MA Architecture (Digital Media) Thesis Report by Taraneh Joorabchian

Adaptive resonance

Taraneh Joorabchian MA Architecture(Digital Media)

Adaptive resonance THESIS PROJECT

Taraneh Joorabchian w1615601 MA Architecture(Digital Media)

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT -04

PROJECT INTENTIONS 07

PRECEDENTS

03 THESIS DEVELOPMENT AND EXPERIMENTATION PART 1

-Musical instruments simulations INTRO -05

THESIS ABSTRACT -6 01

THE ESSENCE OF -08 SOUND WAVES

-Historical studies -11

-Receiving Sound -24

-Barbican Music center -12

-Data analysis -26

-Ali Qapou -15

-Dynamic mode -27

THESIS DEVELOPMENT AND

FINAL MODEL

EXPERIMENTATION PART 2

DIGITAL SIMULATIONS:

DESIGN CONCEPTS:

-Sketch 01./36

-Material -46

-Sketch 02 ./37

-Size -48

CONCLUSION -56

-Sketch 03 ./38

-Geometry -50

BIBLIOGRAPHY

-Sketch 04 ./39

-Programming -52

Sketch 05 ./40

-Drawings -53

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The completion of this undertaking could not have been possible without the participation and assistance of various people, to whom I am eternally grateful. To my family, for their remarkable ability to support me on my challenging journey to attain my Architecture degree. I would like to thank my Thesis advisors Richard Difford and Filip Visnjic for their guidance and support.

INTRO Over the years, the relationship and analogy between music/sound art/sound design and architecture has been explored in several aspects. In the same way architecture works over the solid materials, visual spaces, geometry, abstract realities or social contexts, it does over the aural realities, the sonic dimensions. When it comes to space, sound can be valued in an architectural process, just as architecture is also sonic. As a further matter, this point of view takes into account that sounds are an essential part of the affective and aesthetic properties of a place and that, they inﬂuence profoundly how we experience places sensually. Moreover, sound can convene a sense of place as “belonging to us”, combined with a heightened sense of community. Historic buildings, in particular were convinced to deal with sound and aural architecture passively, through proper design and adequate building material.

FIG 1.

“As with all sensory aspects of architecture, cultural values and social functions determine the experimental consequences of special attributes. In different social settings, the same acoustic features have different meanings, which then influence the mood and behaviour of the people in those settings.”[1] For instance, with Islamic architecture being particularly relevant due to its avoidance of representational iconography in favour of highly sophisticated geometry and pattern and also the consideration of quality of the space rather than just its external appearance. The design of architectural elements such as “Moqarnas”, which is a place for the owner of the house and also for guests to have entertainment inside and also have dance and singing parties, design of the domes, Hall and porch or materials that were used were all perfect examples to demonstrate the importance of sound in design process even in living spaces such as private residential. Although, the science of Acoustics is over a century old there is still a disjoint between visual and acoustic quality of many buildings around the world. As time goes by, buildings acquire new uses and original spaces and architectural details are suit to modify new needs, thereby hindering the aural and sonic aspects of the building in its original state. Espe cial spaces such as city streets, music halls, or a dense jungle, is far more complex in sonically terms rather than a single wall. However, the composite of different surfaces and objects and geometries can change the quality of spaces. In addition, auditory special awareness is far beyond than just the ability to detect a certain space, it includes as well the emotional and behavioural experience of space. [1].Spaces speak, are you listening?- Barry Blesser-MIT Press- 2007

FIG 2.

FIG 3. (Fig 1,2 &3-Ali Qapou/Isfahan/Iran)

THESIS ABSTRACT

Sensory experience incorporates many different kinds of qualities. In architectural design, however, it is often primarily the visual appearance that takes precedence. Only when the space is specifically intended for a function such as a concert hall does acoustic performance become a consideration. This project explores the notion that acoustics can not only take a more significant role in design but also that, using digital technology, the physical properties that determine the acoustics of a space can be made adaptive and responsive to changing conditions. Inspired by the seventeenth century music rooms of the Ali Qapou in Iran, the use of hollow boxes that resonate with particular frequencies has been investigated. Significantly these boxes not only allow the space to be acoustically tuned but also provide a rich and decorative sculptural surface. Initial studies tested the acoustic properties of different elements such as the materials used, the size of opening and the shape and size of the box. Using mechanisms that can dynamically adjust these properties in response to the sound environment, the resonance of the box can then be enhanced or suppressed. In the final stages a more speculative investigation is made of the complex configurations made possible by multiplying the boxes to create larger sound-responsive surfaces.

PROJECT INTENTIONS In present-day building practice, the enormous increase in noise levels and noise resources due to the industry and technology development have affected our daily life massively. Even though the technology might have addressed the visual and special aspects of the buildings but, there are many more issues left to be solved in aural architecture and especially the quality of sound in space. Every day we see new buildings introducing new techniques and styles designed visually perfect. However, not many of them have been carefully designed to control the sound and noises. Perhaps, the reason for such issue is due to the lack of knowledge about the importance of sound in design or even a wrong belief about the design for sound is only vital in buildings such as music halls or theatres.

Musical Sounds Creating Sound

Therefore, the idea of the following project is to evaluate new ways of considering sound in design and architecture and a creative attempt to work with the resonant qualities of the surface through a serious of experiments. In search of a way of capturing the invisible notion of the sound, my research began with an investigation to manipulate and create sound by testing different materials and different methods in order to create new sound environments that are adaptive and responsive. Furthermore, additional observations has been experienced in order to understand how different aspects and parameters of a space can change the quality of it by playing and recording the sound in space.

sympathic vibration, Directing a focused stream of air, Plucking Strings,Scraped by a beater Synthesizers/Keyboards

Human Sound

Female

Noises

White noise, Pink noise, Brown noise, Gray noise, Violet noise, Blue noise

male

Receiving Sound

Reflection, Refraction, Difraction, Interference

Changing the Sound

Material , Shape and form, Geometry, Dimention/Size, Depth

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;We shape our buildings, and afterwords our buildings shape usâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; -Winston Churchil,1943 07

THE ESSENCE OF SOUND WAVES Studies have shown that sound depends on air for its propagation; in which depends on source of sound and a receiver,but the propagating medium is all around us. This, coupled with the fact that sound bends round corners and that the ear is only barely directional, makes our hearing such an invaluable sense to notify us of danger, to inform us of our surroundings and to communicate. And if there is a mystery associated with this sense then it resides in the complexities of the ear. This remarkable organ is still far from fully understood. At its centre it contains a converter to transform the vibrations conducted from the eardrum into digital nerve pulses. Direction of wave

The addition of porous material to the Helmholtz resonator can increase the peak absorption value and broaden the bandwidth or range of frequencies of absorption. Acoustical masonry units are a common example of a Helmholtz resonator; each unit exhibits the basic form of an opening, neck, and cavity. Helmholtz resonators can also be constructed from perforated, milled, or punched openings in panels, or by creating an open area between spaced material like wood battens. In these cases, the perforations or slit openings function like a series of tiny bottle necks and the space behind the panel functions as the cavity. Opening surface area

Neck length

Cavity volume Vibrating

Compression

Rarefaction

Homholts resonator

There are five main behaviours of sound wave which needs to be considered according to the details of the space : 1.Sound Absorption 2.Sound Diffusion 3.Sound Diffraction 4.Sound Re-vibration 5.Resonance: Resonance is an induced vibration in an object and means to sound and resound, like a echo. The design of our future tends towards reverberant spaces, and that the aesthetic vision can be at odds with acoustic quality requirements. There are two types of sound absorbers which absorb sound through resonance - Helmholtz absorbers, which are named after the physicist Hermann von Helmholtz, and membrane or panel absorbers. These types of absorbers function differently from porous materials and tend to absorb over a smaller range of frequencies.

Wood is a popular choice for fabricating transcendent facings or creating Helmholtz style absorbers. Wood is generally thicker than sheet metal and, due to the increased panel thickness, some designs may require larger size or greater number of perforations to achieve absorption performance that is comparable to sheet metal. Wood veneers are often applied to the top of more cost-effective and sturdy substrates such as medium-density fibreboard (MDF). It is common for this substrate to be broadly perforated with a very high open area percentage. This allows the layer of thin wood veneer to have a smaller percentage of open area and still function as an effective Helmholtz absorber. Detailed resonant absorbers made of ply wood are sometimes used to tune special-pupose rooms. At higher frequencies, plywood is for all intents and purposes reflective.

FIG 04.sound materials, A compendium of sound absorbing materials for architecture and design

FIG 05.Architectural Acoustics:Principles and Practice edited by William J. Cavanaugh, Gregory C. Tocci

PRECEDENTS 1.Barbican Concert Hall,London[2]

HISTORICAL STUDIES The history of architectural acoustics has begin with Wallace Clement Sabine who, in 1895, was tasked with studying and correcting the problematic acoustics of a lecture hall at Harvard’s Fogg Art Museum. “Speech in the hall was unintelligible due to excessive reverberation and echoes. At that time, there was no quantitative method for evaluating the acoustics of a space because sound recording and reproduction technologies were in their infancy. In his early experiments, Sabine would manually observe the time it took for sounds to decay, often by producing tone from an organ pipe. While studying the Fogg lecture hall, Sabine would borrow removable seat cushions from a nearby theatre and add them to the lecture hall, noting how the decay of sound decreased in relation to the quantity of cushions. This discovery formed the basis of Sabine’s reverberation time equation, which is still used to this day.” At the beginning of the 20th century, acoustical materials especially designed to reduce the noise of the boisterous modern era also began to emerge. By the 1930s a plethora sound absorbing materials were in use, made from a vast variety of materials that included sugarcane, flax, jute, licorice, asbestos, eelgrass, cork, wood fibre, vermiculite, pumice, gypsum, lime, and volcanic silica. “One of the earliest engineered acoustical materials was developed 1n 1911 out of a collaboration between Wallace Sabine and Raphael Guastav1no, a Spanish architect and builder who is well known for the Guastavino Tile vaulting techniques, which created self-supporting arches and timbrel vaults using interlocking terracotta tiles and layers of mortar.”

A. “Akoustolith” Tile

B. Sections of Ceiling Ribs Cast in “Akoustolith”

C .Ornament Cast in Our Acoustic Casting Plaster

Johns-Manville created a number of acoustical felts such as ‘Nashkote,’ which was a canvas laminated to thick Akoustikos Asbestos Felt that came in perforated, solid canvas, or oilcloth finishes. These felt/membrane type systems were susceptible to damage, difficult to maintain, and were custom designed and installed for each project, requiring more installation time than standardised tile or board products. Board and tile products were made from a wide variety of both natural and man-made materials. The use of standardised modular units enhanced the speed and efficiency of installation compared to felt or plaster products. These materials were often directly adhered to walls or ceilings or mounted over furring strips. Some of the early tile and board products were marketed for dual thermal and acoustical performance. Celotex, for example, began as a thermal insulating and building board but was observed to have noticeable sound deadening properties. By adding perforations to the surface of the Celotex material, the surface could be painted or decorated and still allow sound to penetrate to the absorptive core or fibrous backing material.

Pre-decorated Acoustic celotex

Many of the techniques and materials of these historical products are still been using with other materials, such as gypsum plasters, cellulose, wood wool, etc. Moreover, using different materials, patterns and geometries has always been in the core of attention not just to capture the beauty of art but to consider the thermal and aural aspects of different parameters. Therefore, what has been witnessed from the following research was to demonstrate how a combination of different parameters such as geometry, density, material and size could be used and integrated with patterns and external appearance in order to have better quality of design. Further details of this magnificent art has been explained in next chapter in which could be observed in Islamic and Iranian architecture.

FIG 06.sound materials, A compendium of sound absorbing materials for architecture and design- a,b,c. Types of Materials Made by Guastavino

PRECEDENTS 1.Barbican Concert Hall,London[2] The Barbican Concert Hall belongs to the Barbican Arts Centre, to be found within walking distance to the north of St Paulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cathedral. What before the Second World War had been a mainly industrial site devoted to textiles and printing was devastated by bombing in December 1940. An elaborate development programme for the area was conceived in the 1950s to include housing, schools, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and finally a Centre of Arts and Conferences. The price for this diversity within the limiting space remaining on the site has been a labyrinthine structure with cramped conditions,particularly for the concert hall. The Barbican development is unusual in that it was designed over a 20-year period by a single architectural practice. This guaranteed a stylistic uniformity but meant that the Centre preserved the ideals of 1960s architecture already 20 years out of date at its opening â&#x20AC;&#x201C; perhaps the last of the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;concrete culture palaces. The concert hall itself is mainly below ground level, totally concealed from the exterior. It sits immediately below a sculpture court framed by a U-shaped block of flats. This constraint has proved to be crucial to its design and acoustics. Since excessive cost prevented excavation for a lower floor level, the height and consequently the volume is small by concert hall standards. Further, the necessary structural requirements for the roof/sculpture court have necessitated substantial beams within the hall. (Figure 08) Substantial solid transverse beams are cited in several acoustic texts for creating dead spots in the seating area to mitigate against this problem, diffusing coffering is included at ceiling level and around 2000 diffusing spheres were hung,as shown in (Figure 09). Given a need to limit the distance to the furthest seat, the hall has acquired a substantial width of 43 m, again a potentially undesirable acoustic feature. The stage is similar in form to an enclosed space beyond a proscenium opening but contains inadequate space for large choral performance with orchestra. When the hall opened the reviews of the acoustics were surprisingly diverse but there was general approval among the critics for the generous seating standard. FIG 09.Auditorium acoustics and architectural design, Michael Barron

Fig 07- Barbican concert hall,

Fig 08- Barbican concert hall, Cross-section through a lateral ceiling bay of the Barbican Concert Hall, showing the location of spheres present when the hall opened

The Barbican Concert Hall has been labelled as having acoustic problems and Attempts to improve the acoustics have been going on since the hall opened, the most obvious of early modifications being removal of all the diffusing spheres. The assessments here were made in 1984 after initial modifications. The bass reverberation time was much shorter than anticipated and this suggested that there was unexpected bass absorption somewhere in the hall. This was certainly surprising since the hall is constructed of solid concrete and although many wall finishes are timber they are mounted flush on the concrete surface. Investigations showed that the most likely cause of the problem was the seats. Meanwhile additional bass absorption was eliminated as far as possible (for example, the side wall elements looking like gross organ pipes were converted from double-panel absorbers to single non absorbent panels). Reverberation chamber measurements on the seats indicated that their bass absorption was reduced by installing a hardboard panel beneath the upholstery. This was then done to half the seats in the hall and a small increase in bass reverberation time (RT) resulted. The spheres had been introduced for scattering purposes, and there is evidence that they produced more uniform conditions. They were open at both ends which minimized resonant behaviour, though some incidental absorption was associated with them. Removing the spheres has increased the reverberation time somewhat but, as found in an acoustic model of the hall, without spheres the RT does not follow theory in this hall. In other words the difference between occupied and unoccupied conditions may have been larger in the Barbican Hall than elsewhere. Another issue which worth mentioning is the poor reflective qualities of the ceiling. The substantial width and unusual ceiling design produce a lack of early reflected energy which is not immediately clear from objective measures. Improvements have been done over three phases, the acoustics of the hall. They extended the platform, replaced the over-stage canopy with a fully adjustable one and introduced about 550 m2 of reflectors in the ceiling area above the audience to give stronger reflections than were provided by the original diffusing ceiling.

Despite the lack of some engineering matters in design of the Barbican Music Hall, there are still quite unique aspects in the acoustical design of it. Picking out the key observations of the following design have guided this research to find better solutions in order to improve and design a better spaces in terms of sound qualities. Some of the elements and parameters are: • The design of side wall elements looking like gross organ pipes which were made out of timber and how they affected the sound in space in according to their thickness. Thickness controls how much bass sound absorption is achieved. Thin materials (thin curtains, for example) absorb trebles and overtones well, but are not effective in bass pitch ranges. Thus, a room which is said to have “adjustable” or “variable” reverberation time may essentially sound more“muddy”, since only the higher pitch ranges are absorbed by the material. • The porosity of the finish materials on walls and ceiling surfaces significantly influences the high-frequency reflectivity of these surfaces, and therefore determines the potential of the hall for treble clarity and brilliance. Porous materials (for example: brick, concrete block) tend to absorb high frequencies; plaster, sealed wood, gypsum board, sealed laminates, and similar products tend to reflect high frequencies well. • Additionally, their shape and size which are different due to their position and location in the concert hall. For instance, the ones located on the side walls are rectangular shape whereas the rest which are placed on the back of stage are in cylinder shape. The different sounds of these tonal families of pipe shaped structures arise from their individual construction(A pipe with a wide diameter will tend to manifest a flute tone, a pipe with a medium diameter a diapason tone, and a pipe with a narrow diameter a string tone. A large diameter pipe will favour the fundamental tone and restrict high frequency harmonics, while a narrower diameter favours the high harmonics and suppresses the fundamental). Further, this shaping determines the uniformity of sound distribution to the audience by providing diffused (scattered) sound reflections. • The size and the shape of the openings on the these pipe shaped elements. 14

PRECEDENTS 2.Ali Qapou(Isfahan-early 17th century)[2] The Ali Qapu is a Safavid palace in Isfahan, Iran which was originally designed as a vast portal in the early 17th century and then it turned to a six-story palace with a series of additional architectural elements over a sixty year period to accommodate court functions. Building materials used for the structure of the Ali Qapu are mud and baked brick based on the foundation of the quarried stones. Vaulted ceilings of mud brick are richly decorated with painted, carved stucco and cut-out Muqarnas in the sixth floor ‘music room’2. As it can be seen in Figure 1 cutouts on the surfaces of the Muqarnas in the shapes of ceramics and glassware have created delicate and fine surfaces which can also meet the acoustical characteristics of a complex and unique Helmholtz cavity absorber due to their various forms and disparate air volumes behind them. Muqarnas is a form of architectural ornamented vaulting, the “geometric subdivision of a squinch, or cupola, or corbel, into a large number of miniature squinches, producing a sort of cellular structure”, sometimes also called a “honeycomb” vault. Many research and simulations have been done in order to explore and discover the reason for having such desirable sound experience in Ali Qapou and one of them in particular which, has been done by a researcher in Iran simulated the 3D models of Ali Qapu with different software’s such as: Auto CAD 2009 and Autodesk 3ds Max 2009 regarding to the disparate capability of these programs to make 3D objects and to export files with DXF or 3ds extensions. The architectural drawings and records from which the 3D model was created were collected from the different historic buildings survey projects carried out by Iran Cultural Heritage organization. Figure 2 illustrates an exterior scene of Ali Qapu rendered through 3ds Max program. The fame of Music Room of Ali Qapu is because of its specific and distinct architectural elements having also noticeable acoustical properties, so in order to find out the individual acoustical effects of these details, they were separately pulled out from the Reference model and then the results obtained from the simulation of each configurations compared to either Reference model or to the other ones. The 15

abovementioned configurations of the architectural elements displayed in Figure 3 and Figure 4 are listed as below: Open windows in Reference model replaced with lattice frames with absorption coefficient of 0.4 in all frequencies in the first configuration. In the second one, cut-outs on the surfaces of the Muqarnas covered in order to reveal the effects of the Helmholtz cavity absorbers and finally the role of entire Muqarnas as a diffuser discovered by its omission from the Reference model in the third configuration. The absorption coefficients of the materials acquired from the global material library of Odeon and also available technical documents about the materials which was used in Ali Qapu. The mere reliable in-situ measurement of Ali Qapu has been done by Dr. KH. Molana in collaboration with BHRC (Building and Housing Research Center) that shows the reverberation time in Ali Qapu in the frequency range of 100-3500Hz is approximately constant with the amount of 0.85 s4 .

FIG 10. Exterior view of 3D model, Music Room

Figure 3: Bottom view, cutouts Muqarnas

Figure 4: Interior view

SIMULATION A significant point of the following reference is how the engineers were able to design such design in the era which, acoustics and sound qualities were largely been used only in acoustical purposes such as Music halls or mosques but not for residential projects. However, the Ali Qapou’s Music room seem to provide all the sonic requirements of the space in daily basis needs as well as their external appearance. Simulations from similar research have shown that, the openings of each section had acted as a natural resonator which controls the energy of the sound. Moreover, these openings can perform similarly to gross organ pipes which are largely used in designs of cathedrals or music halls. Another remarkable aspect was the methodology which has been used for the research about Ali Qapou. Considering, the lack of precise information about the design of the Music Hall, most of the findings were based on Simulation which has been implemented through the research process of the following project(Sound in architecture). According to following observations and compromising them to similar cases, studies had shown that one solution to have a better result in sound qualities of the space is the function of Muqarnas which adds to the number of surfaces. Therefore, the multiple characters of surfaces which were designed in the modular pattern have scattered the sound waves. Each of the elements on Muqarnas has different size and different shape for the opening part that can act as a natural sound resonator. A further observation from overlapping the data driven from reference project and simulated models from Ali Qapou indicates that the RT(reverberation time)for buildings without the Moqarnes has declined largely. The rectangular boxes have similar behavior as Helmholtz resonators, although there is not enough information about the design of them in terms of shape and sound since they come in different shapes and sizes. However, it is based on reference project one could observe that the quality of sound would be varied according to the different thickness of panels, the size, and spacing of the holes and the spacing between the elements. Another role of the Muqarnas which has been achieved by evaluating the sound decay over the distance in reference project was considerably lower than other configurations. This can confirm that the Muqarnas cut out elements have a significant role as a sound diffuser, in addition, its main role serving as a cavity absorber. E. Galdieri. ‘Esfahan, Ali Qapu: An Architectural Survey’. Rome: IsMEO.1979

To conclude, depending on the sonic purpose of the room there are different parameters which need to be addressed. For instance, In reference research(Ali Qapu) the main purposes of the room were to receive a better result in the quality of musical sound(Iranian music of that era which calls Iranian Ballad). Therefore, even the type of sound or music will dominate different characters of the space such as: -The height -The material and the density of it, -Multiplicity of the surfaces(in Ali Qapou’s project, the number of surfaces according to the design of the Muqarnas) -The size and shape of the openings -The Geometry which is more clear in the plan view and it usually contains Islamic patterns. (Figure5)

Figure5: Islamic patterns of Muqarnas

THESIS DEVELOPMENT AND EXPERIMENTATION 1.Barbican Concert Hall,London[2]

THESIS DEVELOPMENT AND EXPERIMENTATION The first step of the thesis experiment took its starting point by testing and creating a simulation of different musical instruments to have a better vision of how sound will travel through different types of material, shape and forms.

A brass instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by

sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player›s lips. Brass instruments are also called labrosones, literally meaning «lip-vibrated instruments» There are several factors involved in producing different pitches on a brass instrument. Slides, valves, crooks (though they are rarely used today), or keys are used to change vibratory length of tubing, thus changing the available harmonic series, while the player›s embouchure, lip tension and air flow serve to select the specific harmonic produced from the available series. 19

The view of most scholars (see chronology) is that the term «brass instrument» should be defined by the way the sound is made, as above, and not by whether the instrument is actually made of brass. Thus one finds brass instruments made of wood, like the alphorn, the cornet, the serpent and the didgeridoo, while some woodwind instruments are made of brass, like the saxophone. There are two parts to this activity… the singing of the wine glass and the movement of the match. As you rub your finger on the rim, your finger first sticks to the glass and then slides. This stick and slide action occurs in very short lengths and produces a vibration inside the glass which in turn produces a sound. As soon as the first few vibrations are produced, the glass resonates. That means you’re causing the crystals in the glass to vibrate together and create one clear tone. You can change the pitch (highness or lowness of the sound) by adding to or subtracting from the amount of water in the glass. The volume (loud or quiet) can be changed only a little bit by increasing or decreasing the pressure from your finger. The movement of the match is caused by a sympathetic vibration. Because equal amounts of water has been added, the second glass vibrates at exactly the same frequency as the first. The sound waves produced by the first glass travel in every direction. When those sound waves reach the second glass, the glass begins to vibrate as well and the match moves.

THESIS DEVELOPMENT AND EXPERIMENTATION String instruments or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound vibrating strings when the performer plays or sounds

the strings in some manner. Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the strings with their fingers or a plectrum—and others by hitting the strings with a light wooden hammer or by rubbing the strings with a bow. In some keyboard instruments, such as the harpsichord) or piano, the musician presses a key that plucks the string or strikes it with a hammer. A wide variety of techniques are used to sound notes on the electric guitar, including plucking with the fingernails or a plectrum, strumming and even «tapping» on the fingerboard and using feedback from a loud, distorted guitar amplifier to produce a sustained sound. In most string instruments, the vibrations are transmitted to the body of the instrument, which often incorporates some sort of hollow or enclosed area.” (FIG 11.) The body of the instrument also vibrates, along with the air inside it. The vibration of the body of the instrument and the enclosed hollow or chamber make the vibration of the string more audible to the performer and audience. The body of most string instruments is hollow. Some, however—such as electric guitar and other instruments that rely on electronic amplification—may have a solid wood body. To have better understanding of how the string vibrations can reflect sound there are several key points: -Wire tension -The material of the box ( wood, card...) -The material of wire ( steel, Nylon, Gut,Silk...) -The depth of the box and the hole Changing each of the details would effectively change the sound and the frequency of it .for example by pulling the strings, the sound would be more deep and loud. For the following experiment, the material which has been used was a 3mm MDF board and the reason for choosing such material is the density of it which makes it more absorbent. The external appearance of this small box was quite simple and easy in order to observe the result in much more quicker and simpler way. For the upper side of the box, few more panels were made with different size and shapes of openings to examine how it will affect the quality of the sound. Since there are many factors dominating this experiment, it was decided to only work with few of them. For example, the material of the box and the size of the opening rather than the material or the thickness of the strings. Thus, after experimenting with the manually operated version of this prototype, few drawings were illustrated in rhino to mechanically pluck the strings and also have better control over the tension of the strings.(Fig Rhino drawing of mechanical prototype - By author

FIG 11.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_instrument

THESIS DEVELOPMENT AND EXPERIMENTATION Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the more general category of wind instruments. There are two main

types of woodwind instruments: flutes and reed instruments (otherwise called reed pipes). What differentiates these instruments from other wind instruments is the way in which they produce their sound. Flutes produce sound by directing a focused stream of air below the edge of a hole in a cylindrical tube(FIG 12).The flute family can be divided into two sub-families: open flutes and closed flutes. In order to achieve the results as fast as possible, the models were simply made from our daily appliances Therefore the experiment part of the project is focused on the issues of: -The Material ( wood, paper,plastic...) -The depth of the pipe - The open or close atmosphere -Shape -Multiplicity

A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater (including attached or en-

closed beaters or rattles); struck, scraped or rubbed by hand; or struck against another similar instrument. Percussive techniques can also be applied to the human body, as in body percussion. Percussion instruments may play not only rhythm, but also melody and harmony. Different techniques and ways of procreating sound with percussion instrument have been discovered, whether one make sound by heating the surface of it by hand or by sticks. One interesting type of percussion is an instrument called Cajรณn which is originally from Peru. It is this splitting is likely to have produced the characteristic rattle or snare sound of the drum, imitated through the use of snare wires. The deeper bass tones would be created by hitting the body of the tea chest to get a big resonant tone. Another fascinating aspect of Cajon is how a simple box which is made from thin wood like Beech & birch can produce such beautiful sound. Also, Birch is a higher density wood, renowned for its broad dynamic range, producing cracking high tones & deep, punchy bass tone. The use of guitar strings is pretty much universal on high quality instruments & many of these have refined mechanisms for tuning/tensioning the snare wires. Some may use tensioning mechanisms which are part of the top or bottom panel of the cajon. FIG 12.https://cajonexpert.wordpress.com/2016/06/08/5-key-features-of-a-great-cajon-learn-the-secrets-part-2/

THESIS DEVELOPMENT AND EXPERIMENTATION- PART1 For the second phase of the experiments, different sound of the instruments which were made to simulate the musical instruments were tested and analyzed through the processing sketches. Minim library was used to record and analyse different frequencies of the sound. However, only one style of musical simulations was used for the further research and experimenting. Cajon was a good example of how a simple design has a large impact on the sound that we receive. Since the following experiments were done for the musical purposes, similar observations were tested for the human and space sounds.

FIG12. MINIM-RECORDING THE BEATING BRASS WITH OPEN END

FIG 13.MINIM-RECORDING THE SOUND OF GUITAR

THESIS DEVELOPMENT AND EXPERIMENTATION- PART1 Drawing on key observations from the following experiments and implementing them over Architectural spaces have shown that, our living spaces could have similar features in response to different sounds in space. Furthermore, different parameters such as material, shape, geometry, thickness, and openings can affect the quality of sound we receive.

Material

Plastic

More splitting & cracking & resonant

Wood

Very ‘coloured’ sound which is quite warm & rounded

Thin

Produce a lot of mid-tones (or a deficiency of high & low tones) Is prone to cracking on impact

String instruments Woodwind instruments

Thickness

Thick

A percussion instrument Brass instrument

Opening

Shape Size Position

Size

Circle Off Centre – Offer more sustain Side Hole-for purely acoustic playing Centre Back – Has more punch & volume at the expense of resonance

THESIS DEVELOPMENT AND EXPERIMENTATION- PART 1/ RECEIVING SOUND After testing the sound of different musical instrument simulations and receiving the outcome data, few steps had to be taken in order have the more clear vision of different parameters to control the sound. The parameters are the spaces that the sound was tested, material and distance. In this part space which has been used was the norm but silent room to have better observations on how the sound will change after interacting with different surfaces and objects in the room.

THESIS DEVELOPMENT AND EXPERIMENTATION- PART 1/RECEIVING SOUND Therefore, a processing sketch was designed to illustrate how the sound input will change compared to recorded version. Furthermore, for each time that the recorded sound was at the same level as sound input, a rectangle was shown. Moreover, the choice of the sound was a single tone starting from 20HZ to 20,000HZ and there were two parameters tested at the same time: -Space (as an empty silent room) -Distance (between the speaker and microphone) From what has been observed in this phase, it was clear that there are huge difference between the sound we play and the sound we hear due to the interferences of sound with different surfaces and then by adding further spacing between the speaker and microphone. Fig.

Sound Source

Receiver Transmission path

playback sound

sound input 25

THESIS DEVELOPMENT AND EXPERIMENTATIONPART 2/RECEIVING SOUND After using a room as the environment, now it was time to create the environment itself. For this part, a series of boxes were designed by using different parameters: 1. A simple MDF box (fig A) 2. Adding a layer of sound absorber to control the energy of the sound 3. Changing the size of the box 4. Considering a hole on one side and testing different size and shapes for the hole (fig B) 5. Simulating the Ali-Qapu environment by making different boxes and testing the sound (fig C) Therefore, by testing and designing different environment for the sound, the energy and the quality of it was tested by the same minim library sketch.

fig a.Design a box and sound absorber

figB.

figC,

figC

THESIS DEVELOPMENT AND EXPERIMENTATIONPART 2/RECEIVING SOUND( DYNAMIC TEST ) Creating and simulating different environments for capturing sound in static mode helped to collect data from processing minim library. However, the main purpose of this project was to design a responsive element which could receive data and transform or open and close in response to different frequencies. In this stage, the first step was to consider an absorber inside a box and also and a panel which could rotate in response to the sound receiving by microphone through processing sketch. By analysing data driven from processing sketch and also by using slider library the movement of the panel was controlled. Next parameter which, has been tested was how to open and close the aperture located on one side of the box in order to control the energy of the sound. 1.Closed position

180 degree rotation

2.Open position

SOUND ABSORBENT PANEL

SKETCH 01.

The microphone which has been placed inside the box receives the sound and by playing the sound inside the processing sketch, it could rotate the panel with the 180 degree servo motor in order to change the quality of the sound

Based on the following observations from previous experiment and also the background research studies which have been done about the Helmholtz resonators, the opening of the boxes had to be tested. different parameters had to be considered in order to receive a better sound quality in terms of sonic behaviours. Therefore, the following experiment took its starting point by testing the size of the opening and then the position of it. whereas the opening for the previous test was located in the middle of the box, this time the opening was considered to be on one of the surfaces of the box.

In order to open and close the opening of the box, an iris diaphragm has been made and its located in the opening area. The iris diaphragm is controlled by two mechanical gears which are attached to a 180-degree servo and the same sketch from the previous test has been used to open and close the box. Since this experiment is based on the quality of the sound rather than the scientific territories of acoustics there are no specific frequencies of sound to be tested. However, for further experiments, the amount of intake sound, frequencies, and more qualities can be added to the following sketch.

IDEA DEVELOPMENT AND EXPERIMENTATION 1.Barbican Concert Hall,Lon-

ANIMATION SIMULATION( Adaptive resonance )

IDEA DEVELOPMENT MAYA(ANIMATION) EXPERIMENTS The following phase investigates the possibility of having multiple boxes which individually could respond to the sound and enhance the quality of sound in the space. Therefore, a certain size was considered and multiplied in the grid in horizontal and vertical directions. Hence, only one or two of the parameters could be varied and the rest had to stay the same through out the experiment. Since the size of the box and the material of it were considered to be fixed for the entire experiment, the size of the openings was addressed to be the active variable which could change accordingly in response to the sound they were receiving. More precisely, when the sound is considered to be undesirable the holes will close so it will absorb the sound. The axial resonance modes for each space is different in regarding with their dimensions and size. For the following boxes the axial resonance was calculated to be: F=________=27HZ 1130 2X21

IDEA DEVELOPMENT RHINO & GRASSHOPPER EXPERIMENTS

According to what has been achieved from working with processing and receiving data from Minim library in regarding with sound, now it was time to simulate and illustrate the following result in order to have a better vision of having a dynamic system in responsive to sound. Although the issue of sound is a scientific matter the intentions for this part of this project was to explore the visual character of sound by drawing sketches in rhino. Therefore, the first sketch is focused on working on the size of the openings which could change in response to the movement of the mouse. Hence, by simulating the mouse movement to receiving sound data in processing, the openings will change size in according to the sound they receive.

SKETCH01

SKETCH02 The following sketch demonstrates an array of circles which represents a grid of the openings and how the size of these openings can change in response to the mouse movement.

IDEA DEVELOPMENT MAYA(ANIMATION) EXPERIMENTS

SKETCH03

As part of digital experimenting in sound behaviours, for this part, a group of particles in the format of sound waves has been emitted through a number of boxes. Therefore, due to the accumulation of particles and the changes that they made to the boxes an illustration of a conceptual structure has been produced. Each of the boxes acts as an individual machine which could rotate and change shape in response to different sounds and frequencies of the human voice.

Front view

Plan view

SKETCH04

For the next phase, few sketches were illustrated in order to generate the space which was used as the main structure. A grid that could rotate, move and expanded so it could act as scaffolding to hold the boxes. Meanwhile, the boxes have to have the same ability which is the rotation, resizing and expanding according to the sound they receive. Sketches were made in the grasshopper so different parameters for both the grid and the boxes can be changed accordingly due to different spaces or different sound qualities.

IDEA DEVELOPMENT MAYA(ANIMATION) EXPERIMENTS The illustrated sketch demonstrates further work on the combination of different parameters of the box such as: The grid ,the openings and the expandability etc.

SKETCH05

SKETCH06 The idea of using wooden boxes started to take shape after the experimenting with different materials and researching about the cavity resonators. Therefore after researching on the material of the boxes, the issue of size and depth of the box were tested. Meanwhile, after testing and analysing data driven from processing, and working with both Acrylic and Ply wood it was decided that the suitable measures would be 15x20x20cm which was quite similar to the soundboxes used in individual cavity resonators. Hence, for the opening part of the box, the best solution was to make multiple tops with different size of holes and simply by listening to them one could observe which one has better sound quality. The sound which was used to be tested inside of the boxes were all Violin strings with the same thickness.

Conceptual modelling

Changeable tops with different size of openings

Wooden box(3mm Ply wood

IDEA DEVELOPMENT

One important parameter while working with sound is the geometry of the space which has a strong influence on the reflection and scattering the sound from its surfaces. As it has been mentioned before in the precedents, the best way to emphasize and draw attention to the importance of the sound is by visualizing. Therefore for this step, couple of experiments were done in according to the geometry of the grid. For instance, the use of Muqarnas in the Ali Qapou(Isfahan), is a good example of how one could combine both, the geometry and the sound quality by considering the beauty and external appears of the space.

SKETCH05 Hence, this sketch was illustrated with the grasshopper so the movement and the size of the grid could be controlled with the movement of the mouse. Furthermore, after drawing the diagram and extruding the models, few of the spaces were taken out to represent the openings. Moreover, the movement of the sound mouse is the simulation of the sound particle, so every time the frequency is above 27Hz which is the suitable amount of axial resonance, the openings become wider whereas for the undesirable frequencies they become smaller.

Rhino& Grasshopper , sketch 05

FINAL MODEL

MATERIAL

The material which has been used for the final model is Ply wood. According to the research studies about Ali Qapou, Barbican Center, Helmholtz resonators and the experiments which have been done to test different materials( MDF, and plastic) Ply wood has the following qualities for the final model. Another parameter which needed to be considered for this phase was the thickness of the material. Therefore, after testing materials from the range of 2mm to 6mm, the 3mm Ply wood had the better reflection in terms of resonant qualities.

SIZE

The size of the boxes were chose to be fixed but the size of the openings varied from 2 to 10 diameter. In order for sound to escape, there must be an exit point for the air that is compressed when the front face is struck to exit and. Therefore, a hole, typically situated at the front to allow air to escape & produce a bass tone. An off-centre hole will provide more depth to the sound, possibly at the expense of volume (but not enough to make a significant difference).

GEOMETRY

Another aspect of this project is the geometry which not only has a significant influence on the quality of the sound but it also enhances the visual appearance of the space. The following project contains from fixed boxes, for this reason, the best solution was to design a grid as the structure which could not only hold the boxes but bring the ability of rotation for the boxes so the boxes could rotate in response to the sound they receive. Thus, the grid can control the location of the boxes. MDF has been used for the design of the mock-up model which has enough strength to hold the boxes.

PROGRAMMING Following model has contain of two main elements: 1. The Grid which holds the boxes 2. Boxes The theory behind the adaptive resonance will control the movement of the boxes which are attached to the grid. Therefore, when the sound frequency is in undesirable range, the motor or servo which has been connected to the box, will automatically rotate the box to the closed surface whereas, the time when its in desirable range the boxes will rotate to the surfaces with openings.

Plan view

Section

Perspective View

Conclusion

Considering and looking into different studies about how sound affects the architecture and our lives, we can look back to the experiences of our ancestors and find ways to introduce how sound can be such an important aspect in all the stages of the design and building. From my perspective, the quality of sound in our spaces has been largely overlooked in modern architecture. However, this project has addressed some of the parameters and elements which could enhance the sound qualities. Furthermore, the following project investigates ways and solutions in which could combine the geometry and the visual aspects of the design with the sonic and resonant qualities of the spaces. Moreover, the adaptive resonance is a responsive system which has the ability to control the sound energy by controlling different parameters of the space at the same time.

PROCESSING SKETCH 01. import processing.serial.*; import controlP5.*; ControlP5 cp5;

for(int i = 0; i < in.bufferSize() - 1; i++) { line( i, 50 + in.left.get(i)*50, i+1, 50 + in .left.get(i+1)*50 ); line( i, 150 + in.right.get(i)*50, i+1, 150 + in.right.get(i+1)*50 );

Serial port; float angle_degrees=0; float rotangle=180; byte sangle=0; float blah; int sliderValue = 0; float newval; float easing = 0.05; import ddf.minim.*; Minim minim; AudioInput in;

blah = in.right.get(i)*1000; } String monitoringState = in.isMonitoring() ? “en abled” : “disabled”; text( “Input monitoring is currently “ + monitoringState + “.”, 5, 15 ); float targetX = blah; float dx = targetX - newval; newval += dx * easing; //angle_degrees=newval; angle_degrees=blah; //blah = sliderValue;

void setup() { size(512, 200, P3D); minim = new Minim(this); in = minim.getLineIn(); println(Serial.list()); port=new Serial(this,Serial.list()[0],9600); cp5 = new ControlP5(this); cp5.addSlider(“sliderValue”).setPosition(30,30).setRange(0,180); } void draw() { background(0); stroke(255);

println(angle_degrees); sangle=byte(angle_degrees); port.write(sangle); } void keyPressed() { if ( key == ‘m’ || key == ‘M’ ) { if ( in.isMonitoring() ) { in.disableMonitoring(); } else { in.enableMonitoring(); } }

BIBLIOGRAPHY

FIG 01. Barry Blesser,2009,Spaces speak, are you listenin?,Cambridge, MA-MIT Press (Fig 1,2 &3-Ali Qapou/Isfahan/Iran) FIG 04.2016,sound materials, A compendium of sound absorbing materials for architecture and desig,Tyler Adams FIG 05.Architectural Acoustics:Principles and Practice edited by William J. Cavanaugh, Gregory C. Tocci FIG 06.sound materials, A compendium of sound absorbing materials for architecture and design- a,b,c. Types of Materials Made by Guastavino FIG 07,08.09.Auditorium acoustics and architectural design, Michael Barron FIG 10. Exterior view of 3D model, Music Room/ www.akutek.info FIG 11.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_instrument FIG 12.https://cajonexpert.wordpress.com/2016/06/08/5-key-features-of-a-great-cajon-learn-the-secrets-part-2/ FIG13. MINIM-RECORDING THE BEATING BRASS WITH OPEN END/PROCESSING SKETCH FIG 14.MINIM-RECORDING THE SOUND OF GUITAR/PROCESSING SKETCH