exist, if it cannot be aeroplane.
perceived, is it possible to create perceptions
that bring about the experience of space?
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In Egyptian temples we
intrinsic space / Creating space
149
After silence, that which
intrinsic space / Creating space
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intrinsic space / Creating space
What is interesting about this installation is Music, Space and Architecture. In English, the
when the motor runs faster or slower, it does not word Space represents an abstract concept that
cause the sound to change; rather, it is the sound has multiple meanings. The simplest definition
space that undergoes drastic transformation. is that a space is a functional place inside a
When the motor is turning over a minimal building, like a storage room or reception area.
speed, it seems as though the sound comes from This definition primarily says something about
kilometres away, even when youre standing how the space might be used, not about what the
right beside the installation. Revving the motor space itself is. Another definition of space is the
makes it seem as though the sound travels from universe. Not only is it entirely impossible to
outside to inside the space. You could attempt to truly imagine the proportions of that space, it is
achieve the same effect with speakers, but then also unclear what space actually is here. Space
it would remain a projection that is not occurring can also mean leeway or room to manoeuvre.
as such in the space. Because a sheet of steel An interesting space: often a space that wasnt
has a huge audible body, the ear cannot localize originally intended to be there, a space created
the source of the sound. The installation also by the erosion of material that had previously
responds to the movements of the visitors in the filled that space. Another meaning of space is the
fort. The experience in the fort is intense. The blank area between two words. Thats a space
contrast between the experience of the stuffy, too!
closed-off inner spaces and the shifting sound
spaces works amazingly well. The word Space stands between Music and
Architecture, and that is no coincidence.
I realize that a quest for the space revealed Space only emerges between disciplines
by the work is a recurring theme running such as music and architecture. Space is the
through all my work. One artist who is a huge interplay that occurs in the interface where two
inspiration to me is James Turrell. Where I try disciplines meet; it is the interspace between two
to create and manipulate spaces with sounds, he disciplines.
works with light. He works with various light
sources, with all sorts of artificial light as well Both music and architecture are fairly clearly
as daylight. In his works, a space is generally defined fields. Both rest on a respectable
created that exists solely in the imagination, tradition. You can be trained to be a composer
even though you are standing in an actual, or an architect. But what about space? Can
physical space with physical light sources. Yet you make space, design it, create it? And what
the space that emerges is in your mind; you exactly does space represent in this conceptual
look at it, and you know that what you see is trinity? And why is it there in the middle,
not there. It is simultaneously confusing and between those other two monuments?
clarifying. His interventions are so powerful
that nothing after that point resembles what it Steen Eiler Rasmussen wrote a fantastic book
was before. called Experiencing Architecture, in which he
describes in ten chapters how architecture can be
This clarifying confusion, in which you experienced. The final chapter is called Hearing
experience how strongly perception is your Architecture. In that chapter, he delves into
own creation, based on the connections you history to show how architecture has shaped
make and filled with your own emotions, musical history. He shows that different styles of
memories and thoughts, is what intrigues me so architecture led to the composition of different
intensely; it is what I seek. music, so the qualities of the architecture
could be used to maximum effect. Gregorian
When I was asked to teach on Music, Space and chants, for instance, originated in the old St.
Architecture, I immediately said yes. But how Peters Basilica. The slow, monophonic style of
does one teach the profession that I practice? liturgical singing characteristic of Gregorian
How can I give a name to what I seek, what I do, chants was dictated by the architecture of the
what I would want students to search for? enormous basilica. The echoes lasted too long to
allow music that was lighter, higher or faster.
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intrinsic space / Creating space
Space is the word between architecture and Neither the architect nor the scenographer
music. The close connection between the shape creates spaces made of stone, wood, metal or
of the space and the sound of the space can be glass; they create experiences in people. Or,
perceived very well in churches and cathedrals. better: their work creates the conditions for the
When you walk into a cathedral, the height of space that people experience. I wanted to give
the columns soaring up to the roof is not all that students the experience of using interventions
you experience; the specific sounds of wooden to influence the space, manipulate it and open
chairs scooting over the floor and footsteps in it up to be experienced in ways that often also
stone portals are absolutely certain to be part of surprised them.
your perceptions as well.
The interface between architecture and
Space is the immaterial and possibly even non- music, the point where those two disciplines
sensory experience of the encounter between meet, is an inspiring area for me to work in.
architecture and sound. The experience is Inspiring, because both so strongly define how
non-sensory in that it lies in the connections space is experienced, but neither possesses the
that you always have to make for yourself exclusive ability to do so.
between impressions of a very different nature,
impressions that enter your perception through The two disciplines combine to create a
different senses. space that is only revealed in that point of
convergence. The precise way it will work can
Music and installations have played an only be conceived in part beforehand. Exactly
important role in my search towards making how peoples imaginations will be stirred, and
space something that can be experienced. They how you create the margin that which is left
are interventions that serve to allow the space unfilled that is needed for those imaginations
to reveal itself in one way or another. They to work, is always a matter of action: seeking,
accentuate the distance between what you see trying and observing for yourself. Gregorian
and what you hear, between what you think you chants took form from listening closely to the
perceive objectively and what proves in part acoustic qualities of the St. Peters Basilica. It
to be an experience created by imagination. is frequently necessary to enter the emptiness
Musical interventions make it possible to and abandon the overarching perspective.
change the experience of the space and make it What does the space itself want? What does
palpably dynamic. You can heighten the tension it have to tell me? That sense of wandering
in that gap, create different possibilities for within the space is the most exciting process
experiencing space, in which each individual in the artists profession. Going astray and
(who after all wants to be in a consistent space) being unsuccessful are part of that process.
will have to make personal choices and build But it is in the almost inevitable failure
connections. that we see precisely that which we can no
longer understand, no longer perceive. In
The strength of a good work of art, a good that moment, it has sprung up somewhere in
building or good scenography is that it yourself: space.
can create space. Space in time. Between
disciplines. Between people. Between
concepts. In the intervening margin that exists
between people, concepts and disciplines, there
is space that can and must be filled by human
imagination. Stretching and manipulating
that margin and, in doing so, tickling the
imagination is the domain of art.
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(Un)Aimed, 2002.
Fort Werk Waalse Wetering,
Tull and t Waal. Sound
installation of vibrating steel
plates that respond to the
movement of the public inside
the fort. The installation
comments on the forts defence
function, rendered obsolete
as soon as it was built owing
to the introduction of the
aeroplane.
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Noorderkerk
This group of students of
architecture and scenography
made a performance in the
Noorderkerk, Amsterdam.
Small hats descended from
the air channels high up in
the church. Some of the hats
contained a speaker from
which recorded text rang out.
The inspiration for the texts
was to offer a path down for
the long-gone thoughts that
had found their way upwards
in the church over the years.
Theaterschool
The foyer of the Theaterschool
in Amsterdam was the venue
for this installation made
by students. The principle
behind the installation was to
render audible the use of the
space. With the aid of triggers
and a computer system,
sound became the buildings
dominant function.
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Academy of Architecture
Ear-shaped shells adorned
the walls of the Academy of
Architecture. These shells
offered an acoustic view
through the walls, so to speak.
The boundary marked by the
wall was abolished to a certain
degree. The sounds of water
created an acoustic insight into
the world behind.
arcam
A group of students created
a mechanism that could play
the structure of the arcam
gallery building. Big, black,
round steel pipes served as
structure in the glass faade
to the water. Mechanisms
that could play these pipes by
hitting, stroking or blowing
them translated the physical
substance of the building into
sound.
157
Amsterdam Academy of Architecture
Master of Architecture Urbanism Landscape Architecture
Architects, urban designers and landscape architects learn During the periods between the terms there are
the profession at the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture workshops, study trips in the Netherlands and abroad,
through an intensive combination of work and study. and other activities. This is also the preferred moment for
They work in small, partly interdisciplinary groups international exchange projects. The academy regularly
and are supervised by a select group of practising fellow invites foreign students for the workshops and recruits
professionals. There is a wide range of options within the well-known designers from the Netherlands and further
programme so that students can put together their own afield as tutors.
trajectory and specialization. With the inclusion of the
course in Urbanism in 1957 and Landscape Architecture Graduates from the Academy of Architecture are entitled
in 1972, the aAcademy is the only architecture school in to the following titles: Master of Architecture (MArch),
the Netherlands to bring together the three spatial design Master of Urbanism (MUrb) or Master of Landscape
disciplines. Architecture (mla). The Masters diploma gives direct
access to the Register of Architects (Stichting Bureau
Some 350 guest tutors are involved in teaching every year. Architectenregister, sba) in The Hague.
Each of them is a practising designer or a specific expert in
his or her particular subject. The three heads of department The Academy of Architecture is part of the Amsterdam
also have design practices of their own in addition to their School of the Arts (ahk), as are the Theatre School, the
work for the Academy. This structure yields an enormous Amsterdam School for Music, the Netherlands Film and
dynamism and energy and ensures that the courses remain Television Academy, the Academy for Art Education, and
closely linked to the current state of the discipline. the Reinwardt Academy. The ahk, which was founded in
1987, offers a full range of bachelors and masters courses
The courses consist of projects, exercises and lectures. in the field of music, dance, theatre, film and television,
First-year and second-year students also engage in architecture, fine art and cultural heritage. The link with
morphological studies. Students work on their own or fine arts education underlines the particular importance
in small groups. The design projects form the backbone that the Academy of Architecture attaches to the artistic
of the curriculum. On the basis of a specific design aspect in the professional practice of architects, urban
assignment, students develop knowledge, insight and designers and landscape architects.
skills. The exercises are focused on training in those
skills that are essential for recognising and solving design
problems, such as analytical techniques, knowledge of the
repertoire, the use of materials, text analysis and writing.
Many of the exercises are linked to the design projects.
The morphological studies concentrate on the making of
spatial objects, with the emphasis on creative process and
implementation. Students experiment with materials and
media forms and gain experience in converting an idea into
a creation.
159
colophon
Editorial Board
Klaas de Jong
Aart Oxenaar
Machiel Spaan
Editors
Maarten Kloos
Machiel Spaan
Editor-In-Chief
Klaas de Jong
Translation
Billy Nolan
Copy Editing
Mark Speer
Photography
Justin Bennett, pp. 34, 36, 39, 40-41
M. Brinkgreve, p. 94
Cilia Erens, pp. 42, 47 (above), 48
Peter van der Heijden, pp. 112-114
Jord den Hollander, p. 115
Ruud Jonkers, pp. 26-27
Hanne Nijhuis, pp, 125, 128, 146, 156-157
Andreas Praefcke, p. 58
Rop te Riet, p. 47 (below)
Bart Visser, pp. 153-155
Dean Whiteside, p. 56
Selection of Quotes
Kim Verhoeven
Thanks to
arcam
Conservatorium van Amsterdam
Stichting Noorderkerkconcerten
de Theaterschool
Graphic Design
Studio Sander Boon
Amsterdam
Printing
Pantheon drukkers
Velsen-Noord
Binding
Van Waarden
Zaandam
isbn
9789461400055
160
biographies
Rob Metkemeijer (1948) Aart Oxenaar (1958) studied Linda-Ruth Salter was a Machiel Spaan (1966) is
studied physics at the Delft art history and archeology at pioneer in crossing discipline an architect. He graduated
University of Technology, the University of Amsterdam. boundaries when she from the Department of
where he graduated in acoustics With the support of the obtained a Ph.D. degree in Architecture and Urban Design
in 1973. He joined the Peutz Netherlands Organization for interdisciplinary studies from at the Eindhoven University
group as a consulting engineer Scientific Research, he has Boston University in 1984. of Technology in 1992 and is a
in acoustics and was a member conducted research into the Her doctoral dissertation co-founder of the Amsterdam-
of the board from 1987 onwards. work of P.J.H. Cuypers. He examined the nature of sacred based architecture firm M3H
He was responsible for the has worked for the Netherlands space in secular societies. architecten. A hallmark of
department of concert hall and Architecture Institute in Additional research showed M3Hs work is an approach
theatre acoustics from 1991 Rotterdam as a writer and the significance of place and that engages with the design
onwards, when he took over exhibition maker, and was the spatial memory in maintaining problem and takes confluence
this position from Victor M.A. Founding Coordinator of the group identity. Salter has rather than conflict as its
Peutz, founder of the company. Centre for Architecture and consulted in the area of starting point. Questioning
He has served as acoustic Urbanism in Tilburg. Since research and planning for a the physical, social, historical
designer in numerous projects 1998 he has been Director of successful built environment and social context determines
for the following institutions: the Amsterdam Academy of in public housing, educational the programme and the
Royal Concertgebouw, Architecture. He is active and business spaces, and has architectural form in all
Muziekgebouw aan t IJ, Beurs as an advisor in the field of taught urban studies at Boston projects. The hidden potential
van Berlage (Amvest Hall in architecture and planning, as a University. Presently she of the site is rendered visible
glass), bimhuis, Heineken member of the IJburg Quality is associate professor in the and can be experienced. M3H
Music Hall, Royal Theatre Team and chairperson of humanities and social sciences is an architecture firm that
Carr (all in Amsterdam), the Committee for Building at the New England Institute devotes attention to all facets of
ircam (Paris), Royal Albert Quality and Monuments in of Technology, where she fuses design, from the urban scale to
Hall (London), Dr Anton Amsterdam and serves on the and integrates the fine arts, the detail. Making and building
Philipszaal, Royal Theatre Advisory Board for Spatial technology and social sciences . are key aspects. M3H has
(The Hague), Philharmonie Quality in Haarlem. In addition Blesser and Salter merged designed and completed scores
(Haarlem), De Spiegel (Zwolle) to his work as an architectural their collective knowledge and of buildings in urban settings.
and the Tonhalle (Dsseldorf ). historian, with a focus on the experience of the physical and In addition to his practice,
nineteenth century, he has social sciences to create the Machiel Spaan has been actively
published on contemporary concepts of auditory spatial teaching since 1994. He has
architecture in the Netherlands. awareness and its manifestation focused on creating a sensory
In 2010 he obtained his as aural architecture. Spaces experience of architecture in
Ph.D. from the University of Speak embodies their shared educational projects such as
Amsterdam with an extensive philosophic bias: technology House for a Blind Person (2001),
publication on the architect changes the social and artistic Tastenderwijs (2004), The
Pierre Cuypers, celebrated aspects of culture, while at the Temporary Expert (2004-
designer of the Central same time, culture influences 2007) and Music, Space and
Station and Rijksmuseum in the properties of technology, Architecture (2010).
Amsterdam, entitled P.J.H. invention and innovation. Machiel Spaan has been head of
Cuypers en het gotisch rationalisme the Architecture Department
(nai Publishers, Rotterdam). at the Amsterdam Academy of
Architecture since September
2007. In that capacity, he is
responsible for the quality of the
curriculum and organizes the
educational projects, important
motives for which are the
process of creation, the relation
with the arts and the social
context of Amsterdam.
biographies