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.

Class Reflection November 20, 2008

The discussion that we had last class on our interaction with sound and architecture was one that I found to be quite fascinating. It triggered my memory of something that I had read what felt like ten years ago (and ended up actually being a year and a half ago) about a company called muzak, who create an environment through glorified elevator music. The article which you can still read here was well worth the hour that it took me to track down. Basically my good cyber friends over at BLDGBLOG discus the notion of cities operating on a soundtrack, and how through implementing something like this an entire city could change. Of course the logistics of the whole scenario are too political to ever make it happen I think it would be a very cool idea to experiment with as I progress with my designs.

Music has the ability to dramatically shift and shape any environment. It has no boundaries and much like color can communicate the same message to a broad spectrum of individuals. Perhaps acoustic urban design will be something in the future, much like how gothic churches were designed to maximize their acoustic impact, public spaces will be designed to work with a certain sound. The above article gave the example of a street in London that played the sounds of a busy market in Amsterdam, or a city which played the sounds of the day before. It all may seem somewhat abstract and unpractical but in a world that is begin to become more and more chaotic, maybe constant background noise would add some aspect of control.

The second section of our class that focused on flood architecture, a seemingly hip subject of discussion these days. Ed Epp came to speak about his own research into designing for water and introduced us to the International Center for Flood Architecture. What I valued most was his emphasis on understanding the pre-existing conditions and tailoring your designs to adapt to these rather than the other way around, a resounding point that we have been hearing time and time again.

Class Reflection: November 20th

Professor Malory-Hill returned for a second lecture for the first half of this class. Her lecture focused on sound in architecture. I was really into learning about this, since it is a design subject I was mildly aware of but knew nothing specific. The aspect of the lecture that stuck with me was definatley the evolution of music being so influenced by the architecture it was created in. It is so interesting to explore the minor details in life that have influenced the major parts of out history. It really brings home the fact that we are a part of interconnected SYSTEMS that govern the flow of our lives.

Ed Epp took over in the second section, and shared his research into flood architecture. He has had so much hands on exposure on the subject, which I think is fantastic. I thought of Edward Burtynsky's photography exhibit Manufactured Landscapes when seeing Ed's images of the Chinese floodway. Very indutrial, and intense. I think Ed's passion on the subject is a realistic course to take considering the frequency of natural disasters plaguing the planet in recent years. The approach in China does not seem to be an effective solution, and it brings me back to professor McLaughlin's lecture on letting nature control it's own foces by working with, and not against it.

Class Reflection November 20

Last class' lecture was our second from Dr. Mallory-Hill. The topic of the first portion of this class was sound and architecture. Like Vaike's lecture on colour taught me, everything is relevant in architecture. While I have always been an avid music listener, and general sound enthusiast, and while I was aware that acoustics are an important consideration in design, I was unaware of the major impact of sound in our built environments. Dr. Mallory-Hill's initial description of how sound affects the human brain was so interesting, and I found her presentation of how architecture has been designed to achieve certain sounds to be fascinating. I have visited several of the spaces she presented, and when she described, for example, the way that sound resonates in St. Mark's, I was brought back to that place and realized that sound is part of what makes the space memorable.

During the second portion of the lecture Eduard Epp presented on the topic of flood architecture. This presentation was particularly relevant to me as my studio project focused on redesigning a city after a flood. Like Epp mentioned, our studio group also decided to design structures to work with and on the water, instead of in opposition to it. For these reasons, I appreciated his insights for designing structures on water. As our climate continues to change it is important that we address flooding, and I share Epp's belief that is in our interest to adapt our urban environments to accommodate water. Epp's demonstration of his travels as an attempt to understand flood architecture were very interesting, and he made an important point, stating that depending on our culture water may be seen as a healing and life giving, or as destructive. In the years to come I believe we as North American's should shift our beliefs to the former in order move forward and evolve from future floods.