Erin Joanna Ellis
SOUNDSCAPE / LANDSCAPE Designing landscape through Sound
Erin Ellis s3138190
CONTENTS
SOUND GLOSSARY
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A Glossary of sound-related terms
SOUNDSCAPE / LANDSCAPE 9
Designing landscape through Sound
INTRODUCTION TO THE PROJECT
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SOUNDWALKING AND INITIAL WORK NOTATION 29 SITE
Designing the notational section
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CONCLUSION
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BIBLIOGRAPHY / REFERENCES
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ABSORB
DISPLACEMENT
Process of reduction of sound energy after passing through a medium.
A loss of context equilibrium or knowing of place .
ACOUSTIC ECOLOGY
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ECHO The repetition of sound due to reflection from a surface.
The relationship, mediated through sound, between humans and their acoustic environment.
ACOUSTIC MIRROR A concave dish with the purpose of amplifying and reflecting sound to a specific point to be heard / recorded.
FOLLIE A conceptual model, usually at 1:1 scale, that indicates a design notion. A machine for thinking.
INTENSITY
AMPLIFY
The rate of sound energy travelling through space.
The increase of sound loudness, through natural or synthetic causes.
NOISE
AURAL
An undesired, unexpected or unwanted sound that is disturbing in some way.
Related to hearing or the ear.
DIRECT (SOUND) To change the course of sound waves through material use.
NOTATION Symbolic representation and organisation of sound, usually music, that is helpful in the understanding and re-interpretation process.
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SOUND GLOSSARY A Glossary of sound-related terms that may be useful when navigating the project.
PHENOMENA
SOUND ABSORBENCY COEFFICIENT
An occurrence, circumstance, or fact that is perceptible by the senses and is observed to exist.
The ratio of sound energy absorbed by the surface of a material to the sound energy reflected by the surface.
RECORDING
SOUNDSCAPE
The process of recording audio signals, usually for reproduction or alteration.
A sound environment. Importance is placed on how the soundscape is perceived and understood by the individual.
REFLECTION
SOUNDWALK
The return of sound waves from a surface. The amount of return is dependant on the material quality of which the sound hits.
An active participation in the soundscape where one makes judgements about the sounds heard, and how these sounds contribute to the balance / imbalance of their sonic environment.
REVERBERATION The continuation or persistence of a sound after the original source has ceased.
SOUND The phenomena where vibrations that travel through solids, liquids or gases and can be heard when reaching the ear. Most commonly, sound is measured in Hertz (Hz) or Decibels (DB). Sound vibrations travel at different speeds depending on the medium traveled through.
WHISPER CHAMBER An elliptical or circular architecture where sound travels in a way that can be heard loudly by a recipient on the opposite side of the room.
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SOUNDSCAPE / LANDSCAPE Designing landscape through Sound How can an urban (sound)park be designed through qualities of site acoustics and how can this be represented?
Soundscape / Landscape explores the sound of a site as a medium for design. My design research is conducted in two complimentary parts; the first is the design of a (sound)park; the second is the formulation of a notational device used to both represent and inform the design. The construction of a specific notational language has become necessary to the research project due to the lack of sonic representational methods available to the spatial designer. To this degree I believe the notation must represent the qualities of space, time and materiality relative to specific selected qualities of sound. The urban context, in which the proposed (sound)park is located, can be described predominantly as a ‘lo-fi’* soundscape, which is characterised by a plethora of competing sound sources. Since the industrial revolution we have entered an age of sonic overproduction in which the
beauty of the hi-fi* soundscape, or even that of silence, is lost to noise pollution. The research branches into two important parts; exploration into the theory of Acoustic Ecology and the strategic use of materiality within these spaces for the production of hi-fi acoustic effects. The design of the (sound)park has also been explored through the acoustic techniques used in Japanese Garden design, which encompass what is described by composer R. Murray Schafer as a ‘hi-fi’ soundscape. The project examines sounds produced by both the garden itself and its occupiers, as well as the Japanese landscape principle of ‘hide and reveal’*. My design research project aims to design a space that provides a hi-fi environment where connectedness and a relationship to one’s sonic environment is encouraged. This human / sound relationship is integral to the study of acoustic ecology.
* Lo-fi Soundscape is characterised by a large number of sounds occurring at once. It is often difficult to find the source of a given sound in a lo-fi soundscape due to loud ambient noise level. An urban situation is a good example of a lo-fi soundscape. * Hi-fi Soundscape is characterised by distinctive and usually non-repetitive sounds that can be easily sourced and heard clearly, for example the rural soundscape. * Hide and reveal is a Japanese landscape principle used in stroll gardens where the observer is distracted by one sensory element while another presents itself. This is intended to enlighten and revive the spirit of the observer.
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Distinguished bird calls in a hi-fi soundscape environment
The array of sounds introduced in the industrial and electric revolutions, creating a lo-fi soundscape
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INTRODUCTION TO THE PROJECT
Landscape Architects play a very small part in the design of acoustics within the spatial realm. As spatial designers we come from a visual discipline where an acute, in depth knowledge and understanding of visual aesthetics is achieved at the cost of providing spaces to stimulate the other senses. Since the late 1960’s there has been a small and slow movement in the research and practice joining sound and space. This began with the coining of the term ‘soundscape’ by composer R. 1 Murray Schafer in the late 1960’s and the investigations led by him in the research group the ‘World Soundscape Project’ which aimed to ‘study the acoustic environment and the impact 2 of technology on it’. The following is an excerpt from the World Soundscape Project’s website which outlines the ambition of the project within the urban sphere: ‘Through systematic and critical study the project has endeavoured to contribute to and co-ordinate research on the scientific, aesthetic, philosophic, architectural, and sociological aspects of soundscape ecology.
The project’s focus is to find solutions for an ecologically balanced soundscape where the relationship between the human community and its sonic environment is balanced’. 3 It was at the time of the formation of the WSP that the shifting sound of cities began to cause some distress among certain groups, most notably composers and city planners. With post war population increases and the rise of modern machinery such as the automobile, an abundance of noise had initiated. This overpopulation of sounds was in fact introduced by western culture, beginning with the industrial revolution and then extended by the technology of the electric revolution.4 Sounds can be classified generally into natural, animal, human and technical sounds, the latter of which had not been produced pre 18th century. The abundance of new sounds and their tendency to obscure human and natural sounds was the cause for some unrest, creating a soundscape of lo-fi noise that had never occurred before:
‘Today the world suff ers from an overpopulation of sounds; there is so much acoustic information that little of it can emerge with clarity. In the ultimate lo-fi soundscape the signal-to-noise ratio is oneto-one and it is no longer possible to know what, if anything, is to be listened to’. 5 In addition to the studies of the WSP, a number of other contributions have been made, and continue to be made to soundscape studies that have endeavoured to join the fields of music, composition, architecture and physical space. The means of representation for this multidisciplined emergence has also been scrutinised. The composer John Cage is one notable influence, producing many works that blurred the borders between music and physical space. His 1983 musical composition ‘Ryoanji’ (for oboe and obbligato percussion)6 is a musical piece constructed as a representation of the Japanese garden kare-sansui at the temple of Ryoanji in Kyoto. The piece was a direct translation of the garden from a physical or spatial medium to a musical composition. Cage’s notation of the piece was also unrepresentative of traditional music notation, pushing the boundaries
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MY BACKGROUND IN SOUND As a musician
between music, its representation and physical space. It is through the lens of the sonic that I will be looking at this project, where the chief aim is to construct a more comprehensive picture of the intersection between visual and acoustic space. The project interrogates urban sound in order to design space with a focus on the auditory. To do this, an appropriate notational drawing must be constructed that represents the sound condition on site and provides information to aid in the design itself. The outcome of the project will be the design of an urban (sound)park where a hi-fi soundscape is achieved and a relationship to the site, through sound, is encouraged for those occupying the site.
The garden at Ryoanji Temple
Before the undertaking of this project, I knew very little about acoustics. My interest in sound comes mainly from music and its representation. This was sparked from my years of playing in medium sized classical and jazz bands, where room for individual creativity and expression is often shrouded by the rigidity of classical-style notation. By using traditional notation in these bands, almost every component of the music is pre-determined from the tuning of the instrument, the time signature of the piece, and the movement of each instrument in relation to another. I am drawn particularly to the progressive and psychedelic rock and world music genres, as the outcome of the music is often determined by the feeling of the individual musician in that moment of time. This creates an individual piece
that will sound different each time it is listened to. I would like to bring this knowledge into my design work, as I believe that a site should excite the senses, creating a new outcome for the subject each time the site is occupied.
The notation for ‘Ryoanji’
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WHAT IS SOUND? An anatomical analysis
Sound is made up of pressure waves that are caused by the vibration of an object. This vibration causes a disturbance in the surrounding medium (whether it is a solid, liquid or gas) which carries the waves. The speed at which the sound travels is dependent on the medium it is travelling through. The more matter the medium is made of, the faster the sound waves will travel. The most common medium to which humans hear sound is through oxygen gas, or air. The frequency of the waves is dependent on the vibrating source. If the frequency of the source is high, the frequency of the sound wave will also be high. 7
vibrate. These vibrations are transmitted through to the inner ear where they are converted into electrical signals and sent to the brain.
In order to hear sounds, our ears also endure a series of vibrations. When the vibrating air (sound waves) reaches our ears, it causes the eardrums to
Middle ear anatomy
Diagram of the human ear
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FOLLIES Machines for thinking about sound
At the beginning of the semester a set of follies, or ‘Machines for Thinking’, were created in Anglesea. For myself, these follies were a way to explore and examine sound in a context that had an extremely differing soundscape to that of the city. Coming from a musical rather than an acoustic background, creating these follies was integral to the beginnings of my understanding of sound and the ways in which it was affected by site.
FOLLIE 01 _ ‘CHAMBER’ The most interesting finding in the building of this follie was that the subject could both see and smell the ocean (through seeing the sand in the hole and smelling the seaweed), but could not hear it. This potentially created a gap in the subjects sense of place. Another finding was the intense amplification of any sound created inside the hole created by insects or speech.
FOLLIE 03_ ‘AMPLIFICATION BASIN’ For this follie I decided to play with one sound only, and to find what effect this would have on the person sitting in the basin. I dug a hole within the dune, built up the sides with sand, and created a seat/basin in which the listener could sit. It was found that the sound of the ocean was deeply amplified, and most other sound was muted, with the exception
of the sound of the children playing one the beach directly in front of the basin. This got me thinking about the multitude of sounds that compete for an identity. How do we listen to the sounds and cues that are important?
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FOLLIE 02 _ ‘SOUND COMPASS’ This follie – the ‘Sound Compass’ – is a diagram of distinct sounds surrounding my area of camp. Each string is a representation of a specific, prolonged sound that occurred during a 5 minute period. What became of most interest
was the strings (sounds) that remained in their position for an extended time. This occurred for traffic sound (the string that repeatedly points north) and the bird calls, which made up most of the south-eastern string lines.
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The ‘sound compass’ created on MLA camp was a compass of notable surrounding sounds. Pictures were taken at 5 minute
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THE JAPANESE GARDEN Concepts of Japanese gardens as a tool for design
Japanese gardens have provided a strong influence on modern garden design and other design professions such as sculpture, architecture and landscape architecture. Since John Cage’s 1983 compositional work Ryoanji, connections have been made on the visual and acoustic interplays present within Japanese gardens.8 A more recent study of Japanese garden acoustics by a spatial design team is the project Teimu (The Garden of Dreams) by the RMIT University SIAL Sound Studio and other collaborators from separate but sound-related fields. This project investigates the use of Japanese gardens as a model for spatial sound design and includes an investigation into the representation and notation of sound data that is useful to the spatial designer. It is important to note that traditional Japanese gardens are not designed with an acoustic foundation. Their sound is merely a product of their design. There are a number of acoustic concepts found in the traditional Japanese garden that are explored in this project, which are discussed below: The most obvious is the placement of the centre of the garden. The main area of a traditional Japanese garden, especially in urban zones, is usually found in the middle of the garden where surrounding street noise is at a minimum and the designed acoustics of the garden are at full effect. There are a number of designed sounds present within the garden, some of which are permanent fi xtures
and others that are more transient and created through nature or the navigation of the visitor themselves. The ephemeral sounds of voices and footsteps of visitors, for example, are often highly designed through the leading of visitors through certain pathways and the materials used underfoot to amplify their progression through space. It is often difficult to distinguish between the designed acoustic features of the garden and those that occur naturally, but are not distinctly designed. 9 In an urban space, designed features of the Japanese garden such as the waterfall or brook, which are typically used as a calming sensory device, can also be used as a buffer between surrounding roads and the garden itself. The use of certain sounds to mitigate urban noise has played a crucial part in the design of the (sound)park given its innercity context. This is achieved chiefly through distraction of the visitor by an introduced sound rather than the removal of urban noise. ‘Hide and reveal’ is an interesting concept of Japanese garden design where a new view, object or sound becomes present when the previous one has dispersed. This enables the dwellers senses to be constantly triggered as they traverse through the garden. This concept was found sonically in various positions when visiting the Melbourne Zoo Japanese garden. One notable instance was the purposeful and designed placement of various water sources within the garden for both acoustic and visual effect, causing a striking sound intensity change in the
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IMAGES (left) To the right of the main pathway is the brook (top image), which can be heard easily as the fountain is hidden behind a rock grouping (second image). While progressing down the pathway the sound of the brook is hidden and the rush of the fountain comes into focus (third and fourth images)
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5 metre navigation down the pathway. These water sources are at first hidden from the viewer and are then revealed at different stages through the journey of the main garden pathway. The brook is revealed at first and just as it disappears behind a group of rocks, shielding it from view and suppressing its acoustics, the powerful acoustic and visual images of the garden’s waterfall is triumphantly displayed (see pictures, opposite page). The progression of the ambient sound of the waterfall that is visually blocked by the larger rock garden to a surging centre point both visually and aurally is intense. Although this project is based somewhat on the attributes of the Japanese garden, it is used as a precedent only. It is not my intention to portray the visual aspects of the garden into my work, but to learn from the sonic concepts used in traditional Japanese garden design as a medium for the design of a spatial (sound)park.
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Footsteps Speech
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Waterfall Shishi Odoshi Brook
Birds Insects Wind in trees
Footsteps Speech
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‘Borrowed soundscape’
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Intersections TrafÀc lights
Road noise Flyovers Planes
Table of intended and unintended sounds in a traditional Japanese garden
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SOUNDWALKING AND INITIAL WORK
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SOUNDWALK
Subject 01
Subject 02
Subject 03
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1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Swanston St near crnr. Franklin St Crnr. Swanston and La Trobe State Library doorstep Crnr. Lt. Lonsdale and Swanston St Drewery Ln Swanston St, between Lonsdade and Lt.Bourke St Lt Bourke St Elizabeth St, between Lt Bourke and Collins St
9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16.
Crnr. Elizabeth and Bourke St Centre Place Lt. Collins St Elizabeth St, between Collins and Lt Collins Streets Collins St, between Elizabeth and Swanston Streets Swanston St, between Flinders Ln and Collins St Crnr. Swanston and Flinders St Federation Square
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SOUND PROFILE 01 Swanston St near crnr. Franklin St ‘I can hear cars - it’s busy. Trams are getting frequent, so maybe we are on Swanston street. We are heading into a cafe area. There’s an overhead - there are air conditioners’
SOUND PROFILE 02 Crnr. Swanston and La Trobe ‘I can hear trams going over the tram tracks... There are less people - cafe’s are closing for the night. There are heaps of cars coming through here - we are on an intersection’
SOUND PROFILE 03 State Library doorstep ‘It’s a quieter space. I can still hear trams clearly though... they seem like they’re coming from below me. There was a tram bell going off but it seems far off . We have stepped up a level’
SOUND PROFILE 04 Crnr. Lt. Lonsdale and Swanston St ‘It’s a lot quieter in this area. We are still in a street, but maybe not as busy a street. It’s one of the broader laneways. It’s busy here’
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SOUND PROFILE 05 Drewery Ln ‘I can hear construction nearby... We’re down a laneway. There are a few sounds happening in the distance but they are working sounds. I feel enclosed because I can’t hear the other things going on’
SOUND PROFILE 06 Swanston St, between Lonsdade and Lt Bourke St ‘There are a lot of cars around, we might be back on Elizabeth Street. I hear a lot of trucks and trams. There is music - it doesn’t sound like it’s coming from a shop it’s a street performer’
SOUND PROFILE 07 Lt Bourke St ‘There is not many people here. There are air conditioners above me. Its kind of like we have gone down an alleyway. There are no cars here. Have we gone inside somewhere? I can hear the door alarm. I can hear a tram in the distance’
SOUND PROFILE 08 Elizabeth St, between Lt Bourke and Collins St ‘There are lots of people around, everywhere. We are in quite a wide space. It sounds open - the footpath sounds wider because people are having an easy time dodging me’
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SOUND PROFILE 09 Crnr. Elizabeth and Bourke St ‘We may be just passing an arcade, there are people talking a bit of a way away. We are coming up to some buskers... Now we are going away from them...’
SOUND PROFILE 10 Centre Place ‘Its getting much quieter... There’s nothing here... There’s music in there but it’s shop music, not band music. We are in an alleyway because there are no cars. Its also maybe semi-inside because there’s things above us making sounds - air conditioners... There’s a cafe’
SOUND PROFILE 11 Lt. Collins St ‘I can hear cars... The demographic has changed, people are wearing heels. It’s louder, but we are in a small space. I think we are passing a carpark’
SOUND PROFILE 12 Elizabeth St, between Collins and Lt Collins ‘We are on Elizabeth Street because all the shops have loud music. There’s cars on that side, and trams up ahead. There are no sounds on my left though so we must be next to a building. There are people coming from that direction so we have hit an intersection’
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SOUND PROFILE 13 Collins St, between Elizabeth and Swanston St There are trams turning. There are cars on the right - they are waiting, maybe its a taxi bay. Demographic has definitely changed... Their shoes are more authoritative sounding - I imagine them all wearing suits. It’s not as industrial sounding here either - it’s not like the construction sites before’
SOUND PROFILE 14 Swanston St, between Flinders Ln and Collins St ‘We’re going down Swanston Street there were trams behind us and now they are on the left of us. We are coming up to a traffic light now... It feels more open, so something on the right is set back from the street’
SOUND PROFILE 15 Crnr. Swanston and Flinders St ‘I think we are walking away from Flinders Street Station. There are cars next to me and a bus over there. The cars just turned left. We are crossing a road - I can hear the ticking of the crossing’
SOUND PROFILE 16 Federation Square ‘There are people all around us and we have left the street. There’s no cars around us except for back there. We are facing the river’
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NOTATION Designing the notational section
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HAND DRAWN NOTATION
LEGEND:
An attempt to represent each sound in a way that showed the form of that sound on a frequency diagram. In this notation x = time in seconds and y = sound intensity. Each notation was taken from a fi xed point over a 30 second time period, where the arrows signify direction of sound source.
Fountain
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Birds
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Notation at area 02
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Notation at area 05
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LATEST NOTATION
Sect ion 03
LEGEND: Concrete
Alarm
Bitumen
Tram
Grass
Car
Garden bed
Water
Drilling
Trucks
Motorbike
Feet on hard surface
Speech
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Car door
Braking
Birds
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Tram bell
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This is the most recent notation and the only one that has so far been used in the design process. Taken by a section through site, the x axis = time in seconds and y = frequency in hertz.
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Sound Section 01
Sound Section 02
Sound Section 03
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Sound Section 04
Sound Section 05 When using the qualities of sound as a tool for design, it is important to devise a notational method that displays on-site acoustics. The making of the notation is the first step in the design process and is built as an aid in design itself.
Sound Section 06
Sound Section 07
The making of a series of ‘notational sections’ has been most useful in the design process itself and is helpful to the process of design. The notational section represents acoustics on a scale of time, space and materiality. Each sound section is a recording of the navigation across a specific ‘section’ of the site and represents the acoustics of that trajectory (see sectional plan, previous spread). It must be stressed that the notational section is a recording in time and space and is representative of the site at the specific moment it was taken. It is not intended to represent the site during any other time period. As it is impossible to represent the site during all times and cycles, one recording was taken for each section and is chosen to represent the acoustics of navigation through that section
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THE X AND Y AXIS Varied use of the x and y axis throughout the project
In previous notations the y axis represented sound intensity rather than frequency. When constructing a site with a focus on the hi-fi soundscape, it has become more important to work with sound frequency rather than intensity. While intensity represents the volume of sound present around and within the park, a y axis representing frequency is more effective in showing sounds that have the opportunity to distract visitors from unwanted sounds, which is important to the design of the (sound)park in its urban context.
the x axis was more navigational than sectional, with a time axis of 41 minutes. This was useful in detailing more ambient soundscapes, where the much shorter notational section through site is much more useful in its detail and representation of acoustics in specific areas.
The x axis in all notational iterations has represented time. In earlier iterations
LEGEND: To heighten To mitigate To reduce
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Sound Section 01
Sound Section 02
Sound Section 04
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Sound Section 03
Sound Section 05
Sound Section 06
Sound Section 07
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Sound Intensity
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LEGEND: Helicopter
Bike
< 30m
Horse & Carriage
Birds
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Motorbike
Busking
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Music
Cafe sounds
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Ped. crossing
Car doors
Construction
Speaking
Cars
Footsteps
Street sweeper
Children
Air conditioning
Trams
Trucks & buses
Alarm
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Time (minutes)
The second iteration of the Sound Notation Device represented 16 separate sounds, and was the model for the third iteration of the device, seen on the previous page. This notation shows both type of sound and its intensity against time. This notation did not, however, give any indication of the spatiality of the site being travelled through, which is troublesome as the Landscape Architect is a spatial designer.
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NOTATION AS A DESIGN TOOL Throughout the project the aim of the notation has been to both represent sound in a useful manenr and to use it in design.
The notation has been most useful as a design tool when taken from a recording across site as a sound section rather than as a still recording. After playback of the recording each sound is drawn in a separate colour signifying its layer on the notation. After each layer was drawn it was decided which sounds would be heightened, reduced or mitigated in order to begin designing the acoustics of the site and beginning to draw and design emphasis on certain sounds over others. This reiteration was the second step in the design process through notation and was displayed in 3 colours signifying the decision to heighten, reduce or mitigate each individual sound (see previous pages).
After these decisions were made, the sections could be used to design. Each notational section was scaled and placed on a 1:250 contoured aerial mapping of the site in the place it was taken (see images, this page and opposite). After this, trace was used to iterate the contours to provide a central area that encompassed a hi-fi soundscape and encouraged the ‘heightened’ sounds. This topography was formed to be higher at most roadsides and lower in the centre of the (sound)park to isolate human and animal sounds in the middle of the park. The lowest area was designed where most of the ‘heightened’ sounds were already and all walkways within the park led to this central space.
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SITE
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WORKING WITH SECTION Creating a hi-fi topography
The cut and fill sections on this page are taken from the section lines from the most recent iteration of notation (see pages 30 - 33). Because of the use of the notational section to design, the easiest way to make design moves has been through section also. The cut and fill sections to the right display the current topographical situation of site, with the green area being the cut / fill. The sections on the opposite page display the iterated materiality of the site. The materiality was determined by the notational sections.
Cut and fill section 01
Cut and fill section 02
Cut and fill section 03
Cut and fill section 04
Cut and fill section 05
Cut and fill section 06
Cut and fill section 07 SCALE1:750
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Material section 01
Material section 02
Material section 03
Material section 04
Material section 05
Material section 06
Material section 07
concrete
bitumen
grass
garden bed
gravel
water
SCALE1:750
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EARLY WORK Intrest in smaller sound ecologies within the city
15 By mid semester, I was lost as to the direction in which my project was taking. A had a rich knowledge of city soundscape from the sound profiles obtained through the soundwalk, however I did not know how to use this knowledge in order to design. I was interested in the laneway sound profiles, in particular sound profile 05,
which was the journey through Drewery Lane, Melbourne. The laneway is an interesting sound profile as it has two thoroughfares at each end, producing much of the overall intensity of the site. In the middle area of the laneway however, most of this initial sound has ceased, and the localised and more human sounds of footsteps and speech can be heard above all. These sounds are also heightened by the
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thin nature of the laneway, and the high reflective properties of the materials used (usually bluestone).
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Sound 01 _ Air conditioners
Sound 03 _ Trams
Sound 02 _ Trucks & buses
Sound 04 _ Birds
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Sound is concentrated and amplified within the spherical shape and bounced back and directed toward a central point. Acoustic mirrors were used on the coastlines of England during the beginning of the Second World War as an early radar device.
The whispering chamber is usually constructed in the form of an ellipsoid, with entry openings at each end. When standing at one side, the sound of oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s voice emanates from the focal point and reflects directly to the opposite side of the ellipse.
The sound absorbency coefficient diagram (right) represents a number of materials and their absorbent / reflectant properties. Materiality can be used in a way to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC; forceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; sound through a site, or to direct it.
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0.50 0.45
0.55
0.60
0.40
0.35
0.65
0.70
0.30
0.75
0.25
0.20
0.80
0.15
0.85
0.90
0.10
0.95
Fibreglass
Grass / garden bed
Hardwood
Metal / steel
0.05
Glass
Brick
Asphalt
Concrete
Bluestone
SOUND ABSORBENCY COEFFICIENTS ...at 250 Hz 0.00 = No absorption 0.50 = 50% absorption 1.00 = 100% absorption
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The existing site of Lincoln Square is fronted by Swanston Street, one of the main thoroughfares of the Melbourne CBD, and a common tram route. The site is also quite undulating (see existing site plan below), with the Swantson Street side being three metres higher than the opposite side of the park.
B
A
grassed area
pathway
C
footpath
garden bed
asphalt
planting
D
E F E F
G
G
A
B
C
D
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Existing site section AA 1:1150
Existing site section BB 1:1150
Existing site section CC 1:1150
Existing site section DD 1:1150
Existing site section EE 1:1150
Existing site section FF 1:1150
Existing site section GG 1:1150
Soundscape Landscape
Playing with the idea of the acoustic mirror, I began by sketching the possible eff ects of placing them at intervals in order to direct sound from the thoroughfare of Swanston Street through the site. In the middle of this area, it was hoped that the sound would be similar to that of a laneway.
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Soundscape Landscape
After thinking of ways in which to direct sound, I began to play with changes in level and the concept of the whisper chamber. The image above shows a series of ramps with access to separate levels through connecting stairways.
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These level changes were considered to create areas of sound intensity - both quiet and loud spaces, and to mesh these two opposites together through travelling between levels.
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A
E
F
G
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B
C
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D
E
F
G
B
C
D The iterated site
Soundscape Landscape
In order to design and test the findings of the soundwalk on site, it was decided that three of the sound profiles would be brought into an existing ‘neutral’ site where none of the sound profiles were particularly prevalent previously. The site chosen was Lincoln Square on Swanston Street, Melbourne, and the sound profiles represented were sound profile 05 – the Laneway (Drewery Lane), profile 07 – the State Library forecourt, and profile 16 – the Square (Federation Square). Each of these profiles creates a very different soundscape due to the spatiality of the site. Materiality, topography and sound phenomena were the main tools in creating these profiles. The laneway, due to its at each entrance, usually on to main streets, contains almost a micro-soundscape of localised sound in its central area. The State Library forecourt, which is elevated from street level, is very quiet considering its relation to a main artery of the city. Federation Square, in comparison to the laneway, is a vast, open public space. Both street and localised sound is in abundance, creating a bustling and exciting soundscape. Using materiality, topography and sound phenomena, these profiles were reproduced in site.
These sections, at a 1:650 scale, represent the top layer or ground plan of the iterated site. The represented section lines are shown on the plan on the previous page.
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Section AA 1:650
Section BB 1:650
Section CC 1:650
Section DD 1:650
Section EE 1:650
Section FF 1:650
Section GG 1:650
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The laneway profile, with a bluestone materiality, slowly slopes downward into the site, leading into the whisper chamber. The edges of the pathway also slowly close in on the pathway, effectively creating a corridor by the time the whisper chamber is reached. Because of the bluestone materiality of the pathway, the sound of footsteps is heightened, increasing with the height of the edges of the path. As the whisper chamber is near, most of the sound is localised and made by the human element in the site. To represent the State Library forecourt, bordered-off areas were placed midway through the site in elevated areas. Bluestone was also used as a material for this area of the site to amplify localised sound created by the user of the site. In these areas, the bustle of traffic can be heard from an elevated standpoint. Similarly, the profile of Federation Square was made through a higher topography, where elevation above the streetscape was necessary.
grassed
footpath
paving
concrete
asphalt
bluestone
These sections, at 1:650 scale, represent the bottom, or material, layer of the iterated site. The represented section lines are shown on the plan on page 43, and the materiality legend (above) explains the various materials used. These sections also include a basic sound layer indicating sound reflection / absorption.
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Section AA 1:650
Section BB 1:650
Section CC 1:650
Section DD 1:650
Section EE 1:650
Section FF 1:650
Section GG 1:650
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Movement of sound within the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC; lanewayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
Movement of sound within the whispering chamber
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CONCLUSION
Toward the end of the semester I have become very interested in acoustic ecology, which is a study of soundscape design that sets out to create spaces that connect humans to their sonic environments. I find this very intriguing, and would like to research this further and use these studies in order to design, as this is essentially what I wish to achieve with this project. At the present time I am most excited by the prospects of the notational section and its ability to provide information for design. Previously my notations were aimed to be made in a way that enabled me to make design moves on site, however this proved difficult with their layout and unfruitful in aiding the design itself. This may have been due to the use of a plan to translate the sectional information when it may be more useful to work completely in section and then to loft this information in some way. Although I have not yet worked the notational section fully in this way, I feel I am now comfortable to begin to use this wealth of information to design.
The move in information presented on the x and y axis since mid-semester has also been significant. In displaying the y axis as a frequency rather than intensity, I am using the theory of the hi and lo-fi to a better extent.
IMAGE REFERENCES
Page 06 Pruned. 2010. Meteoric Space Dust Particles
www.sciencephoto.com/media/418208/enlarge
Colliding. [ONLINE] Available at: http://pruned. blogspot.com/2010/04/meteoric-space-dust-particles-
Page 11 The National Academies Press. 2011. Figure
colliding.html. [Accessed 13 June 11]
2.1. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.nap.edu/ openbook.php?record_id=11443&page=34. [Accessed
Page 08 Schafer, R. M, 1977. The Soundscape: Our
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Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World. page 71. 1st ed. New York: Destiny Books. page 31
Page 18
Fowler, M & Harvey, L, 2003. Japanese
Crows donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t speak Eucalypt. page 02. RMIT Faculty of Page 08 Schafer, R. M, 1977. The Soundscape: Our
Architecture
Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World. page 71. 1st ed. New York: Destiny Books. page 79 Page 10
Archive John Cage. 2009. John Cage: A
Great American Composer and the Visual Art He Made [ONLINE] Available at: http://arttattler.com/ archivejohncage.html. [Accessed 24 September 11] Page 10
Homepage at MAC dot com. 2006. New
Ryoanji. [ONLINE] Available at: http://homepage.mac. com/utono/video/video-all.htm Page 10
Mobtown Modern. 2008 - 2011. What
did that look like? [ONLINE] Available at: http:// mobtow n modern.c om /what-d id-t hat-look-l i ke/. [Accessed 24 September 11] Page 11
Science Photo Library. 2005. Middle ear
anatomy, 1844 artwork. [ONLINE] Available at: http://
All other images by Erin Ellis.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY / REFERENCES
TEXT REFERENCES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1 Schafer, R. M, 1977. The Soundscape: Our Sonic
8 Fowler, M & Harvey, L, 2003. Teimu (The Garden
Moeller, C, 2004. A Time and Place - Media
Environment and the Tuning of the World. page 03. 1st
of Dreams): Aural and aesthetic attributes of Japanese
Architecture. 1st ed. Baden, Switzerland: Lars Muller
ed. New York: Destiny Books
gardens as models for spatial environments. page 04.
Publishers.
RMIT Faculty of Architecture Sauer, T , 2009. Notations 21. 1st ed. New Jersey: Mark
2 The World Soundscape Project. 1997. World Soundscape Project. [ONLINE] Available at: http://
9 Fowler, M & Harvey, L, 2003. Japanese Crows don’t
www.sfu.ca/~truax/wsp.html. [Accessed 13 June 11]
speak Eucalypt. page 02. RMIT Faculty of Architecture
Batty Publishers. Schafer, R. M, 1977. The Soundscape: Our Sonic
3 The World Soundscape Project. 1997. World
Environment and the Tuning of the World. 1st ed. New
Soundscape Project. [ONLINE] Available at: http://
York: Destiny Books.
www.sfu.ca/~truax/wsp.html. [Accessed 13 June 11] Fowler, M & Harvey, L, 2003. Teimu (The Garden 4 Schafer, R. M, 1977. The Soundscape: Our Sonic
of Dreams): Aural and aesthetic attributes of Japanese
Environment and the Tuning of the World. page 71. 1st
gardens as models for spatial environments. RMIT
ed. New York: Destiny Books
Faculty of Architecture
5 Schafer, R. M, 1977. The Soundscape: Our Sonic
Fowler, M & Harvey, L, 2003. Japanese Crows don’t
Environment and the Tuning of the World. page 71. 1st
speak Eucalypt. RMIT Faculty of Architecture
ed. New York: Destiny Books Augoyard, A.F & Torgue, H, 2005. Sonic Experience: 6 Fowler, M & Harvey, L, 2003. Teimu (The Garden
A Guide to Everyday Sounds. 1st ed. Quebec, Canada:
of Dreams): Aural and aesthetic attributes of Japanese
McGill-Queen’s University Press
gardens as models for spatial environments. page 04 7 The National Academies Press. 2011. Noise and Military Service: Implications for Hearing Loss and Tinnitus [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.nap.edu/ openbook.php?record_id=11443&page=34. [Accessed 24 September 11]