Class Refection, November 20th, 2008

Professor Shauna Mallory-Hill joined us once again, this time to speak about sound and its involvement of sound in architecture. I found listening to Daniel Levitin’s insights on music and the human psyche especially valuable. He expressed that humans are innately musical creatures and that so many aspects of our cultural development have been shaped by music. It is evident that not a single culture lacks it; even animals use vocalizations and songs etc… all of which are antecedents of music. We were encouraged to think of the emotional centers triggered when sound enters a space and how it can be used to enhance or influence a structure’s design. The surrounding geometry of a space affects the quality of sound within it, as represented in early religious architecture to modern day concert halls, all spaces built to house and shape voices and instruments.
I thought it would be quite compelling if architecture could create sound, not simply support the sounds created by those who use the space. There are already so many sounds that one associates with their homes, like how it settles at night or the creeks from wooden floor boards. These sounds can also provoke certain feelings of comfort or discomfort. However, I have yet to discover a piece of architecture that demonstrates this in its original design.

The second portion of the class focused on flood architecture, though not entirely relevant to the first presentation, it had much relevance to some people as relating to their studio projects. I found this lecture especially moving, specifically because of Edward Epp’s more humanistic focus concerning water and floods. I appreciated him showing the different ways people identify and deal with the water around them, whether it is in a positive way or not. Different societies and cultures react to water in various ways and this was so apparent in his examples of The Ganges River in India and the towering, water dams and cement walls in China. The way structures are built can reflect so much human emotion, for example, the desperation with which the cement support walls were constructed is blatant. This is so interesting to me and a part of me feels that I cannot blame anyone for bad design or planning or anything. I feel more so a sense of compassion for the people who are experiencing these difficulties in the face of the forces of water.

Reflections for November 20 Class

Dr. Mallory Hill was back this week to continue about architecture and our senses. Hearing was the major sense she focused on, giving a very interactive lecture by incorporating music, interviews and other types of sounds. It has been hypothesized that humans are musical creatures. Since the beginning of human culture, we have had some form of music. It is a stimulus which can activate different pleasure centers in our brain and often has an emotional affecst on us. Similar to how we like diversity in our urban landscapes, our brain also seeks for diversity when it comes to sound. We tend to want to dance more to more syncopated beats versus steady beats. Our brains our constantly seeking challenges in the sounds and sights we experience. "Architecture is Frozen Sound" was a quote that really resonated with me. I realized we often use musical terms to speak about architecture. For example, we can say the row of windows creates a sense of rhythm or all the visual elements work to form a composition. All the examples shown of Architecture and Sound were built with not only with aesthetics in mind, but also the function. Music Halls took into account, what type of sound they wanted to achieve, and even factored in the audience as sound absorbers. Architecture also influenced types of music like the Gregorian Chant because the Cathedrals were built so large and reverberant, people had to sing a specific way. 

The second half of the class dealt with Flood Architecture taught by our program head, Ed Epp. Living in Winnipeg makes this lecture one with important context. Flooding is an issue our city desperately struggles with. All the information and examples were provided on the website International Centre for Flood Architecture. Once again Scandinavian Countries such as the Netherlands were far ahead the rest of North America in their innovations in dealing with flooding. Many of the examples shown in the Netherlands had human settlements work with and co exist with nature. They City of Delft brought the water in to became part of the cityscape and the community of Grindgaten X used the floating properties of concrete to keep the community afloat. Although the Centre for Flood Architecture is quite new, I predict this centre and the research it's doing will gain momentum in the years to come, where flooding will be a problem many cities will need to face with climate change.

A New Sound

After the lecture on lighting, I wondered about other electromagnetic waves our bodies are constantly submerged in that we can readily detect. The first one that came to mind was sound. Similar to light, sound is another type of radiation that our senses are able to pick up. It is also a natural by product of when we talk, when two objects come into contact with one another, basically whenever air is disturbed (which is almost all the time). There are very few occasions where I find myself in complete silence, even when I sleep I can still hear the wind and cars passing by. Although sound waves contain much less energy than light waves, we shouldn't ignore the fact that it is still a form of energy that constantly surrounds us. A source of energy that we can potentially harness on a smaller scale. This article from Science Daily explains how turning excess heat into electricity by using sound is an efficient way to recycle waste heat.

To see article, please click Sound 

Energy is all around us and in vast amounts, the only problem is tapping into these sources. Opening our eyes and ears to new solutions often found in the most obvious places is necessary to move forward in our search for usable energy. Diversifying and expanding our energy resources will also result in more stable and resilient energy supplies for future generations to come.

Reflections for Class October 16

Two guest speakers joined us in this week's class. The first was Dr. Shauna Mallory-Hill with her lecture about lighting and its effect on people. Our bodies are constantly submerged in electro magnetic waves and one we can predominantly detect with our senses is light. Because we are constantly submerged in light during our waking hours, its important that we create spaces with proper lighting for the health and well being of people. 

When studying light, we have to understand the dynamic relationship between our eyes and light to create a successful environment. Our eyes have developed in specific ways to help us survive in the natural world. We define objects through visual contrast, are able to accommodate from near to far objects, can conceive depth perception by having eyes located on the front of our head, and are able to come to conclusions of what we see by cognitively linking past experiences with our visual experience. Our eyes have evolved to a high level of sophistication, but they still aren't perfect. We still have trouble adjusting between light to dark, more notably bright to dark (it can take up to 30 min for your eyes to fully adjust). As designers we have to keep our eye weaknesses in mind so we don't create potentially vulnerable situations for pedestrians at night.

 

The most predominant source of light we have been using since our species existence is the sun. Next is fire, candles, gas lamps, and finally the advent of electric lights. We were told the difference between sunlight and daylight. Sunlight is direct light from the sun, usually very strong and undesirable, whereas daylight is indirect light from the sun controlled by architecture. Daylighting is often used when creating structures with lots of natural light because of the reduced effects of glare and the heat of the sun. In moderns times, we are now trying to go back to these earlier notions of using the sun as lighting. Our current artificial lighting needs are consuming massive amounts of energy, creating environmental degradation. At the same time also creating negative health impacts on people, disrupting circadian cycles and the release of melatonin (hormone that helps us sleep). It has only been 150 years since artificial electrical lighting was introduced to society, not allowing enough time for our bodies to make the proper adjustments. Sleeping disorders and other sleep related illnesses have surfaced in the recent years showing the negative impacts of artificial lighting.

Dr. Mallory-Hill also presented to us various lighting bulbs giving us examples of various energy efficiencies. The most interesting one to me was the LED lighting that produced no by product heat and had a life time of 80 years. This new lighting technology could potentially reduce our electric energy consumption drastically if made available to everyday consumers.

The next speaker we had was Daniel J. Petrak a former graduate of this program, also interested in light and more so thermal  modeling. His main focus is on using the aspects of natural light as a means to derive the form. Daniel went through the process of his thesis showing us a program where he could perform a technique called light carving (a term David claims to have coined). On this program he was able to create architectural forms based on where the light would come into contact with the structure. He also showed us a software program where you were able to design structures with various climatic conditions at play. 

 

When designing with sustainability in mind, we must sometimes give up our artistic whim and let the ecological parameters guide our creation of the form. Including these ecological parameters at the start of the design will result in something with a more successful, integrated design.