Studio leaders: Sofia Colabella and Michael Mack
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“The modern architect is designing for the deaf.” Canadian Composer R. Murray Schafer
The term ‘resonance’ relates to the propagation and perception of sound. Both concepts inform the process of sound design: soundwaves can either be amplified or damped, combined, or echoed, repeated or silenced, and each of these strategies generates a different acoustic experience.
Acoustics and the design of sounds are generally overlooked by architects, who tend to think in terms of more tangible concepts. Human perception favours vision; it is ocular-centric by nature. However, we are surrounded by sounds we do not control. We hear them, tolerate them, or even endure them. To control such sounds, acoustics should be approached as an integral part of the design process so we can control sounds, and the way sounds can shape our buildings and cities.
This subject explores the idea of propagation and perception of sound as concepts that can inform the process of sound design: soundwaves can either be amplified or damped, combined, or echoed, repeated or silenced, and each of these strategies generates a different acoustic experience.
No unique or exclusive design parameter corresponds to the perceived quality of a concert hall, and this is even more true in outdoor spaces. That is why acoustics has been approached as an integral part of the design process as a powerful tool to shape buildings and cities.
The knowledge acquired with the first exercise, "Amplify your smartphone" - which was meant to familiarise with the geometric relationship between architectural form and acoustic performance - has been then applied to the design of an acoustic shell for open-air music performance, and other programs that are complementary to the music festival and supposed to serve as the ongoing program of the site all year round. The rehabilitation of the quarry is part of the design brief, along with the relationship between architectural form, materiality, and acoustic and lighting performance.
Technical Tutor: Gabriele Mirra
Special guests: Jason Sim (Arup) & Peter Fearnside, (Marshall Day Acoustics Australia)