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GREG BAKER
Materials give off different sounds depending on their density,
molecular conguration (including phase changes). This
experiment develops this idea even further, attempting to
investigate differences between different sides of a box madeout of
one material. In this case, a wood box is tapped on each side, and
a microphone is suspended inside the box.The microphone allows the
specic frequency spectrum of the tapping. Using different materials
to tap and scrape the
surfaces give different spectral signatures, but each side of
the box has a unique signature among a range of excitationmethods.
This is a new way of studying room acoustics, since it studies the
properties of how placement affects frequencyresponse rather than
testing how a frequency itself is manipulated by the size and
conguration of the room.
The technology of acoustic surfaces has come a long way since
its humble beginnings about a century ago. The termtransondent
comes from this line of study. By using ceramic, paper, and other
material techniques applied to creativeuse of non-traditional
building materials, new acoustic assemblies for use as
architectural surfaces can be uncovered.
One special ceramic tile that uses an inner core of seaweed
would be an underlooked example of this method. Many ofthe more
visually appealing acoustic surfaces use this method as well, and
have come to the point in their developmentthat they stand on their
own as intriguing architectural nishes. Each type of surface comes
with its own rules about how it
should be arranged in a particular space, often combining with
the unique form of the surface itself to form aural spaces.
Ever since Wallace Clement Sabine established the reverberation
equation in 1900, concert halls have undergoneobsessive acoustic
measurement of their reverberation time. The equation is meant to
describe how long it takes for
a sound to die out in a room. Short reverberation times are
associated with clarity, but long reverberation times areassociated
with the beauty of sound in a large religious space such as a
cathedral, temple, or mosque. The negotiation ofthis acoustic time
scale becomes the task of an acoustic engineer in the design of a
performance space. The audience
is generally assumed to want a balance of clarity and sound
saturation. By studying the reverberation times of
variousperformance spaces, it is possible to develop these methods
further and apply them to unconventional situations.
By using digital tools, a user interface provides a link between
the physical world and a virtual (visual) representation ofhow
sounds change. Two kinds of microphones are plugged into an input
device that digitizes the incoming sounds and
sends them to a computer. The computer divides the frequency
range of the sounds into equal bands that are givenvisual
characteristics, such as brightness, contrast, and color
saturation. These visual characteristics are applied to
thecomputers built-in video camera input so that users see
themselves manipulated by the sounds they are making through
the microphones. One microphone is a dynamic vocal mic that has
been programmed to be sensitive to the frequencyof percussive
utterances. The other is a contact mic that has been similarly
programmed to respond to different materials.
THIS THESIS PROJECT EXPLORES NOISE AS A BYPRODUCT OF
ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM WITHIN A LARGER FRAMEWORK OF SOUND AS
(SPATIAL) TERRITORY, BOTH PUBLIC AND PRIVATE.
RECOMBINANT NARRATIVE - METHOD
2. MATERIAL STUDIES (PROJECT PROPOSAL, 2012)
3. ACOUSTIC SURFACES
1. DIGITAL TOOLS (LIVE SOUND VISUALIZER, SAN FRANCISCO
CALIFORNIA 2012)
4. ACOUSTIC TYPOLOGIES
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BAKER 2
Material explorations have always been and will always be part
of the way sound is controlled in spatial environments.
Transondent
architecture combines material studies with digital sound
analysis tools to understand acoustics from different angles. The
material
side explores the reection and refraction of sound, including
specifying the medium by which an observed sound is travelling.
Theanalysis tools, on the other hand, uncover the underlying
properties of sounds and materials. By looking through the tunnel
from both
ends, so to speak, it is possible to piece together new ways of
understanding the relationship between sound and materials.
Although architecture has the potential to let us hear certain
sounds, and not others, it also emits its own signature
frequencies
and resonances. Just as mechanical resonance shook the
Tacoma-Narrows Bridge to structural failure, everything vibrates;
evena page in a book. In order to understand what kind of
implication these vibrations have on architecture, measuring the
vibrationsof surfaces with a contact microphone and creating a
typology of frequency spectrum signatures suggests what kinds of
materials
will be effective in future design explorations. If a
low-frequency space is desired, then using sheet metal in the room
would not bethe correct application. A thorough study of this type
is necessary to understand what will make certain shaped material
surfacesperform for the appropriate effects. The development of a
toolkit for acoustic surfaces will answer the question of how to
acheive
a design solution. In this case the major potential is the
development of a series of architectural interventions that
accentuate theexisting resonances of urban society.
RECOMBINANT NARRATIVE - METHOD
READING RESPONSE
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