Geometric Sound : Intimate Space by Joseph Piorkowski

Geometric Sound

Intimate Space

Joseph Piorkowski

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

Joseph Piorkowski Simon Kim

advisor

2012 MArch I PennDesign University of Pennsylvania

Contents

Precedent Timeline

4-5

The Country House

6-15

UnitĂŠ dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Habitation

16-27

Couvent de la Tourette

28-33

Las Americas, Ecatepec

34-45

Philips Pavilion

46-53

Pepsi Pavilion

54-63

Design Phase

64-111

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

Precedent Timeline

Victorian

1837

Edwardian

1888 1891

1901

1910

Stokesay Court

World War I

Precedent Timeline

Philips Pavilion 1958

1947

1952

Unité d’habitation

1956

1970

2003

Pepsi Pavilion

Las Americas

1960

Couvent de la Tourette

Great Depression

World War II

Vietnam War

Gulf War

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

[

Victorian + Edwardian + Gentry + Servant + Social Hierarchy + Segregation + Systematic Function =

]

The Country House

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

Country House Typology

The Victorian and Edwardian lifestyle exemplified by the Country House contrasts with the late Medieval urban house of Frederick Brun1. Where Brun lived and worked alongside his employees, the dichotomy in the country household between master and servant was strict and at times severe. On one side were the wealthy and privileged, on the other, domestic servants. Dependency, however, tied the two worlds together. The plans of country houses can be grouped into roughly four categories. One, those based on Classical Palladian villa and double pile plans, Dobroyd Castle (1865-69) and Stoke Rochford Hall (1839-41), respectively. Two, plans based on historical H or E models of the Medieval and Tudor, Harlaxton Manor (1832-38) and Stokesay Court (1888-91). Three, free plan models exemplified at Cloverley Hall (1864-70) and Castle Drogo (1911-1930). Four, plans exploiting the north corridor and butterfly plans seen at Pangbourne Tower (1897-99) and Home Place (1904-06), respectively. With respect for the varying formal plans, “the essence of Victorian planning was segregation and specialisation2.” The functions of rooms were precise, items had a specific place and so did the inhabitants. For example, the servant wing of Stokesay Court exemplifies high function, organization, and specification of space. The rooms and spaces are arrayed around the second court, the kitchen court. Rooms are specified as “knives and boots,” “lamp room,” “brushing room,” and so on. The commitment to precision and clarity leaves Franklin to say “the image of a great household was no longer that of a natural community or microcosm, but of a giant, well-oiled machine2.” It may not have been propped on piloti or exhibit ribbon windows, but the Victorian country house was still a machine for living. Male and female dichotomies were as noticeable in the servant realm as they were in the familial. Contact between male and female servants was kept to a minimum, not that rendezvous did not happen, though there was an architectural plan that attempted to keep unnecessary contact at bay.

Classical Palladian

Modified Classical

Double Pile

Modified Double Pile - Wings

H Plan

E Plan

Courtyard

Butterfly

Country House Typology

For example, Stokesay Court has a clear segregated plan that establishes specific areas for ladies, gentlemen, female servants, and male servants. The plan of the house architecturally delineates the social structure of the household. This is especially noticeable with the southern service wing and the placement of stairways. The servant echelons were clear. The servant was to be seen and heard as little as possible. The sharp contrasts in servant and master is exemplified through house use, highlighted by the thematic ‘upstairs downstairs.’

Family Members

Housekeeper

Ladies Maids

Guests

Butler

Valets

Footmen

House Maids

Kitchen & Scullery Maids

Guest

Ladies

The service wing is peculiar insofar as it seems a parasitic extra, though completely necessary. It is an example of specificity of room use, but lacks an integration that would come in time. Rooms are segregatory cells defined through isolated defintions of use that leads to sprawl and backbone corridors. In addition, architects accounted for another interesting segregation, the constraints and holiness of the meal and eminating odors from the kitchen. “The Victorians felt that food must be absolutely invisible till it reached the dining room3.” Thus, the plan would mirror this social practice. This is exemplified in the Stokesay Court plan, where Harris used a diagonal wall partition and successful link of the kitchen, corridor, serving room, and dining room. Key characteristics of the Country House involve social territory, functional specificity of rooms, and social identification through means of an integrated machine for living, and, working. The Country House is a symbiotic envelope, holding a weave of social counterpoint while exemplifying a stalwart architecture. For further reading, Victorian and Edwardian era upper class housing is described in exhausting detail in Robert Kerr’s The Gentleman’s House, or, How to plan English residences, from the parsonage to the palace : with tables of accommodation and cost and a series of selected plans. It is an ethnography of architecture for the times.

Female Servant Gentlemen Male Servant

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

Country House Typology

Degrees of House Use and Privacy of Family Members and Staff

Upstairs Upstairs

Upstairs

Downstairs

House

Private Family

Public Family

Family Use of House

Upstairs

Downstairs

Male Servant #1

Male Servant #2

Female Servant #1

Female Servant #2

Downstairs

The Victorian country house demonstrated significant segregation between sexes of both gentry and servant. The impersonal development between the groups had differing degrees. Depending on rank and position, a servant may never see a family member but from afar, and if permitted.

Country House Typology

Stokesay Court (1888-1891) - Thomas Harris

Ground Floor Plan

20’

50’

70’

First Floor Plan 5

Stokesay Court4 characterizes the Victorian country house based on a courtyard plan with vestiges of an E or H plan. Built between 1888-91 by Thomas Harris, the female and male quarters are segregated by the grand staircase and the Hall. Interestingly, the gentlemen rooms of the north first floor, and south servant rooms of the same floor, receive the most privacy, though by means of an architectural quarantine of lengthy east-west corridors. In contrast, several of the ladies rooms are the largest bedrooms and are, however, set back from the open hall by a generous hallway.

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

Country House Typology

Household Segregation - First Floor Schematic

Ladiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Bedrooms Main Stair

Gentlemenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bedrooms Main Stair

Servant Bedrooms Service Stair

Full Schematic

Country House Typology

Stokesay Court - Room Analysis

Ground Floor

First Floor

Familial Rooms

Servant Rooms

Hall

The above graphs show a comparison of room sizes within Stokesay Court. Initially, the centroid of each room was found and a circle was drawn about the centroid point. The area of the room was calculated and used to equate the radius of each circle. In this, the radius of each circle is in direct relation to the area of the room and its location to the shape of the room. It is particularly telling for segregation, organization, and the relationship of room size to its function and user.

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

Country House Typology

85.5'

Country House Typology

References

1 See: Rybczynski, Witold. Home: A Short History of an Idea. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Viking, 1986: Pgs. 44-49. Or, Schoenauer, Norbert. 6,000 Years of Housing. New York: W.W. Norton, 2000. Pg. 260. 2 Franklin, Jill. The Gentleman’s Country House and Its Plan: 1835-1914. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1981. Print. Pg. 39. 3 Franklin, Jill. The Gentleman’s Country House and Its Plan: 1835-1914. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1981. Print. Pg. 93. 4 Plan diagrams redrawn by author from The Gentleman’s Country House and Its Plan: 1835-1914. Pgs.130, 136, 150, 233. 5 Stokesay Court Plans redrawn by author from The Gentleman’s Country House and Its Plan: 1835-1914. Pgs. 196-97.

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

[

Le Corbusier + Modulor + Collective + Individual + Piloti + Sun + Air + Color =

]

Unité d’Habitation

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

Dimensionally, it is 137m x 24m x 56m2. Its length is situated north to south with a strong horizontal emphasis. It is twenty stories high and has 337 two storey apartments, many that are L-shaped. The L-shape afforded a unique design, making elevator stops only necessary once every three floors, exploited east-west views and sun path for almost all units, and created a clever crossventilation through the units. For instance, nearly all units have east and west exposure.

698

The original in Marseilles was completed between 1947 and 1952. It was just on the heels of World War II in a needful time for mass housing. The béton brut construction has been analogous to a wine rack, vertical city, and an ocean liner by its creator. Though it was constructed with a structural frame and slabs due to economic reasons, it was initially conceived as a frame to receive prefabricated units (i.e. wine bottles slotted into a rack), thus presaging the Metabolists, exemplified by Kurokawa’s Nakagin Capsule Tower of 1972.

1,130

Le Corbusier visited the monastery of Ema just outside Florence in 1907 and became intrigued by the “harmonious organization of individual life and collective life .” This sentiment would influence his thinking for the next fifty years and fuel the social units of the Radiant City. In this, Le Corbusier wrote, “from this moment on, the binomial—individual and collectivity—became clear to me; it is an indissoluble binomial .” Thus, the metaphorical seed was planted, left to germinate, and manifest architecturally as Unité d’habitation, a partial realization of the Radiant City. Unité d’habitation in Marseilles, France stands as a formidable housing typology, having spawned four others, namely, Rezé, Berlin, Briez en Foret, and Firminy, and countless imitations worldwide.

432

Unité d'Habitation - Marseilles, France

As if a ship on the vast ocean, the building hovers over the landscape on pilotis, one of Le Corbusier’s five points. In addition, the idea of the roof garden, another one of the five points, is also present. These features present a look into the work as an ocean liner turned building. The Unité resembles the programmatic features of an ocean liner, complete with privatized units, streamlined kitchens, corridors, and social programs that culminate into a compact city, all living necessities are but an arm’s length away— “extensions of the dwelling.” It is a manifestation of his vertical garden city concept, also known as the Radiant City. The building envelopes a varied program that includes a shopping center, health center, restaurant, youth center, workshops, nursery, gym, and a sun terrace, cafe, pool, and a playground on the roof. Le Corbusier saw these services as extensions of the dwelling, necessary to daily life and within close proximity to the resident. Like a mini megastructure. The units are adequate in size, a definite concern of Le Corbusier. Unité is the first example of the Modulor, Le Corbusier’s proportional tool fundamentally based on the golden section and a universal measurement of man.

The building does have shortcomings, however. For example, the rooftop sun terrace and landscape do not exactly beckon a lush garden, as the programs are shrouded in concrete. Sherwood writes, “the apartments are too narrow, hallways are long and dark, the space under the pilotis not very usable, and of course the supermarket did not work...[however] it may be a monument disguised as housing, but modern housing and the Unité d’habitation are synonymous3.” This is to also say that Unité d’habitation is an incredible feat created in pre-ecotect, grasshopper, and rhino times.

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

Unité d'Habitation - Marseilles, France

General Considerations of Unité d’habitation

Typical Grounded Building

Lifted Unite d’Habitation

Lift Promotes Circulation

Ground Plane Under Building

Ground Plane Lifted and Programmed

Pilotis, Mass, Roof Terrace

Typical L-Shape Conﬁguration

Unit Entry/Exit

Cross Ventilation

Unité d'Habitation - Marseilles, France

Unit Types - 23 Original Combinations

Type E1 & E2

Le Corbusier originally listed (23) unit combinations for Unité. “However, he forbade any schematic presentation of these variants1”. The plans found in the Le Corbusier Archive suggest (15) different unit types, though after closer inspection, there are apparently (6) main types that have subsequent derivatives. For example, unit type “E” has four derivatives - E1, E2, E3, and E4. Types E1 and E2 (Inférieur and Supérieur, respectively) are the majority of unit types within the Unité. What is important, here, is that the combinations produce a flexible system, accomodating different housing needs for residents.

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

Unité d'Habitation - Marseilles, France

Section and Plan of Unit Type Supérieur (E2)

Corridor - “Street” Unit Entry Loggia - Balcony

Unité d'Habitation - Marseilles, France

Gamm Graphs of Section and Plan of Unit Type Supérieur (E2)

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

Unité d'Habitation - Marseilles, France

Conceptual Diagrams of Unité d’habitation

Collective

Individual

Collective

Family

Individual

“Street” Corridor

Entry

Unit

Loggia

Thresholds

Interior Unit

Complete Unit

Intimate Family/Individual

Unité d'Habitation - Marseilles, France

Unité d’habitation - A building of sustenance with services as extensions of the dwelling

Pool

Café

Nursery

Oﬃces Gymnasium

Hotel Shopping Gallery

Restaurant

Roof Terrace

Program Network

Units

Unit/Program Network

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

UnitĂŠ d'Habitation - Marseilles, France

Unité d'Habitation - Marseilles, France

References

1 Janson, Alban, Carsten Krohn, and Anja Grunwald. Le Corbusier: Unité d’habitation, Marseille. Ed. Axel Menges. Stuttgart/London: Edition Axel Menges, 2007. Print.

2 Sbriglio, Jacques. Le Corbusier: L’unité D’habitation À Marseille: Et Les Autres Unités D’habitation À Rezé-les-Nantes, Berlin, Briey En Forêt Et Firminy = Le Corbusi er: The Unité D’habitation in Marseilles : And the Four Ohter [i.e. Other] Unité Blocks in Rezé-les-Nantes, Berlin, Briey En Forêt and Firminy. Basel: Birkhäuser, 2004. Print. 3 Sherwood, Roger. Modern Housing Prototypes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1978. Print. 4 Modulor Man redrawn by author from http://www.groovemanifesto.net/personae/ corbusier/lc67.gif 5 Above image from http://imgc.allpostersimages.com/images/P-473-488-90/11/1101/ GBLV000Z/posters/cunard-line.jpg. Below image from Le, Corbusier, Corbusier Le, André Wogenscky, and Jerzy Soltan. Le Corbusier Archive. Vol. 16. New York: Garland, 1983. Print. Pg. 451. 6 Unit Types redrawn by author from Janson, Alban, Carsten Krohn, and Anja Grunwald. Le Corbusier: Unité D’habitation, Marseille. Ed. Axel Menges. Stutt gart/London: Edition Axel Menges, 2007. Print. 7 Plan and Section of Type Supérieur from http://www.axelmenges.de/buch/ xOpus_65.pdf. Color coded by author. 8 Elevation drawing from Le, Corbusier, Corbusier Le, André Wogenscky, and Jerzy Soltan. Le Corbusier Archive. Vol. 16. New York: Garland, 1983. Print. Pg. 245. 9 Photograph pg. 16 from http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/ uploads/2010/10/1288458615-unite-vincent-desjardins6-1000x666.jpg Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

[

Le Corbusier + Xenakis + Modulor + Collective + Individual =

]

Couvent de la Tourette

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

Couvent de la Tourette

While Unite d’Habitation reflected Le Corbusier’s visit to the monastery of Ema in 1907, Couvent de la Tourette epitomizes the “harmonious organization of individual life and collective life” as a literal echo of his visit. The building, on a sloping site, is an amalgam of the private and collective, a sanctuary, and Dominican monastery founded on the logical rectangle and the introspective inner court. Built between 1956 and 1960 near Lyon, France, Tourette’s béton brut sits in monumental juxtaposition on the slope side. The characteristic undulating glass panes1, compliments of Iannis Xenakis, rhythmically pace the speed of life. The overall rectangular parti consists of three wings for the monastery and one for the church (see plan at right). The dwelling cells, prominently arrayed in plan, are reminiscent of Unité’s slender apartments and also make use of loggia as a threshold between the exterior environment and the interior private environment. The cells exemplify a purposeful austerity. The primary interest in La Tourette for the thesis relies on the undulating glass panes and the reinvigorated type. For instance, “the patterns and arrangements of the traditional monastery reappear in a new form and the inner images which underly the old spatial conceptions are brought to light again2.” In this, Le Corbusier re-imagined a historical monastic building, much in the same the thesis aims to re-imagine a live/work housing program through the aid of sound experimentation.

Couvent de la Tourette

Xenakis’ undulating glass panes make use of densities indicative of rhythm and reliant on durations. Finding intersections of music and architecture, Xenakis states, “the problem of continuity in transition, as well as its speed or form, play a fundamental role in musical aesthetics or in the visual arts and in architecture3.” Perhaps the continuity problem was solved to a greater degree with the ruled surfaces of Philips Pavilion, however, the transitory nature of the undulating panes provides a richer perceptual experience rooted in delay, duration, and rhythmic beat. Similarly, the thesis finds interest in duration and beat, in the form of destructive interference and the resolve of geometry.

La Tourette manifests a peculiar link to music and sound. Whether through the undulating glass panes found on the façades or the repetition found with the array of cell dwellings, the nuances are indicative, no matter metaphorical or strictly related through transposition. Coupled with the life and work of the interior, the architecture finds harmony with the arboreal environment and the splashes of light infiltrating to the depths through conic sections. It is an adjacent comfort to find that “every morning...mass is celebrated in silence4.”

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

Couvent de la Tourette

West faรงade with Undulating Glass Panes

Couvent de la Tourette

References

1 Xenakis, Iannis, and Sharon E. Kanach. Music and Architecture: Architectural Projects, Texts, and Realizations. Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon, 2008. Print. Pg. 64. 2 Henze, Anton, and Bernhard Moosbrugger. La Tourette: The Le Corbusier Monastery. London: Lund Humphries, 1966. Print. Pg. 9. 3 Xenakis, Iannis, and Sharon E. Kanach. Music and Architecture: Architectural Projects, Texts, and Realizations. Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon, 2008. Print. Pg. 65. 4 Henze, Anton, and Bernhard Moosbrugger. La Tourette: The Le Corbusier Monastery. London: Lund Humphries, 1966. Print. Pg. 13. 5 Photograph from Henze, Anton, and Bernhard Moosbrugger. La Tourette: The Le Corbusier Monastery. London: Lund Humphries, 1966. Print. Pg. 61. 6 Elevation redrawn by author from FLC 2547 in Le, Corbusier. La Tourette and Other Buildings and Projects, 1955-1957. Vol. 28. New York: Garland Pub., 1984. Print. Pg. 572. 7 Plan redrawn by author from Henze, Anton, and Bernhard Moosbrugger. La Tourette: The Le Corbusier Monastery. London: Lund Humphries, 1966. Print. Pg. 20. 8 Graph by author 9 West Elevation redrawn by author from http://payload.cargocollective. com/1/0/128/105955/xenakis_8.jpg 10 Photgraph on pg. 28 from http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/ uploads/2010/12/1292460524-ludwig-latourette-no18-528x462.jpg

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

[

Formal + Informal + Mexico + Public + Private =

]

Las Americas, Ecatepec de Morelos

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

Las Americas - Ecatepec de Morelos

Mexico City’s informal urbanization was at a high point in the late 1960s and early 1970s due to an economic upswing, migration, demographic growth, and deficient urban and housing policies1. It continues today, exemplified by the city’s peripheral municipalities of Nezahualcoyotl (Neza), Chimalhuacan, and Ecatepec de Morelos. These areas are defined by illegalities in land development and consumer goods, unpaved roadways, garbage wagons pulled by donkey, jutting rebar, satellite dishes, and ad hoc materiality. However, these areas exemplify a public vitality seen in the mixed use of medians, streets, and adaptive houses. For instance, one notices multiple additions to the dwelling and the patchwork of colorful tarps that mark the marketplace, where the house and street become dynamic social conditions. Alongside the informal communities came a formal gated community model. This social housing model was created with the advent of Neo-Liberalism beginning in the 1990s, therefore shifting what was once directed by government into the hands of privatized individuals and/or corporations2. Backed by mortgages under Latin America’s largest lender, Infonavit, Neo-Liberalism catalyzed a profit based model of social housing suﬃcient in quantity matched with a veneered aesthetic, but lacking foresight of urban connectivity and community resources3. From an urban planning standpoint, the juxtaposition of an informal condition, generic formal grid, and desolate plain are quite striking, which is the core concern of the “Urban Asymmetries” Delft studio4. However, the micro-informalities within the formal housing blocks are interesting and deserve attention. In this, the formal is used as an armature for the informal. The residences are modified to provide necessary employment opportunities and resources for the community that were void in the developed model.

Las Americas - Ecatepec de Morelos

Las Americas is a formal gated community located in the municipality of Ecatepec de Morelos, a peripheral area northeast of Mexico D.F. in EDOMEX. It is situated between El Caracol, a 3,200m diameter spiral wasteland once used as an evaporative plain for salt production5, and informal peripheral communities. Las Americas exemplifies a natural distortion to the architecturally prescribed living condition into a live/work condition. The generic housing armature is cut up, deconstructed, and transformed. It is remapped and reimagined, placing itself in a liminal stage between suburban symmetry and urban eclecticism.

Las Americas, Ecatepec de Morelos

Formal gated communities like Las Americas were created through the advent of Neo-Liberalism. While peripheral informal communities like Neza and Ecatepec flourish, the Neo-Liberal profit machine created a gated community with a friendly veneer. However, these houses have undergone informal transformation, seen through floor additions, extensions, new door penetrations, and signage.

Chimalhuacan Mexico D.F. Neza

Chalco

On the next page is a panoramic shot at the eastern edge of Las Americas and an adjacent informal neighborhood. It is particularly telling for the effectiveness of the development. The wall that surrounds Las Americas has become ineffective in its duties, having fallen victim to disrepair and vandalism. However, it is effective in representing a contrast between formal paving strategies and unpaved roadways, but cannot hermetically seal the flow of informal adaptation by residents. The formal informal has become an architectural example of adaptation, extension, and penetration. The needs of a community are manifest in and by the residents. What is housing and what can it be, or, what should it be?

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

Las Americas - Ecatepec de Morelos

Informal and Formal Porosity

Formal Informal Formal-Informal

Informal-Formal

Homogenity v. Heterogenity

Formal

Informal

Formal Informal

Housing Transformations

Aerial Photograph - Las Americas

Las Americas

Plaza Las Americas Shopping Center El Caracol

Typical Block Plan

Throughways mark blocks

Gated Entry

Dead Ends

Housing Clusters

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

Las Americas - Ecatepec de Morelos

Typical Las Americas House Transformations

Typical House

Front Side Wall

Enclosed Front Yard

First Floor Addition

First & Second Floor Additions

Exterior Signage

Wall Penetration & Awning

Double Wall Penetration & Awning

Double Wall Penetration & One Story Addition

Third Floor Addition

First & Third Floor Additions

First & Third Floor Additions Side Penetration w/ Awning

First & Third Floor Additions Double Side Penetration Awnings & Signage

First, Second, & Third Floor Additions

The formal is used as an armature by the informal. Residents are without particular resources, therefore a first floor, for instance, becomes a small convenience store, hair salon, or supply outlet.

Housing Transformations

Public and Private Transformations of Las Americas house

addition

yard enclosure

awning/penetration

side wall

signage

house

third ﬂoor addition

exterior side wall

front yard enclosure

front ﬁrst ﬂoor addition front

front second/third ﬂoor addition

ﬁrst ﬂoor addition store

signage 1

awning/penetration 1

ﬁrst ﬂoor store

awning/penetration 2

signage 2

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

Las Americas - Ecatepec de Morelos

Additions and Extensions of the Dwelling

Housing Transformations

Extensions and Additions create dynamic interplay of Private and Public

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

Las Americas - Ecatepec de Morelos

References

1 Brillembourg, Carlos, and Jose Castillo. “Jose Castillo.” BOMB 2005/2006 94.Winter (2005): 28-36. JSTOR. Web. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/40427289>. 2 Calabrese, Luisa, ed. The Architecture Annual 2007-2008: Delft University of Technol- ogy. Rotterdam: 010, 2009. Web. Pg. 119. 3 <http://urbanasymmetries.org/research/presentation.pdf> This is a web document prepared by the Delft University “Urban Asymmetries” studio headed by Heidi Sohn and Miguel Robles-Durán. Pg. 20 of 48. In addition, see (4) below. 4 “Urban Asymmetries” studio headed by Heidi Sohn and Miguel Robles-Durán in 2008- 2009. 5 “El Caracol, Ecatepec.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. <http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/El_Caracol,_Ecatepec>. 6 Aerial photograph of Las Americas from http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en& safe=off&q=el+caracol+las+americas&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&b iw=2560&bih=1315&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=cWCsT5OpF5SE8ASYv7XlBA&sa=X& oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=3&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAg 7 Photographs on pg. 34, 36, 38, and 45 by author. 2010.

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

[

]

Iannis Xenaks + Le Corbusier + Edgard VerĂ¨se + Louis Kalff =

Philips Pavilion

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

Philips Pavilion

Philips Pavilion is a tertiary character in Le Corbusier’s canon of architectural works, a prominent project in Iannis Xenakis’s career, and a milestone in the development of electronic music. Built for the Brussels World’s Fair, Expo ‘58, the pavilion represented a modern multimedia synthesis of artists, architects, engineers, and the worker. The Philips Pavilion project was headed by Louis Kalff, Philips’ artistic director. Kalff decidedly wanted the pavilion to “illuminate engineering, electro-acoustics, electronics, and automatic control techniques1.” In response, Le Corbusier proclaimed, “I will not make a façade for Philips, but an electronic poem . Everything will happen inside: sound, light, color, rhythm2.” This would be an opportunity for Corbusier to highlight an idea that Frampton writes, “…as at Ronchamp, he entertained the wild idea of broadcasting electronic music over the rustic domain surrounding the monastery3.” Thus, the project became an opportunity of realizing a previously unrealized idea while standing as an artistic expression that demonstrated technological breakthrough, a modern total vision. The pavilion boasted cutting edge technology furnished by Philips. Some 325 loudspeakers were strategically placed on the interior walls that would offer one of the first large scale surround sound experiences. The project was a multimedia extravaganza that produced amplified sound avenues combined with a photographic montage that juxtaposed humanity from one instant to the next. The pavilion pushed the bounds of electronic technology and music beyond the front line and into the avant garde. In this way, a cross pollination occurred between the mass culture of the audience, an experimental esoteric musical genre known as “organized sound ,” and an audio visual setup to boot.

Philips Pavilion

Le Corbusier was occupied by the Chandigarh project, therefore Iannis Xenakis, an engineer, musician, and architect, was delegated much responsibility for the project, if not all. Although authorship of the pavilion caused a rift between Le Corbusier and Xenakis, Le Corbusier described Xenakis as, “three admirable vocations united in one man4.” In return, Xenakis admired Le Corbusier’s Modulor to the point of incorporating its proportional measurements in his composition, “Les Metastasis,” proclaiming “the Modulor has found an application in the very essence of the musical development…this condition has found another expression in the definitions of fields of sound densities, variable at the beginning of the Metastasis by means of glissandi4.” Intent on his findings, Xenakis’s modulor studies would lead way to the rhythmic glazed panels of La Tourette and the glissandi would carry through to the conception of the ruled surfaces of the Philips Pavilion.

121

166

170

139

Xenakis diagramed the glissandi of strings as straight lines to find that ruled surfaces could be produced, asserting, “on this occasion music and architecture found an intimate connection5.” Then, the use of hyperbolic-paraboloids fused the glissandi together, “the resulting form is both mathematically strict and plastically organic6,” therefore strengthening a systematic architectural language alongside constructive qualities of music.

177

146

The spatial qualities of architecture and music were deepened by Edgar Varese’s inclusion in the project. Regarded as the father of electronic music, Varese’s involvement in the project was highly encouraged by Le Corbusier and Xenakis, but seen as a skeptical abstraction to Philips as a branded company, but not necessarily Louis Kalff. The company,

149 188

154

159

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

Philips Pavilion

presumably, feared sponsoring a freak show due to Varese’s musical reputation. However, Treib notes, “[Philips] did come to appreciate the public clamor that the pavilion and its sound score received7,” proving that artists provide a particular lens of taste and progressive vision, capable of relating to mass consumption and thwarting hokey analysis of public tastes. Varese composed, Poème Électronique, the 480 second (8 minute) score for the Pavilion’s performance program. The score was what Varese described as “organized sound,” a collage of found sounds, samples, timbres, and fragmented rhythmic runs. In addition, Xenakis composed a two minute interlude piece, Concrèt P.H., that was played between Varese’s. The pieces together form a modern stance and an opus of electronic music, a schizophrenic abstraction of the metropolis. Sonically, Varese’s Poeme Electronique is a vast architectural move, founded on vectors and sound planes. Silence was used as an element of audible sound, creating a spatially structured domain. In this domain, silence becomes a sound, plane, wall, room, hallway, arch, or pipe. The strategic placement of speakers enabled a surround sound experience to present sound, including silence, as a building material, much like the rebar and ruled concrete surface of the Pavilion’s shell. The electronic poem marks a frictional passage of unified disciplines juxtaposed with the bleakness of humanity. The Pavilion’s program, therefore, set the audience for a conscious revelation of “here and now” by presenting the past through means of the future of architecture, music, and technology. Certainly, the experience was a plash to the mind.

Le Corbusier and the Philips Pavilion represented a popular modern century. The advent of a total artistic and sensory driven exhibition makes Philips Pavilion a multi-faceted character and a versatile market place acting as an abstract urban landscape. Whether the Pavilion posits Baudelaire’s transitory view of modernity, the pastoral and counterpastoral view, or all, it took the literal, figurative, and metaphorical in combination to produce a conception of the century. Thus, the Philips Pavilion characterized a synchronized positive human progress and an inherent fragmented schism. Philips Pavilion was and is a historical montage. Le Corbusier brought conceptual clout, Xenakis mathematical wizardry and musical architecture, Varese a textural soundscape of architectural convention, and Kalff a commercial artistry. The Pavilion was built, experienced, remaining a memory and notion of the future. It was destroyed and therefore reduced to the beginning and end of architecture- the black box of the grave. Invariably though, as one dies, one is born9.

Philips Pavilion

Thoroughfare

Experiential Thoroughfare

Lighting Thoroughfare

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

Philips Pavilion

References

1 Treib, Marc. Space Calculated in Seconds: The Philips Pavilion, Le Corbusier, Edgard Varese. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1996. Print. Pg. 18. 2 Treib, Marc. Space Calculated in Seconds: The Philips Pavilion, Le Corbusier, Edgard Varese. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1996. Print. Pg. 9. 3 Frampton, Kenneth. Le Corbusier. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2001. Print. Pg. 180. 4 Le, Corbusier. Modulor I and II. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1980. Print. Pg. 325-26. 5 Xenakis, Iannis. Formalized Music; Thought and Mathematics in Composition. Bloom- ington: Indiana UP, 1971. Print. Pg. 10. 6 Gravesaner Blätter. Number 9, 1957. Pg. 54. 7 Treib, Marc. Space Calculated in Seconds: The Philips Pavilion, Le Corbusier, Edgard Varese. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1996. Print. Pg. 18. 8 Diagrams redrawn by author of Plate V from Treib, Marc. Space Calculated in Sec- onds: The Philips Pavilion, Le Corbusier, Edgard Varese. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1996. Print. Between pgs. 140-144. 9 This text is an updated editted version of an unpublished academic paper by the author titled Le Corcusier’s Philips Pavilion: The Friction of Digesting Modernity for History and Theory I, Professor Nadir Lahiji, Fall 2009, MArch I program, University of Pennsylvania. 10 Plan redrawn by author from http://www.floraberlin.de/soundbag/sbimages/va rese2.jpg 11 Photographs: pg. 46 - Le, Corbusier. Musée D’art Occidental, Tokyo, and Other Build ings and Projects, 1957-1961. New York: Garland Pub., 1984. Pg 149. pgs. 48-9 - http://www.arch.mcgill.ca/prof/sijpkes/expo/Expo58_building_Philips.jpg. 12 Photograph from http://www.music.columbia.edu/masterpieces/notes/varese/ godzillaBig.jpg 13 Pg. 47 - Diagram drawn by author after Xenakis’ Metastasis score. Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

[

E.A.T. + Klüver + Pepsi-Cola + Osaka, Japan + Expo ‘70 + Interaction + Art + Architecture =

]

Pepsi-Cola Pavilion

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

The Pepsi-Cola Pavilion

Enveloped in dematerialization, the Pepsi-Cola Pavilion at Expo ’70 in Osaka, Japan opened an expansive layer of collaboration between art, architecture, and technology. The collaboration came primarily between Pepsi-Cola and E.A.T. (Experiments in Art and Technology), headed by Bell Labs engineer Billy Klüver. While E.A.T. was characterized by a dialogue between engineers and artists, Pepsi-Cola’s commission of the pavilion added an industry component to the collaboration. Contributors included E.A.T. staff, initiating and design artists, contributing artists, consulting artists, engineers, contributions by industries and institutions, design and construction in Japan, and live operators programmers1. Klüver described the project as “the collaboration between several artists in planning an environmental situation2” and Marcelyn Gow as an “invisible environment3.” Pepsi-Cola is historically a household name run by PepsiCo Inc., however E.A.T. is not. The group was founded in September of 1966 as a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization3 . A seminal example of E.A.T. is 9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering, 1966. Much like the Pepsi Pavilion, it was a collaborative venture between (30) engineers and scientists from Bell Labs and (10) New York artists4. Key figures included engineers Billy Klüver and Fred Waldhauer, artists Robert Rauschenberg and Robert Whitman, and composer John Cage. Collaborations also included artist Andy Warhol, exemplified by the famous Silver Clouds of 1966. Klüver is quoted to say, “artists and engineers are separate individuals, and if they work together, something will come out of it that neither can expect5.”

World Without Boundaries. Pepsi Cola Pavilion, Expo �70-Osaka, Japan, March 15-Sept. 13, 1970. Osaka: Pepsi Cola, 1970.

The Pepsi-Cola Pavilion

The pavilion, like predecessor Philips Pavilion, exploited technology, but departed from the former pavilion by superimposing immersive strata coupled with visitor participation. There was a conscious decision to elude the ordinary show-and-tell pavilion and embrace a participatory visitor. In this way, the pavilion sequence was controlled by the visitor, as opposed to subjecting the visitor to a controlled sequence. The end experience is an example of how architecture, technology, and interactivity can melt into a fluid continuity. Images from the pavilion elicit notions of a bent reality, a place where the ephemeral atmosphere becomes an existential question. Fujiko Nakaya’s fog sculpture enveloped the exterior in a water vapor cloud, thus the pavilion waded in a thick atmosphere. It created a micro-climate around the building and predates Diller and Scofidio’s Blur Building by thirty-two years. Also outside were Breer’s Floats, large pill capsule sloths that moved at a slow rate around the pavilion’s plaza while emitting sound samples. The floats changed direction upon reaching an obstacle (i.e. a person pushing on it), thus constantly changing the habitability of the plaza over time. Winch catwalk Spotlights

Revolving Mirror

Air Reinforced Fiberglass Shell

Winch Light

Airtight Structure

Fog Pipes

Vacuum

The interior was accessed through a tunnel (see section drawing). Visitors entered the Clam Room first, met with a laser deflection system. The spherical mirror dome, made from aluminized mylar, posed an alternative to mundane vision by optically producing a three dimensional “real image” capable of being walked around.

Mirror Dome

Mech. Equip.

Exit Tunnel

Control Console

Glass Floor

Stair Up

Handset Speaker Distribution

Entrance Tunnel

Float Terrace

Clam Room

90’-0” 120’-0”

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

The Pepsi-Cola Pavilion

Sonically, David Tudor, an initiating artist and live programmer for the pavilion, produced Pepsibird, Anima Pepsi, Pepscillator, and Microphone for the Expo’s pavilion experience6. Anime Pepsi imaginatively creates a soundscape somewhere between a space odyssey, a space oddity, and a post-future industrial factory. Klüver described Tudor’s sound system as an instrument that could be automated or programmed live, therefore adding a performance aspect to the environment.

• The artificial fog for outdoor air-conditioning, irrigation and frost prevention • The negative-pressure air structure technology of the spherical mirror in construction of new kinds of solar furnaces, inexpen- sive microwave antennas for satellite television reception and large parabolic antennas for receiving radiation from space • The laser deflection system for expanded research in large- scale mapping and plotting and three-dimensional images • The spherical mirror for experimentation in acoustics and

The inclusion of real time programming added to environmental malleability and also highlights environmental interface. Visitors became agents of the environment, each given a handset with one end as a light and the other with a speaker. Not only do the handsets render projections of contemporary Wii remotes and Star Wars light sabers, but effectively become an extension of the body and the environment. For example, the floor of the pavilion was divided into sections of different material such as astroturf, slate, or asphalt. Each material had coils embedded underneath that emitted a specific sound signal picked up by the handset. Therefore, the visitor’s proximity to a specific flooring material was directly related to the “score” they would hear through their handset speaker. The conception of the pavilion, however, was not bound by entertaining the public through novelty. There were applicable technological incentives attached to the spectacle. For example, the World Without Boundaries pamphlet delineates “the Pepsi-Cola Pavilion [as] a preview to the environment of tomorrow1” with specific points:

optics1

The Pepsi Pavilion exemplifies a malleable environment that formed a responsive material and programmatic network. The pavilion became a stimulated interface controlled through automation and real time programming manifest in optics, haptics, and sound. The power of its processed environment and collaborative effort has left traces underneath contemporary design, seen in the evolution of architectural effects, materials, and representation.

The Pepsi-Cola Pavilion

Exi t

Mirror Room - Floor Material and Sound Logic

Gravel

E.A.T. Console

Driveway Tile

Bounce

Rough Wood

Reverse Slope

Entrance

Grass Mat

Glass

Berm Non-Skid

Entrance

Lead Carpet

Smooth Wood

Japanese Stone

Asphalt

Exi

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

The Pepsi-Cola Pavilion

Pavilion Plans

Clam Room

Lower Plan - Entry Level

Floats Terrace

Upper Plan - Mirror Room

The Pepsi-Cola Pavilion

Lower and Upper Level Gamma Graphs

Spatial Use Over Time - Breerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Floats outside the pavilion

12pm

5pm

10pm

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

The Pepsi-Cola Pavilion

References

1 World Without Boundaries. Pepsi Cola Pavilion, Expo ‘70-Osaka, Japan, March 15- Sept. 13, 1970. Osaka: Pepsi Cola, 1970. Print. 2 Experiments in Art and Technology Billy Klüver Members Newsletter, No. 3 (Jan. - Feb., 1969), pp. 4-7 Published by: The Museum of Modern Art. Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4380551. 3 Martinson, Morgan, Tonya Markiewicz, and Helene Mary Furján, eds. Via Occupation. Philadelphia, PA: PDSP/School of Design, University of Pennsylvania, 2008, C2007. Print. 4 “E.A.T. 9 Evenings.” E.A.T. 9 Evenings. E.A.T. ARTPIX, Microcinema International, 2006- 2008. Web. 24 Feb. 2012. <http://www.9evenings.org/>. 5 “Artists Past & Present: Billy Kluver & Andy Warhol: Silver Clouds.” AWM. The Andy Warhol Museum. <http://edu.warhol.org/app_kluver.html>. 6 Adams, John D.S. “DAVID TUDOR: Chronology of Works.” The David Tudor Pages. John D.S. Adams and D’Arcy Gray. <http://davidtudor.org/Works/works.html>. 7 Plans and Section redrawn by author from: Klüver, Billy, Julie Martin, and Barbara Rose, eds. Pavilion. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1972. Print. 8 Photographs pg. 54 - http://www.artforum.com/uploads/upload.000/id26653/article02_large.

jpg. pg. 56 - above: http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/assets/img/data/671/bild.jpg below, http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/assets/img/data/639/bild.jpg. pg. 57 - World Without Boundaries. Pepsi Cola Pavilion, Expo ‘70-Osaka, Japan, March 15-Sept. 13, 1970. Osaka: Pepsi Cola, 1970. pg. 59 - above, Klüver, Billy, Julie Martin, and Barbara Rose, eds. Pavilion. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1972. below: World Without Boundaries. Pepsi Cola Pavilion, Expo ‘70-Osaka, Japan, March 15-Sept. 13, 1970. Osaka: Pepsi Cola, 1970. pg. 62 - above: http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/assets/img/data/669/bild.jpg. below: Klüver, Billy, Julie Martin, and Barbara Rose, eds. Pavilion. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1972.

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

The research precedents supported program endeavors, i.e. Country House and UnitĂŠ, adaptable housing, i.e. Las Americas, and performance, i.e. the pavilions. While at majority a bit antiquated, the precedents serve as synchronic examples within a diachronic timeline, better viewed as roots rather than contemporary saplings. For, that is what the thesis has come to be. The information, influence, and overall parti found within the precedents was carried over into the design phase of the thesis. What follows is an implementation of sound towards an architectural design.

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

[

]

Design Phase

General Considerations

68-69

Deformable Sound Membrane

70-73

Point Cube

74-75

Frequency Draw

76-79

12 Tone Matrix Study

80-81

Moiré Box Space

82-83

Unit Potential

84-85

Initial Frequency Deploys

86-91

Site and Program

92-97

3D Façade Study

98-101

Deformable Plate Study

102-103

Contextual Frequency Deployments

104-113

Design Phase

The thesis endeavor rests on a life immersed in music. But with music, comes sound, and sound exhibits interesting qualities when modulated, interfered with, and manipulated into performing through sets of functions. In this, the thesis focuses on destructive interference of frequency, frequency data design, and the creation of an architectural instrument. Considerations: Sound waves are longitudinal and mechanical waves, not transverse waves. For instance, it is mechanical because sound needs a medium to transport its energy and it is longitudinal because the movement of particles in the medium is in parallel with the source of the vibration disturbance, the wave motion1. The parallel motion of particles, i.e. air, is comprised of compression and rarefactions between particles that equate to wavelength dependent on the emitted frequency. However, it is common to represent the compressive and rarefaction qualities of sound waves as sine waves because the distance measured between crests or troughs is equal to the compression or rarefaction points measured between adjacent compressions and rarefactions. See diagram at right. Waves travel through mediums. With respect for the present project, the medium has been conceptualized as three dimensional space. Wave interference is interesting because it produces opportunities for construction and destruction. In other terms, solid and void. Constructive Interference is additive whereas Destructive Interference is subtractive. The result is beating, noticeable lulls in the sound velocity. The beating also results in conceptions of duration, delay, and rhythm.

1 http://www.physicsclassroom.com/Class/waves/u10l1c.cfm#mechanical

Compressions and Rarefactions analogous to Sine crests and troughs

D : 293.6 Hz

C : 261.6 Hz

Beating resulting from a pitch shift between two specified frequencies. As the frequencies become closer in value, the duration lengthens

Design Phase

Constructive Interference of an A and E note

164.8 Hz - E

110 Hz - A

Simultaneous

Wavelengths

Destructive Interference of simultaneous 471, 472, and 473 Hz frequencies results in beating

471, 472, 473 Hz

Beating

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

Design Phase

Deformable Sound Membrane - An Architectural Instrument

Sound creation is an extension of the body. For instance, the haptic nature of the guitar is in direct relation to the sound emitted from the instrument, as the hand’s fingers map notes. Likewise, the architectural surface becomes an extension of the hand, arm, and body. Neil Denari states about his CP8706 Exploding Sonic Test - Audio Visual Big, “The instrument produces the sound; the player manipulates the sound; and the oscilloscope gives the visual representation of the music in analogue form. The viewer is intrigued in a different and active way...in contrast to the physically passive listening posture of the concert goer1.” While it is intriguing to see a visual representation by playing a riff on a guitar, the deformable sound membrane aimed to produce an architectural instrument as opposed to a known instrument. The deformable sound membrane is a prototype created to demonstrate geometrical modulation of sound through the architectural surface. A 36” metal ring was used as a structural frame for a four-way stretch lycra membrane. Three flex sensors were sewn to the lycra which were connected to an Arduino board that sent measured data to a personal computer. The computer received the data from the Arduino via Grasshopper, a plug-in for Rhinocerus. A Grasshopper definition then sent the data via “udp send” to Max/MSP where the data was used to modulate sound frequencies. Each flex sensor carried a designated modulation that created a vibrato effect to an input frequency. Modulations were the input frequency, the range of frequency up or down from the center point, and the rate of modulation. The deformation of geometry creates varying degrees of sound frequencies that are in direct relation to the amount of membrane deformation. The result is a deformable membrane that geometrically changes by agent interaction and modulates sound by means of agent interaction.

Force

Higher Values

Lower Values

Deformable Sound Membrane

Deformable Sound Membrane 36"

Frequency

0째

Range of Frequency Deviation

Rate of Modulation

Flex Sensor

Arduino USB

Analog Pin 10k ohm

Grasshopper

Max/MSP

Audio Out

Ground

5 Volt

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

Design Phase

Deformable Sound Membrane - An Architectural Instrument

Exterior Stitch Detail

Arduino Setup

Flex Sensor

36â&#x20AC;? Prototype

Deformable Sound Membrane

References

1 Martin, Elizabeth. Architecture as a Translation of Music. New York: Princeton Archi tectural, 1994. Print. Pg. 45. 2 Photographs, pg. 74, by author.

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

Design Phase

Point Cube - Geometric Sound

Point Cube is a demo for geometric response to audio, namely the frequencies of guitar chords, using a network of softwares. Each vertice of the cube was mapped with a particular frequency from where a finger would be placed on the fret board of the guitar. The experiment demonstrates how mapping sound frequency can create geometry. Rhino, Grasshopper, Firefly, and Max/MSP/Jitter were used to create the content. Max/MSP interface designed by author

The change in frequency due to a change in chord structure results in a varied geometric response. The response of the cubeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s vertices renders varying form and structure in relation to chordal structure. There is also an inherent proportion to the derformation of the cube that is in relation to the structure of the chords. A video of Point Cube can be viewed at http://vimeo. com/34705403.

C-2 E-2 F-2 Fundamental base pitches produce proportional scale

Point Cube

Point Cube - Geometric Sound

A 0.0 110.0 164.8 207.6 246.9 329.6 Hz

D 0.0 0.0 146.8 220.0 293.6 370.0 Hz

E 82.4 123.5 164.8 207.6 246.9 329.6 Hz

The aural brought to the visual through geometric sound

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

Design Phase

Frequency Draw - Mapping Frequency Samples through Time

Frequency Draw is a sound mapping demo created through a network of software. Rhino, Grasshopper, Firefly, and Max/ MSP/Jitter were explicitly used in creating the content. An audio inputâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s frequency spectrum is parsed into high, mid, and low frequencies. The frequency data extractions are then sent via UDP to Grasshopper/Firefly where a definition produces a three dimensional mapping of the frequencies. To follow time, a box was non-uniformly scaled in relation to the low, mid, and high frequencies. Each axis received a specific frequency parses. The box traveled on the x-axis with a new synchronic snapshot happening every 200 milliseconds. In later iterations, an interpolated curve tracked the dynamic rotation enabled by the mid frequency input, seen on the next few pages. A video of Frequency Draw can be viewed at http://vimeo. com/34705539.

TIME

200 millisec onds

Frequency Draw

Frequency Draw - Loaded Song Samples

Bach - Concerto in D Minor for Two Violins

Radiohead - Fitter Happier

Song by Author

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

Design Phase

Frequency Draw

Time Intervals - Elevation and Plan

Frequency Draw

Elevation and Plan

lovesick 60 sec axon

Design Phase

12 Tone Matrix Study - degree of curve results in varying matrix representations

The 12 tone matrix study relied on the logic of a hollow rope structure famed by Robert LeRicolais. In this, 12 circles were divided into 12 segments and divided equally by a given distance. Each row of the 12 tone matrix designates a specific number, or note, to be played. Each line in the study designated the member between each point, or note. Hence, after completing the test, the matrix became clear even though each line seems completely random when viewed alone. Collectively, the rule based logic creates strong structural moments.

Degree of curve results in varying matrix representations

12 Tone Matrix Study

12 Tone Matrix Study - Individual Tone Rows

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

Design Phase

Moiré Box Space

Moiré Box Space is an experiment rooted in the dynamic range of music. A loaded audio sample was parsed into specific frequency ranges and sent to Grasshopper via udpsend from Max/ MSP. The frequency data was then used to create a dynamic model in Rhino where two curves, one base and one dynamic, were divided with connecting lines. The resulting lines created a perimeter moiré pattern with some lines cutting through space to create a multi-planar drawing. Successive iterations at later intervals in time became redundant with regard to the perimeter pattern, though differed in height. This is due to the limitations of the Grasshopper definition and to the constant fluctuations in the frequency spectrum. On one hand it seems generically redundant, while on the other it serves as a repetitive design that is changed to offer variation yet with vestiges of familiarity (see elevations a and c below).

Max/MSP interface designed by author

The subsequent physical model is made of acrylic, elastic line, and light gauge aluminum pipe. It presents a haptic space with attached notions of a musical instrument. It is a physical drawing of a synchronic snapshot in a dynamic spatial environment.

Moiré Box Space

Moiré Box Space - Physical Model

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

Design Phase

Unit Study

Taking the 12 Tone Matrix Study, hollow rope structure, and MoirĂŠ Box Space studies, an architectural resolve was, at least, attempted. While the points and lines reflect a structural sound based on frequency modulation, the potential remains in a state of schematics, only vaguely suggesting architectural elements (i.e. egress, slabs, and surfaces). It is, however, a step toward an architectural design.

Unit - Potential Plan or Section

Unit Study

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

Design Phase

Initial Frequency Deployment

Initial frequency deployment experiments were tested on a grid superimposed over the plan of the site building. Specific frequencies were used at points on the grid. The wavelengths of each respective frequency differ, see below, and the points of destructive interference were used in creating a proximity network drawing seen in the image on the next page. The drawings manifest a resolve in geometry as the wavelengths interfere with each other. Programmatic potentials were of interest when qualitatively analyzing the drawings. The live/work program as proposed in the thesis could potentially capitalize on a resolve in geometry and spatial adjacencies.

164.8 Hz

207.6 Hz

Wavelengths of a C Augmented Triad

130.8 Hz

Frequency Deployment

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

Design Phase

130.8 Hz 164.8 Hz

207.6 Hz

Wavelengths of a C Augmented Triad

Frequency Deployment

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

Design Phase

103.8 Hz

123.5 Hz

82.4 Hz

Frequency Deployment

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

lkill B

anks

30th Street Station

Schu y

Center City

UPenn

CHOP

ylk

ill

Riv er

CS X

HUP

South Stre

Site

726 Schuylkill Avenue Philadelphia, Pa

Design Phase

Site - 726 Schuylkill Avenue, Philadelphia, Pa

The site chosen for the architectural intervention is an existing building at 726 Schuylkill Avenue in Philadelphia, Pa. Historically, the building has served several functions. It was once a WW-II Marine Corps tank warehouse, the JFK Vocational Technical School, and most recently as the City of Philadelphia School’s storage facility. The building was gutted by a developer in the mid 2000s, only to remain as an open structure after the market crashed and development of the property ceased in 2007. Recently, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia plans to expand their services to the property.

Six Floor_Concrete and Brick Construction

The site is just off South Street, with immediate access to route 76 and Center City, the University of Pennsylvania Hospital, the Children’s Hospital, UPenn and Drexel, and has great views of Philadelphia’s northern skyline. A new housing development across the street is presently being built and there is a potential link to an extension of the Schuylkill Banks initiative. It is a contextually rich site for a proposal and offers roughly a million square feet of potential development. It is accessible to the city, socially connected to institutions, and readily linked to infrastructure. In short, the site presents a unique condition of serving as an armature for deploying an architecture.

Concrete Mushroom Columns

Panorama of Cira Center, Center City Philadelphia, South Street, the Schuylkill River, and 726 Schuylkill Avenue (far right)

Site

Site - 726 Schuylkill Avenue, Philadelphia, Pa

North View - Center City

Center City View Corridor

South View - HUP, Schuylkill River, and 76

Schuylkill Banks Linked Extension

Bolstering a Neighborhood

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

Design Phase

Site - Live/Work Housing

The program chosen for the thesis endeavor was a live/work housing typology. Critically, at first glance the programmatic requirements coupled with a sound methodology seem disparate. However, through ideas of counterpoint and resolving destructive interference, a conceptual approach of integration between sound experimentation and the architectural program was conceived. The Philadelphia Rowhouse Manual was consulted early on to provide historical examples of contextual housing dimensions, characteristics, and even names. An excerpt is located to the right. The site, 726 Schuylkill Avenue, lies in Southwest Center City and has historically manifested the Workingmanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s House and the Streetcar Town House.

While the thesis work does not represent a full scale realizable vertical garden city exhibiting infrastructure and bordering on a funhouse megastructure, the thesis does present sound studies that offer potentials for architectural interventions within the existing building and serve as strong starting points for such an endeavor. The studies are to be conceived as vignettes to stir the architectural imagination. Studies include a three-dimensional faĂ§ade study, a deformable plate study in relation to Point Cube and the Deformable Sound Membrane, and contextual site frequency deploys.

Questions arose to who lives, lives/works, lives elsewhere but works on site, and who lives elsewhere but uses the programs. Thus, the thesis aimed to incorporate a mixed opportunity of housing dimensions, going as far to incorporate a suburban urban condition within the faĂ§ade of the existing building. Imagine yards to be mowed six stories above grade and a collective park three stories above grade surrounded by a collection of housing units representing small, medium, and large categorization, finding a mixture of resolve indicative of the sound methodology.

Live

Live/Work

Live : Work

Work

Rowhouse Manual

Philadelphia Rowhouse History

Colonial & Early 19th Century Rowhouses Small

Medium

Large

Known as: Trinity, Bandbox, Father, Son & Holy Ghost

Known as: Double Trinity, London House

Known as: Federal or Georgian Town House

Size: 400-600 sq. ft.

Size: 1,000-1,800 sq. ft.

Size: 3,000-7,000 sq. ft.

Location: Society Hill, Queen Village, Old City, Kensington

Location: Society Hill, Queen Village, Old City, Kensington, Washington Square

Location: Society Hill, Queen Village, Old City, Kensington

Defining Characteristics: One entry, winder stair, no running water, community “necessaries”, often mid-block with no street frontage

Defining Characteristics: Three stories plus basement, gable roof (ridge is parallel to front of house), two fireplaces, rear yard with access

Defining Characteristics: Three to four stories, with narrower but deep extension to reach the back of the main house; first floor two rooms deep, then offset to allow more light into main volume

Small

Medium

Large

Known as: Workingman’s house

Known as: Streetcar town house

Size: 1,000-1,600 sq. ft. on two floors

Size: 2,200-2,500 sq. ft. on 3 floors

Known as: Urban mansion, townhouse

Location: Center City, South Philadelphia, North Philadelphia, West Philadelphia, Manayunk

Location: North Philadelphia, South Philadelphia, West Philadelphia

Defining Characteristics: Entry vestibule, shed kitchen, shallow closets, indoor

Defining Characteristics: Front porches, bay windows, tall ceilings, elaborate woodwork

Mid to Late 19th Century Rowhouses

Source: Schade, Rachel Simmons. Philadelphia Rowhouse Manual: A Practical Guide for Homeowners. Philadelphia, PA: City of Philadelphia, 2008. Print.

Size: 3,000-6,000 sq. ft. on 3-4 floors Location: Rittenhouse Square, North Broad Street, South Broad Street Defining Characteristics: Three to four stories, 18-22 feet wide, carriage houses, two stairs, multiple formal rooms, rooms for live-in help, skylights over stairwells, lightwells, ornate fireplaces and paneling

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

101

Design Phase

Façade Dimension Study

The seed for the façade dimension study began as a divided surface on the x-y plane. The individual divisions responded to frequencies culled from a loaded audio sample from Max/MSP sent to Grasshopper. As the audio progresses, the surfaces fluctuate in dynamic motion in the z-axis. Synchronic snapshots were baked through Grasshopper in Rhino at set intervals of time (i.e. every two seconds). The study became analogous to Xenakis’ undulating glass panes at La Tourette, manifesting dynamic transition between successive snapshots. Architectural potentials include façade design, section studies, and program strategies.

Elevation - 5 iterations, 2 seconds apart

Elevation - Saturated Sample

Site

Faรงade Dimension Catalogue - Elevations manifest density, duration, rhythm, and dynamic spatial conditions

Design Phase

Façade Dimension Study

The initial z-axis movement was rotated 90o which enabled an x-axis movement. This experiment lead way to the conception of a thickened façade that resolves into a three-dimensional diagram of the interior, an abstraction of elements that penetrate the building’s interior space. The overarching theme of frequency studies of this type rely on the designer acknowledging architectural application rather than pure design through audio input and a reliance on computer programs. Thus, a question, and emphasis, of agency arises.

Site

From Abstraction to Potential

As the abstraction of sub-surfaces penetrate the building interior, the below drawing elicits an architectural resolve. A flex space is created between the façade proper and a new walkway. The space could be used as a pocket park or an extension of the dwelling in the form of an oﬃce, therefore splitting the home/oﬃce by a collective walk, yet connecting the two through close proximity. This potential relies on a construction where the existing building’s façade is preserved, but not necessarily the interior columns and slabs.

Unit

Flex

Collective Walk

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

105

Design Phase

Plate Deformation Study

Sound was used as a tool for plate deformation by means of chordal input. Frequencies are mapped to vertices that respond to input functions. Different chords produce varying results, while all contain inherent proportions. The results exhibit architectural potentials for contextual views, opening the building to the city and street, and sectional programming strategies. The movement of the plate vertices derives from a previous experiment, Point Cube. Each vertice was manipulated along a vector with a magnitude directly related to a specific frequency in a specific musical chord. Eight points on the perimeter of the building were chosen to divide the plate up into six triangular sections. Six points were chosen to move and two points remained stationary. In effect, each chord produced varying formal arrangements of the newly deformed plates. While following the basic rules that were programmed, the plate form therefore is a geometric sound.

Stationary Vertices designated by white dots

Major chords G, D, and A - The major chords exhibit subtle difference, most notable change is in the left most vertice

Site

Plate Deformation Study

Jazz chords BmMaj7, Cmaj7, and B07 resulted in greater variation of plate deformation

D E

B Half-Dim 7 Bmin Maj7

A9 A

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

107

Design Phase

Site - Registry Lines

The site is within close proximity to many of Philadelphiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cultural attractions. The specific points of interest, i.e. UPenn and City views, were connected through three point registry circles that intersected the site as well as each other near the site and through the site. The intersections were recorded. The intersections within close proximity of the site were used as epicenters of frequencies, similar to the grid deployments previously tested. The frequencies emanating from the deploy points produced constructive and destructive interference points. The destructive interference points were chosen as a design decision. These points were used in the drawings that follow and can be used to instantiate program adjacencies, faĂ§ade design, and resolving formal adaptations. Site Proximity Points to Socio-Cultural Areas

Registry Arcs Between Socio-Cultural Areas

Site

Site - Frequency Locations

30th Street Station

Intersection Points of Arcs Between Socio-Cultural Areas

30th Street Station

Center CityDeployed Points for Site Frequency Interference Center City

Site - Ground Level Schematic

Northeast Access

South Parking Lot

Parking Exit to Riverside and Garden Area

Northwest Riverside Entry to Upper Park Area

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

109

Design Phase

Site

Deployed Frequency Points

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

111

Design Phase

Deployed Frequency Points

Site

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

113

Design Phase

Site

Deployed Frequency Points

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

115

Design Phase

Deployed Frequency Points

Site

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

117

From solid, opaque concrete to transparent glass to fog, architecture has interests in dematerialization. Sound, or music for some, takes on the ephemeral material. In this, the thesis proposed taking sound seriously within a design methodology. Through various experiments, sound was used as a tool for form generation, mapping strategies, and diagramming. Through design agency, the computer, i.e. software, became a partner in as much as the aural became a tangible aid. Through studies, a relation between architecture and sound became a resolve between notes and geometry. Seeming dissonance lead to beautiful resolve. Programmatic adjacencies such as the live-work typology, public v. private, can resolve. Sound as a driving tool for intersections, qualities, and material finds place. Resolve in sound leads to a perceptual harmony. Off beats, destructive interference, and dissonance form a topological fragmentation, but coincidentally become ordered space and sound within the resolve.

Geometric Sound : Intimate Space

119

Music and architecture have, for many years, shared debate and negotiation, but have more often than not resulted in an analogous or graphic representation of the architectural work as a borrowing of compositional strategies with questionable success. - David J. Lieberman

Historically, architecture has been expressively linked to music. From Pythagorean-Platonic harmonies to Vitruvius and Palladio, many of history’s great shoulders have held a harmonic universal. Goethe stated, “I call architecture frozen music,” Wright believed music as an “edifice of sound,” and Iannis Xenakis explicitly used musical notation to generate form for the Expo ’58 Philips Pavilion, yet revealed he had not extensively theorized on the spatial dimension of music1. He also admitted, in conversation, to regretting not being more active in architecture in his later years2. Here lies an opportunity for exploration. Despite the historical links and analogous pleasantries, architecture remains a visual discipline. The thesis explores the sonic dimension to lay claim an aural element for the discipline. Sound is positioned as a tool, material, and generator of architectural potentials. In addition, the thesis questions software technology, interaction, and the role of the designer with respect to agency. The thesis asked several questions. One, can sound be used as a tool for architecture in generating a base element of the discipline, geometry? Two, can geometry, in turn, create sound? Three, is sound a material? And four, can the notion of a geometric sound be used as a tool to negotiate a new live/work housing concept?

1 Muecke, Mikesch W., and Miriam S. Zach. Essays on the Intersection of Music and Architecture. Ames: Culicidae Architectural, 2007. Sven Sterken. Music as an Art of Space: Interactions between Music and Architecture in the Work of Iannis Xenakis. Pg. 48. 2 Xenakis, Iannis, and Sharon E. Kanach. Music and Architecture: Architectural Projects, Texts, and Realizations. Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon, 2008. Pf. xii.

With regard to the introductory quote by David Lieberman, I find solace in the questionable and find the quest to be as invigorating as taking a road less traveled. Onwards and forwards, it is but a few more steps.