So I narrowed back in again on acoustic principles and science in an attempt not to lose my goal. That being to create a speculative design that shows the true power acoustic design has within in our built environment.
I returned to a quote by Lakshmi Sandhana at the BBC saying;
"Step into the underground concourses of New York’s Penn Station and you might just feel an uneasy sense of claustrophobia that’s hard to explain. Stroll across the hardwood floors at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC and a sense of calmness might descend on you. Why? Each of these buildings has its own unique voice – the way sound behaves in the structure."
This returned me to my thoughts about a building or spaces as a fine tuned instrument, tuned to relate to our bodies and minds in intangible ways due to our our body's composition. This idea of how we can decipher a perceived silence, vibrations rather than sound. Yet sound itself is and I quote:
"vibrations that travel through the air or another medium and can be heard when they reach a person's or animal's ear"
Similar to sound, Super string theory suggests that everything (humans, buildings etc) are made up of vibrating strings that travel through another medium or dimension and communicate themselves through this transfer. Thus it is interesting to look at the neurological benefits of tuning our surroundings to our minds and bodies.
This is not a new thought, with ancient structures such as Newgrange, Ireland and the Hypogeum, Malta both having resonating frequencies within the human vocal range. They are both also resonating chambers which amplify sounds of that frequency naturally as the wave output and the wave returning as in perfect sync. This phenomena is called constructive interference and has been proved to cause shifts in the pre frontal cortex of the brain and create a functioning asymmetry.
In my building I hope to replicate this phenomena by generating forms using cymatic patterns derived from vibrations at frequencies within the human vocal range. I will heighten the experience by creating a musical circulation element. In which the building will work like an eccentric bell tower, with each lift pulling on a bell as it descends, the resulting ring resonating in the chamber it corresponds to i.e. c1 bell to c1 chamber. I will also create a sorbet circulation in the stairwell for an alternative experience, one which allows you to travel from form to form , removing yourself from any vibrating or audible experience as you transcend. Lastly I will use the expansive theatre as a sonic bath filled with perceived silence, a space for meditation and reflection.
The building design although speculative could function as an entertaining space, a therapeutic space for acoustic therapies or a scientific test bed into the relationship between form, string theory and our body.
I intend to communicate this:
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