Self Directed [fall 2013]

a study in sound dislocation marion forbes ...in three acts

[B 01]

table of contents:

[B 01] sketchbook scan 001 | digital scan | marion forbes, 2013

004 statement of intent 008 act 1 012 012 028 036 052 062

act 2 _framing _supporting _locating _referencing _works cited

0## act 3 0## _forming

content v

[B 02]

[B 02] flux music box | b and w photo | joe jones, 1965

My intent is to create an architecture that is of music, focusing on phenomenological aspects of architectural experience relating to sound and indirect relationships they may create.

[A01]

[A01]

When faced with musical conservatism at the beginning of the last century, the composer Edgar Varese responded by proposing to broaden the definition of music to include all organized sound.

John Cage went further and included silence.

[Max Neuhaus | Sound Art: Beyond music, Between categories]

[A02]

framing 004

[1910 book Physics by Charles Riborg Mann and George Ransom Twiss.]

Assuming that organized sound is, in fact, music and architecture can contain, even organize, sound then, can architecture exist as music?

My investigation sparks from a strong musical background and my constant struggle to separate music from everything else that I do. Once faced with the fact that this task might be impossible, I decided to embrace this new idea of music as personal identity.

My interest occupies one of the many philosophical experiments that have served as paradigms for conversationalists and humorists alike: “If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?�[A02]. Of course, my answer is yes, it does.

Having had vision problems since a young age, I grew dependent on my ability to hear before my ability to see. The trained ear is able to hear multitudes of sounds, picking up on the slightest of clicks and pitches from great distances.

I have come to learn much about musical language and its ability to communicate and tell a story. Now I am interested in translating that language into spatial experience, creating unique opportunities of exploration.

[B 03]

spring 2013 | act 1

A proposal for independent study in the College of Architecture and Design and the School of Music under the guidance of Brian Ambroziak and Keith McClelland.

[B 03] sound box | digital montage |marion forbes, spring 2013

[T01]

I am interested in studying the relationship between architecture and music. I will use the semester to research and study musical compositions in classical and jazz music. Looking for commonalities between structure and sound, this research will help inform a dialogue about music composition and architectural theories and design. I am also interested in studying the architectural qualities of instruments and the effects of sound and structure. Similarly, I am interested in deterioration of sound over time, as time is an integral element that directly links architecture and music.

different form through projects [T01] and drawings in architecture. I believe that music can also take [T01] is a transcription from 1010 form and become a part of a gallery application, spring 2013. different language.

How can sound and music influence architectural language?

An intense study of music composition and cultural biographies of musicians will begin to inform ideas in architecture and structure culminating in a performance installation showcasing ideas of sound as architectural space.

Documentation of process during the semester will be integral in the development of this research. An online journal My interest in sound has [blog] will provide an outlet for been a result of a process of documentation of the visual and self-discovery. Though music the auditory and will provide an has been prevalent throughout ease of access for development my entire life, I have found in the future, collecting that only in the last five years I influences, inspirations, and have become more specifically personal research into one interested in the complexities work; an opus. and cultural relationships of music and history. Inspirational professors have helped me realize my potential as a musician and a designer.

Through their guidance I am now able to relate my interest in sound and music with my interest in architecture as these both provide outlets for self-expression. The “sound� of a musician is linked to their personal search for identity in music. My search for identity through sound has taken a 008

[B 04]

fall 2013 | act 2 012 | framing

[B 04] sabine’s new theatre | digital scan |emily thompson, p. 65

Sound culture and aural traditions date back to the Paleolithic era of human inhabitation when caves would provide acoustic variation for storytelling and ritual performance (Hendy, 8).

The study of such has sparked investigation into natural versus man-made sound and their social and architectural implications.

Singing Neanderthals, cave paintings, and talking drums provide glimpses into the necessity for organized sound and music as communicative elements in human development--man-made sound (Hendy, 23). It is this natural development of tonal language that provides a basis for understanding and communicating. Manipulation of sounds in nature finds ways to augment communication and storytelling, enhancing spatial experience of place. Through many years of experimentation and development, including the introduction of industry and technology, we begin to find that sound and music have not lost their importance in the basic ideas of communication and storytelling.

[A02]

[A02]

It was as if the human ear was slowly being perfected, as if its ability to discern the sublime, or even the hidden scientific truths of the world, was now more acute than ever.

[David Hendy | Noise: a human history of sound and listening | p. 241]

[B 05]

[B 05] thoreau’s cairn | b and w photo | detroit publishing, co., 1908

[A03]

The whistle of the locomotive penetrates my woods summer and winter, sounding like the scream of a hawk sailing over some farmer’s yard…I hear the iron horse make the hills echo with his snort like thunder, shaking the earth with his feet…I am awakened.

[Henry David Thoreau | Walden, 1854 | quote from Noise p. 215]

framing 014

During and after the Industrial Revolution, the human ear became accustomed to foreign sounds of train engines and steam boats blasting and droning through what was once considered sacred-nature. Henry David Thoreau writes in Walden about his “extended communion” as Hendy states (Hendy, 214). Thoreau writes: [A03]

Hendy inquires that Thoreau is using the sound of the train to remind himself of a larger connection to a world outside of Walden (Hendy, 215). Thoreau had awakened to a new age when nature was giving way to the machine.

[B 06]

[B 06] jazz and the machine age | digital montage |marion forbes, fall 2013

[A04]

Like a landscape, soundscape is simultaneously a physical environment and a way of perceiving that environment; it is both a world and a culture constructed to make sense of that world.

[Emily Thompson | The Soundscape of Modernity | pp.1]

[A05]

…for many people it was no longer noise but silence that was unnatural; as if people had now submitted themselves completely to the machine.

[David Hendy | Noise: A Human History of Sound and Listening | p. 220]

framing 016

Modern soundscapes, as defined

by Emily Thompson, arise from ideas inherent in “The Machine Age” era (Thompson, 1)--as development of sound correlates with technological advances of the time. Thompson’s research on sound is defined through the term soundscape. As she describes: [A04]

Unifying previous arguments of sound and music, Thompson provides another stepping point for the study of sound and its important role in the advancement of society. In the years following 1900, the American soundscape changed dramatically due to cultural and technological advances, more specifically, in the built world. Architecture can provide, in small instances, an opportunity for soundscape, sound art, and music. During advancements of cities, jazz musicians and composers began to re-evaluate the definition of musical sound, distinguishing themselves from noise by demanding listeners to decide which was which (Thompson, 119). It was the absence of sound that then became novice: [A05]

[B 07]

[B 07] buddy bolden’s last known photo | b and w photo | jazzmen, 1902

[A06]

The Machine Age was simultaneously the Jazz Age; the machinery and the music together defined the new era and filled it with new kinds of sounds.

[Emily Thompson | The Soundscape of Modernity | p. 132]

[A07]

Then I hear Bolden’s cornet, very quiet, and I move across the street, closer. There he is, relaxed back in a chair blowing that silver softly, just above a whisper and I see he’s got the hat over the bell of the horn…Thought I knew his blues before, and the hymns at funerals, but what he is playing now is real strange and I listen careful for he’s playing something that sounds like both. I cannot make out the tune and then I catch on. He’s mixing them up. He’s playing the blues and the hymn sadder than the blues and then the blues sadder than the hymn.

That’s the first time I ever heard hymns and blues all cooked up together.

[Michael Ondaatje | Coming Through Slaughter | p. 83]

framing 018

Thompson parallels the rise of modern music with the noise of the “American Environment.”

Using sounds commonly heard in industrious American environments, jazz musicians were strongly influenced by their urban context (Thompson, 131).

[A06] [A07]

[B 08]

[B 09]

[B 08] eavesdropping | drafting and digital montage |LTL architects, 1996 [B 09] eavesdropping plan | drafting and digital montage |LTL architects, 1996

Organizing natural sounds with and against man made sound to create music--as emotional response-has been the goal of sound artists since the existence of this need for expression. Sound installations carry spatial qualities that augment sensory perception in architecture.

Sound evokes a sense of aliveness, representing life and activity-with ambient sounds provoking individual presence in a living world (Licht, 15). Today, sound has presented itself in ambient/silent situations (art museums vs. audio guides) leaving the individual to choose between the soundscape of the present and a personalized playlist.

Lewis Tsurumaki Lewis’s sound installation, Eavesdropping, is described as follows:

[A08]

This installation explores the most interesting sound in a gallery—the conversation overheard. A microphone eavesdrops on the gallery, relaying sounds to a series of speakers in front of ten chairs.

When closed, the chairs form a corridor for listening adjacent to the speaker. When open, the 12’-high chairs masquerade as sculpture.

[Lewis Tsurumaki Lewis | Opportunistic Architecture | p.13]

framing 020

[A08]

LTL’s installation provides an interesting opportunity to explore sound at a personal level of communication. In many spaces, sound has an ability to amplify one’s voice without much effort.

Typically, this type of interaction with space occurs in a theatre or performance space with clear distinctions between who and what is performing. In Eavesdropping, the performer becomes the typical visitor or the passerby; an unintended performance left in secret, conversation that occurs naturally in galleries and exhibits now becomes the performance piece.

[B 10]

[B 11]

[B 10] bob dylan sings | b and w photo | unknown author, unknown date [B 11] coming through slaughter | digital scan | michael oondatje, 1975 The middle sonograph shows a dolphin making two kinds of signals simultaneously. The vertical stripes are echolocation clicks (sharp, multi-frequency sounds) and the dark, mountain-like humps are the signature whistles. No one knows how a dolphin makes both whistles and echolocation clicks simultaneously.

[A09] There’s about three of us at the window now and a strange feeling comes over me. I’m sort of scared because I know the Lord don’t like that mixing the Devil’s music with His music. But I still listen because the music sounds so strange and I guess I’m hypnotized.

When he blows blues I can see Lincoln Park with all the sinners and whores shaking and belly rubbing and the chicks getting way down and slapping themselves on the cheeks of their behind. Then when he blows the hymn I’m in my mother’s church with everybody humming. The picture kept changing with the music. It sounded like a battle between the Good Lord and the Devil. Something tells me to listen and see who wins. If Bolden stops on the hymn, the Good Lord wins. If he stops on the blues, the Devil wins.

[Michael Ondaatje | Coming Through Slaughter | p. 83] framing 022

Music, as organized sound, developed from an understanding of place, culture, and context.

Music changed as venues presented opportunities for the expansion of complexities in music and musical performance, even dating back to the talking drums of the African forests (Byrne,15).

These drums were heard as communicative devices designed to traverse long distances into the forest where visibility of tribes’ members may not have been clear.

These distinct rhythms and tones were able to augment the tribes’ ability to hunt and to call to others who may be in danger (Hendy, 11).

The forest, containing an inherent soundscape, now provides location for this man-made intrusion.

As David Byrne describes, a small honky-tonk in Nashville has very little differences, spatially, than his favorite punk rock club in New York (Byrne, 16). The inhabitants make the space, or at least, the musical performers. In these cases, culture of place informs interaction and reaction to space.

[A09]

[B 12]

[B 12] sound columns | digital montage |marion forbes, spring 2013

[A 10] Therefore, definite progress was made as soon as it became possible to translate properties of sound and light messages into properties of electrical waves, for the waves travel through open space or wire without undergoing relevant changes; they adapt themselves to the curvature of the earth, and there speed is so nearly infinite that emission and reception become practically simultaneous.

Space and time are annihilated.

[Rudolf Arnheim | Film as Art, 1957 | p.191]

[A11] The ear is a tool of reasoning; it is best qualified to receive material that has been given shape by man already--whereas seeing is direct experience, the gathering of sensory raw material.

[Rudolf Arnheim | Film as Art, 1957 | p.193]

framing 024

[A10]

Arnheim explains the importance of visual accomplishments and their associations with the advancement of television in the mid 1930’s. Arnheim continues to say that sound and radio, as a complementary element to visual broadcast, lacks in ability to identify direct experiential implications (Arnheim, 193).

[A11]

I find that sound and music contain the ability to engage in architectural experience through the surfacing of past experiences.

Relying on memory’s associative quality, sound provides strong spatial connections through an individual’s past experiences.

Indirect associations that naturally occur when experiencing new spaces is the stepping ground for this thesis.

As initially stated and slightly reformed, my intent is to create an architecture that promotes sound as informer of experience.

It is within sound, paired with other senses, that knowledgeable experience of space we once contained is lost.

[B 13]

fall 2013 | act 2 028 | supporting

[B 13] beethoven | oil painting |l. balestrieri, 1900

Does that mean to give a space good acoustics you have to play music in it? NO, that is not enough. You have to play good music in it.

You can fool people, but you can’t fool materials. Halls in which only brass bands have played will always have poor acoustics. And materials are very sensitive. You only have to let a military band blast away in the Bosendorfer Saal for a week and its celebrated acoustics will have gone to pot. Just as a ham-fisted amateur would ruin a violin that had belonged to Paganini. As a matter of general principle brass music is bad for building materials. That is why one side of opera houses is always poorer acoustically.

With time halls in which brass instruments never play develop the best acoustics. The tone of Liszt and Messchaert live on in the mortar of the Bosendorfer Sall and vibrate with every note of a new pianist or singer.

That is the mystery of acoustics.

[A12] [Adolf Loos | The Mystery of Acoustics, 1912 | excerpt from Caruso St John Almost Everything, 2008]

I am interested in spaces that evoke a necessity for a heightened sense of hearing. At least, acknowledgment of an active switch from the eye to the ear.

Using musical terms embedded in jazz and classical education, I find that I am narrowing programmatic elements down to their relationship to site and context.

Also, investigating programs that lend themselves to contrast and contradict one another.

Ideas of re-use inherent in the jazz term contrafact are compelling as well as ideas of programmatic sequencing and rhythm used to enforce auditory experience.

Contrafact, in jazz, is when a new melody is written over existing chord changes. Most simply, it is a form of choreographed improvisation. Leaving opportunity for the musician to pay homage or even critique the new melodies they are rewriting. Architecturally this translates to adaptive reuse of existing structures.

Timbre is a musical term to describe sound quality (sound color) and texture specific to instrumentation leading to the question: what is the timbre of space?

[A12]

[B 14]

[B 14] st charles royal theatre | engraving |bernard fecit, 1872

To what extent does program dictate auditory experience of architectural space? Is it enough to say that program is now laboratory for experience?

The ritual of performance involves multiple roles imperative for the success of the performance.

Typically, these roles include an audience and a performer and context. Context is to help with engagement and interaction.

Acoustically, sounds from the performer are amplified to the audience making clear auditory connections from the stage to rows of seats. Philip Vannini writes about the performative aspects of the ritual drama:

[A13] The concept of performativity has two primary denotations.

The first has to do with the potential of language and paralanguage—and thus communication in general—to act and evoke action.

[Philip Vannini | Sensual Ritual and Performance | p. 46]

supporting 030

[A13]

The proscenium is the barrier between the stage and the audience—reality and fiction; existing vertically as stories pass through the horizontal realm of performative space. With communication existing within performance, can we not use this to enhance understanding of a greater cause? Using music (organized sound) as a means of connecting to a larger sense— like Thoreau and the locomotive whistle, reminding him that there is a world beyond Walden—can sound through architecture invoke awareness of the outside world?

[B 15]

Installation (gallery)--Sound Dislocation artist statement...

[B 15] 1010 gallery | digital photograph |r. murray, 2013 [T02] WARNING: If you have vision problems, please refrain from looking directly at the light.

Eyes are not to be trusted...

It is here, in sound dislocation, where space is transplanted from outside sources--a fictional space made of many spaces, an opus of sound. To experience space without sight, one relies on the familiar to help understand the place in which they are in. Footsteps on marble, a cart’s wheels squeaking to a halt in front of the freight elevator, humming voices fill the dome leaving thoughts inaudible--all indicate interaction and reaction to space. For an active switch from the eye to the ear, what is left?

Sound excerpts from different site locations in Rome provide auditory texture, creating the initial structure of the space.

Contrafact, as a musical term, is defined as a new melody written over existing chord changes. New melodies (sounds that are no longer familiar) weave themselves between the existing sequences of Roman domes. A visual aide is placed in the gallery to help guide the visitor through the fictional soundscape. Though this exhibit/experiment focuses on sound, do not be fooled by visual projection...

supporting 032

Marion Forbes is a fifth year undergraduate architecture student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

She has been working under the guidance of Professors Brian Ambroziak and Keith McClleland in an interdisciplinary independent study entitled Contrafact: a study in sound dislocation.

This exhibit acts as testing ground for an architectural thesis, an idea that relies heavily on the ability of the ear and the power it may hold over the perception of space.

Recordings taken from a trip to Rome during the May 2013 Mini-Term, ROMA REVISITED.

[T02]

Sound exploration through technological means results in a gallery installation, dislocating Roman spaces to create a fictional dome through sound and disorientation. Similar to storytelling in caves, I explored ways to recreate existing sounds through the use of modern technology (speakers, computers, projection). Keeping in mind that my attempt of creation and re-adaptation is no new thing. As previously stated, investigation of caves, and use of, during the Paleolithic era of human habitation shows that interest in recreation of natural sounds was paramount to the story being told or ritual being performed. Subtle waves of the undulating caves walls would provide opportunity for amplification and reverberation of clapping, for example, to sound like a birds wings. Dislocating natural sound at its essence to tell a story. My sound exploration involved the transportation of sound from its source while creating a fictional architectural construct of similar quality to that of which I recorded--simply, to tell a story about experience of architectural space.

[B 16]

fall 2013 | act 2 036 | locating

[B 16] helsinki market | digital photograph |marion forbes, 2012

[T03] I have moved to a land of silence. The night here is silvery grey and the days last forever. I am no longer afraid of getting lost and my mind does not wander far. I am fully aware of my surroundings as my bike moves me forward, mechanically through the cobble streets. The harbor is around every corner and the seagulls live within the streets and the city.

On a Sunday morning I rode down the hill from my dorm toward the train station.

Quick glances down each street looking for something, anything to pull me into another direction. I wanted to explore the city for a few hours before I made my way to campus.

The streets are quiet on this Sunday but there are many people walking about. My bike seemed out of place as it screamed to a halt in front of the market. I spotted the harbor from the corner of the street I was on and was stopped by the crowd of people at the market. I immediately got off my bike, locked it (with much effort), and walked briskly toward the sounds of conversation. I couldn’t understand any of it. After

a short time of frustration, I started listening to the music of the conversation. The change in pitch between two women and the difference in tone between two men arguing over the price of an item. All observations through sound.

The market became a different place. I moved fluidly through the booths listening to the booming workmen and the staccato of chattering women.

High melodies of seagulls were harmonized by dogs barking and babies crying.

I had found myself and urban symphony in the land I affectionately call silent. When I rode away, back toward the direction of the train station, my bike regained its abrupt solo on the street, screaming to a halt in front of my dorm.

I am interested in a site that provides a unique soundscape to support the architectural construct of organizing sound. Cities provide unique soundscapes inherent in its infrastructure and populous.

Some of the largest cities in the US contain familiar car and construction base lines to the muted melodies of water and ships from nearby harbors. Studying abroad in Helsinki, I quickly found that each city I visited had a symphony of its own timbre: [T03]

Initial investigation of sound and music started in nature, exploring ways of aural traditions and ancient communication. Further study lead to the development of cities and the urban soundscape during the industrial revolution and beyond.

With technological achievements in the last few decades, personalized soundscapes exist as means of escaping daily noise.

When looking for a site, I find that I am interested in places that contain the ability to traverse between urban context and nature. It is within sound experience that the sublime contained within natural environments is enhanced more so than sight experience.

[B 17]

[B 18]

New Orleans, Louisiana The birthplace of jazz, commonly known as the most American music form. Smaller sites within the larger New Orleans metropolitan area provide more specific opportunities of exploration. Each of these locations sits deep within some Louisiana’s coastal wetlands providing distinctive landscape interaction unique to this part of the United States. The natural landscape is half marsh half water, while still maintaining geotechnical land masses for infrastructure. New Orleans, as a city, contains strong historical ties to music and sound while providing unique site options for a range of programs.

[B 17] usgs topographic map of chandeleur and breton sounds | digital splicing, 2013

Houma, Louisiana (Chauvin, LA) _Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium

[B 18] google satellite view | abandoned oil rig near Breton Sound Marina | 2013

Breton Sound Marina _privately owned seaplane bases by petroleum companies. Offshore geotechnical engineering Tenneco-Cocodrie _located near LUMCOM Chandeleur Sound Barrier Islands—home of the Breton National Wildlife Refuge

locating 038

[B 19]

[B 20]

Chandekeur sound barrier islands Chandeleur Sound and Breton Sound sit within the Black Bay just north of the Mississippi River delta. The Chandeleur Sound barrier islands provides refuge for migratory animals and animals native to the area. The Breton National Wildlife Refuge has been in place since 1904 under the executive order of President Theodore Roosevelt. The islands within the refuge have housed small structures only to be worn away and destroyed by hurricanes in the gulf. The islands themselves are slowly disappearing within the rising water levels of the gulf.

Currently, access by boat for recreational fishing is the only means of man-made connection to the islands.

[B 19] usgs topographic map | digital montage | marion forbes, 2013 the breton sound wildlife refuge is home to many endagered species including: brown pelican piping plover sea turtles [B 20] theodore roosevelt on breton sound | b and w photograph | library of congress, 1915

locating 040

[B 21]

The waters of the Black Bay to the north of the Mississippi River delta hold an interesting condition of mixed fresh water and salt water concentrations. Since the BP oil spill in April of 2010, environmental attention has been drawn to the area. Hypoxia is an existing condition of chemical drainage from upstream in the fresh water river flowing into the delta and raising the nitrogen and phosphorus levels in the water (NY Times, 2010). In turn this effect significantly lowers oxygen levels in the water and, in some instances, depleting oxygen levels completely leaving a “dead zone�.

After the oil spill in 2010, a larger dead zone has formed within the Black Bay area Northwest of the barrier islands. This bay is home to a multitude of migratory birds and coastal fish populations including dolphins and smaller whales and sharks. Among these are endangered species whose numbers dramatically decreased after the oil spill.

[B 21] usgs topographic map | digital montage | marion forbes, 2013 hypoxia happens when too many nutrients (like nitrogen and phosphorus) flow from fresh water into marshes and eventually the sea water. oxygen levels deplete after excessive exposure to these nutrients, creating a dead zone.

locating 042

[B 22] air

water

[B 23]

[B 22] usgs topographic map | digital montage | marion forbes, 2013 the deepwater horizon oil spill in 2010 resulted in further deterioration of the chandeleur islands after hurricane katrina in 2009.

[B 23] air vs water | line drawing | marion forbes, 2013 sound reacts differently when traveling through air and water. this leaves room for spatial exploration in both realms.

locating 044

An oceanic development and research facility that promotes natural growth and reproduction of endangered species and habitats.

Utilizing the Rigs-to-Reefs program and its ability to successfully bring decommissioned oil platforms to a level of environmental standards set in place in 1984 with the Natural Fishing Enhancement Act, nature’s ability to repurpose industrious structure at such a scale provides opportunity of interest and exploration. The reuse of the oil platform along the coast of Louisiana, within the Black Bay area, provides a compelling location for this oceanic development and research facility. The proscenium moves from the vertical to the horizontal, leaving communication and passage through the vertical realm. Nature is now the performer and we must relinquish our former role as performer and become the audience once more.

(Nature>City>Nature>hybrid)

[B 24]

1997

1999

2005

2008

2010

2011

[B 24] usgs topographic map | digital montage | marion forbes, 2013 hurricanes and tropical storms are common occurences in the gulf sometimes causing severe destruction of louisiana’s marsh lands. above shows the developement of chandeleur sound islands from 1997 to 2011. locating 046

[B 25]

[B 25] usgs topographic map | digital montage | marion forbes, 2013

locating 048

Sound and music relate theoretically to the larger concept of adaptive reuse. As previously mentioned, contrafact correlates with adaptive reuse as a means of repurposing abandoned or decommissioned oil platforms off the coast of Louisiana. Fugue is a similar term used to describe a contrapuntal procedure, or two or more melodic phrases are being played at the same time (Harnsberger, 37). In this instance, relating to the larger theoretical performative concept, the audience and the performer hold equal roles in the success of the ritual drama—the hybridized city and nature. Sound is the communicative connection between nature and observer as air and water provide two ways for which sound can will travel.

[B 26]

fall 2013 | act 2 052 | referencing

[B 26] re:rigging bethrymetry model | BIM modeling | coupling, 2013

Re:Rigging: Occupying the Caspian Sea investigates the future potential of oil platforms after the need for oil is necessary.

Essentially creating a master plan for future use of these oil rigs.

Proposed usages for these rigs include habitat observation nodes, gateway for “adventure seekers�, and material exchange units for companies interested in reclaimed rig components (Mason, 40).

This project provides an interesting approach to the reuse and redevelopment of offshore oil platforms in the Caspian Sea. The Caspian Sea is an inland water body that remains isolated from other oceanic systems.

Though this exploration is similar in form it remains distant from environmental systems most other oil platforms encounter. The proposal ranges in architectural form and ideas while remaining abstract. This is successful for the project is simply proposing future conditions the rigs may take after the rigs become decommissioned and wildlife begins to take over once again. Through a strenuous amount of diagrams and site analysis, this project will remain relevant as I continue in this thesis investigation.

[B 27]

[B 28]

[B 27] salk institute plaza | abandoned oil rig near Breton Sound Marina | 2013 [B 28] salk institute section drawing | abandoned oil rig near Breton Sound Marina | 2013

Salk Institute remains of the forefront of science institutes in architecture. Louis Kahn and Jonas Salk worked harmoniously as architect and client. Salk envisioned an inspiring environment for scientific research that Kahn designed with articulate and simple gestures resulting in a functional, artistic masterpiece (Perez, 2007).

Salk Institute provides precedent programmatically and formally.

Programmatically, it provides a basis for an exploratory scientific research facility. Using a verendeel truss system, a mechanical halffloor exists between each of the lab levels leaving ample space for changing duct and ventilation systems as the laboratories changed over time. Formally, Kahn studied monasteries as a means of creating an “intellectual retreat�

(Perez, 2007). Similarly, Kahn’s explorations of servant and served spaces relates to his structural decision to hide the mechanical spaces. Also this idea provides a compelling dialogue between circulation zones and main plaza space.

referencing 054

[B 29]

[B 29] la tourette monastery light cannons | abandoned oil rig near Breton Sound Marina | 2013

[A14] Works of architecture are discovered, not designed.

The creative process is a path of discovery. The hand makes drawings and arrives at solutions before the mind has even comprehended them.

It is very important to me to make buildings that work like instruments. They respond to light, to the movements of the air, to prospect, to the needs of comfort. Like musical instruments, they produce the sounds and the tones of the composer. But, I’m not the composer. Nature is the composer. The light and sounds of the land are already there. I just make instruments that allow people to perceive these natural qualities. [glenn murcutt] referencing 056

Le Corbusier’s last project built in Europe is La Tourette Monastery which sits atop a hill in Eveuxsur-Arbresle, near Lyon, France.

Le Corbusier was asked by Father Marie-Alain Couturier that he design a silent monastery for “one hundred bodies and one hundred hearts” (Sveiven, 2009). Utilizing his five points, Le Corbusier created dwelling units and communal spaces using reinforced concrete and undulating glass elements to enhance sensorial experience throughout the day (Svieven, 2009).

This precedent provides opportunities to explore use of communal spaces and singular cells to create a larger functioning performance system. Different areas of the monastery are used at specific times of day relating to light and natural sounds.

Spatial organization becomes very important as monks fill the halls and worship spaces for prayer and meditation. Though the monks practice silence, the building becomes their voice; performing through rhythms of light and material change.

[A14]

[B 30]

[B 30] neurosciences institute courtyard | abandoned oil rig near Breton Sound Marina | 2013

The Scripps Neurosciences Institute shares similar ideas as the Salk Institute and La Tourette Monastery. Todd Williams and Billie Tsien were asked to design a “monastery for scientests� by client Dr. Edelman (TsienWilliams, website article). Tsien Williams write:

[A15] The Neurosciences Institute is a theoretical and clinical research campus for the study of the brain. The program is comprised of a theory center, laboratories, and an auditorium.

The 3 buildings are arranged to form a central plaza that unifies the entire project. Cutting into the slopping site, the buildings maintain low profiles and a strong connection with the land. As a result of this partially buried condition, the landscape and the buildings form a quiet courtyard. The open yet sheltered space encourages interdisciplinary interaction.

[A15]

[Tsien Williams Architects | Neuroscience Institute | 2013]

referencing 058

Study of this project provides similar ammunition to La Tourette and Salk Institute by bringing together a series of programmatic elements that work together as a system. Tsien Williams carry their conceptual ideas through to specific details, connecting the separate programs on varying levels.

[B 31]

fall 2013 | act 2 062 | works cited

[B 31] wave | abandoned oil rig near Breton Sound Marina | 2013

Arheim, R. (1957). Film as art. Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Byrne, D. (2012). How music works. san francisco: McSweeney’s.

Hendy, D. (2013). Noise: A human history of sound and listening. London: Profile Books.

Licht, A. (2007). Sound art: Beyond music, between categories. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc. Ondaantje, M. (1976). Coming through slaughter. House of Anansi.

Rasmussen, S. E. (1959). Experience architecture. Cambridge: The MIT Press.

Thompson, E. (2002). The soundscape of modernity: Architectural acoustics and the culture of listening in america 1900-1933.

Cambridge: The MIT Press.

spring 2014 | act 3 064| forming

M

J 06

T

W

R

F

01

03

08

10

classes start [8]

S

S

17 13 15 site documentation 24 20 22 site documentation | precedent studies and sound studies 31 27 29 precedent analysis and synthesis | schematic site design

F

07 03 05 schematic design | sound studies 14 10 12 schematic design | sound studies 21 17 19 schematic design review 28 24 26 schematic design review | potential sound installation for fondry

M

03

14

A

10 12 fondry and review recap and design evaluation 17 19 spring break >>> [17-21] site visit 24 26 design evolution and evaluation 31 mid-term design review 02 07 production 14 production 21 production 28 production

09

11

16

18

23

25

05 final review 12

07

09

14

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28

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05

TAAST >>> [1-8]

foundry

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21 28

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30 04

finland

23 30

graduation [10]