SPATIAL SOUND

LT SPATIAL

SOUND

THE TRANSLATION OF MUSIC + ARCHITECTURE

This document is dedicated to my parents who have supported me through all my endevors and have tought me to never give up. Thank you for everything you do for me.

SPATIAL

SOUND THE TRANSLATION OF MUSIC + ARCHITECTURE

A series of musical and architectural studies which speculate on the translation of music into architecture and vise versa.

Documentation by:

LUIS TILANO FERNANDEZ

MASTERS PROJECT

A masters research project presented to the Graduate School of Architecture and Community Design at the University of South Florida in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Masters of Architecture.

DATE OF APPROVAL: May 4th, 2018

THESIS CHAIR:

Kristien Ring

P ro f esso r o f A rc h i tec t ure USF Tam p a F l. | B erl i n , G e r m a n y

THESIS COMMITTEE:

Nancy Sanders

P ro f esso r o f A rc h i tec t ure USF Tam p a F l.

Stanley Russell

P ro f esso r o f A rc h i tec t ure USF Tam p a F l.

Portia Bradby

Si c k les Hi g h Sc h o o l O rc he s t ra Di re c t or + P r i v at e V i ol i n In s t r uc t or Tam p a F l.

““Music and architecture differ from the other arts in their capacity to surround man entirely. “ - Paul Valéry

TABLE OF CONTENTS GLOSSARY |

PAGE _6

_MUSICAL + SPATIAL VOCABULARY

F O R E WA R D |

PAGE 9

_ARCHITECTS + MUSICIANS PRELUDE I:

RESEARCH |

PAGE 11

_THE EFFECTS OF MUSIC _ARCHITECTURE AS A PERFORMING ART _ T H E Y- C O N D I T I O N _MINIMAL MUSIC PRELUDE II:

PRECEDENT |

PAGE 17

_ROMAN HAUBENSTALK-RAMATI _STEVEN MALINOWSKI _IANNIS XENAKIS MOVEMENT I:

MAKING SPACE FROM MUSIC |

PAGE 27

_MUSICAL DIAGRAMMING _SPATIAL EXTRUSION _DEFINING THE EDGE _MUSIC ANIMATION FOR ARCHITECTS MOVEMENT II:

MAKING MUSIC FROM SPACE |

PAGE 47

_ B O DY D I M E N S I O N A N A LY S I S _ERGONOMIC MODIFICATIONS _SONIFICATION PROCESS _FINAL MODEL CODA :

RECAPITULATION |

PAGE 65

_INTELLECTUAL V PHENOMENOLOGICAL _THE FUTURE OF SPATIAL SOUND

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GLOSSARY MUSICAL VOCABULARY : Prelude : an introductory piece of music, most commonly an orchestral opening to an act of an opera, the first movement of a suite Movement : the doctrine of the movement of voices with regard to motivic combination Coda : the concluding passage of a piece or movement, typically forming an addition to the basic structure Recapitulation : a part of a movement in which themes from the exposition are restated Staff: a set of five horizontal lines and four spaces that each represent a different musical pitch Harmony : the doctrine of chords and their possible connections with regard to their tonic, melodic and rhythmic values and relative weights Counterpoint : the art or technique of setting, writing, or playing a melody or melodies in conjunction with another, according to fixed rules.

Theory of Form : deals with the disposition for the construction and the development of musical thoughts Chromatic : relating to or using notes not belonging to the diatonic scale of the key in which a passage is written; Diatonic : involving only notes proper to the prevailing key without chromatic alteration.

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SPATIAL VOCABULARY : Le Modulor: an anthropometric scale of proportions based on the height of a man with his arm raised; devised by Le Corbusier Golden Ratio: In mathematics, two quantities are in the golden ratio if their ratio is the same as the ratio of their sum to the larger of the two quantities;used in Le Modulor by Le Corbusier Fibonacci Sequence: a series of numbers in which each number is the sum of the two preceding numbers; i.e. 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, etc.

Interstice: the space between

Please refer to the glossary throughout the reading to strengthen a deeper understanding of the following translation.

FOREWORD Architects and Musicians are two professional artists that, through the culturally erected barriers that separate their art-forms, nevertheless use similar language, philosophy, and character in achieving a final product, whether it be a building or piece of music.

We live in a culture that unconsciously favors the eye over the ear when theoretically they go hand in hand. Architecture represents the art of design in space, as music represents the art of design in time, but the properties of space and time are inseparable. Without space and time, matter cannot exist. Space gives form and proportion, and time supplies it with life and measure.

Rather than be a definitive and exhaustive study of the similarities of music into architecture, this study, as an ongoing and developing investigation, will attempt to provide one example of how a piece of music can be specifically translated into space and vise versa.

The study begins by provoking more of an understanding of basic music theory and composition through the two-dimensional realm of drawing and diagramming.

The diagrams then lead the musical and formal exploration as they are extruded into the third-dimension, completing Part 01 - Making space from music.

Part 02 - Making music from space, begins with human scale modifications to the extruded spaces from Part 01. These architectural modifications allow for inhabitation and programming, creating spaces specifically for performing and listening to music and sounds.

The modifications work with the original extrusions to challenge the flanuer’s typical conception of what a space for listening and performing can look like while enhancing and enriching the overall acoustic and spatial experience. By using the reverse process of the original diagrams, the final spaces can then be translated musically, spawning a new musical composition.

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PRELUDE I

RESEARCH

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THE EFFECTS OF MUSIC : The ensemble of my research originates from one question in particular: what are the individual effects of music on a person? I became very intrigued in how music affects people, specifically in terms of their mood or behavior, and if that may have any similarities with how architectural spaces affect people.

In order to first investigate this theory, I sat down and listened to a piece of music that I had never heard before: “Klavierquartet” or piano quartet, by the great German composer of the 20th century, Gustav Mahler. I then asked myself, what is this music doing to me?

I noticed my written thoughts on the page consisted mostly of speculations on how the performer would actually play the notes I was hearing. How much pressure was to be applied by the first violin’s bows on the strings in order to create a proper crescendo, or how the piano’s left hand down-beats were able to support the right hand’s eighth-notes and “triple-its” in tempo, but also in its harmonic structure. As it turns out, these thoughts were exactly what I was supposed to be thinking about, at least most of time.

In the book “Effects of Music” by Max Schoen, there is a collection of essays on the matter. One notable essay that stood out to me was called “Individual Differences in Listening to Music” by Charles S. Myers. This essay speaks on a few key aspects inherent to the research done on the effects of listening to music.

The first of these concepts that I would like to highlight is that “The same piece of music can affect two people

differently.” Myers says that because I am a musician and am trained in orchestral performance, my thoughts of actual performative characteristics when listening to Mahler’s quartet are to be expected. It is also expected to differ from the thoughts of someone who has no prior instrumental training, who might instead attempt to keep their mind clear and focus more on the emotions evoked by the piece. Such a listener might even begin to sub-consciously generate ideas of a narrative in order to better connect with these feelings. This does not mean that the musically untrained will always react in this way; opinions and ways of processing music may still vary. These reactions could have occurred to me as well. In fact, musicians relate narratives in their minds all the time to better evoke the emotions needed to properly perform music, but most of the time, those who are musicians themselves will first think technically about how the sounds they are hearing are made.

Almost immediately after learning this I could begin to notice the similarities with architecture. An architect notices things about a building as soon as they first lay eyes on it. It becomes a critique on the designer’s architectural performance. If you are not trained in the art of architecture, then some details in a building might go unnoticed.

You might also be overtaken by the spaces and just be absorbed by the emotions of your experience.

With all of this considered, you could be untrained musically or architecturally and a piece of music or architecture could affect you differently than the next person.

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The next key concept is that “a person’s opinion can change even while listening to a piece of music.” You may love a piece’s beginning melody carried by the violin’s, but you may also despise their later excessive use of vibrato. This is also true of architecture.

You might enjoy the exterior composition of a building’s facades, but you could have a totally different response about how the interior circulation works. Until you experience a building’s spaces, you are unable to fully understand the true essence of that building.

The last ideology that deserves mentioning is that “one can never experience a second time the precise sensations of the first hearing.” By now, you may be able to make this simple translation yourself. A person may never get the chance to experience a grand architectural space with the same dynamic emotional impact as their very first time experiencing it, whether an architect or not.

In order to better understand these concepts, I had to determine what they expressed analogously — the personal experience is unique to the perspective of the flanuer.

ARCHITECTURE AS A PERFORMING ART Myers goes on by saying, “it is the listener, and not the performer alone who creates the melody.” If we were to continue to translate music into architecture this would read as “it is the flanuer, and not the architect alone who creates the architecture.” Through this translation we see that the listener becomes the spatial flanuer, and the architect becomes the performer. Now,

we can fundamentally understand that without a person to experience a space, the architecture cannot exist.

This comparison led me to question how architecture can be viewed as a performing art rather than a fine art, and if I could possibly visually perform music; perhaps through architecture.

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THE Y-CONDITION In the 16th edition of Pamphlet Architecture, �Architecture as the Translation of Music,� Elizbeth Martin describes a definable membrane, through which meaning can move when translating from one discipline to another.

She explores the idea of translation as a design tool. In this case the y-condition becomes the middle-position of music and architecture. Martin investigates the y-condition by comparing the two art forms through experimenting and

exploring to discover that there exists between them, a consistent and organic union. This union being carried by their respective systems of artistic and imaginative composition, design and execution.

Just like Martin, my focus in using the y-condition is to create and define a methodology that may lead to a means of expression through the musical or architectural canvas.

MINIMAL MUSIC Martin began her exploration by analyzing several scores of minimal classical composers such as Steven Reich. She chose to study contemporary classical music to implicitly challenge the appropriateness of certain traditions in architectural form making.

Minimal music is the extreme reduction of musical means in terms of harmony, counterpoint, and theory of form. As the name suggests, it employs limited or minimal musical materials.

Classical music is similar to a traditional classical novel in where the denouement resolves the conflict of the plot and its sequence is end-oriented.

Minimal music creates a cycle of events much like a product being made in a factory. It focuses on musical components like rhythm, melody and harmony to create a feeling of movement that pulls attention away from the details of the process.

The piece of music literally becomes the process.

Minimal music focuses on repetitive cycles where the basic form is repeated

and phase shifted. Tempos and rhythmic patterns are meshed together creating layered textures of musical planes.

This is similar to the way Serialism or Serial music is structured; though negotiating the boundary between Minimal and Serial music has proven problematic for critics and musicians. Put simply, the serial umbrella embraces twelve-tone works of the second Viennese school, led by Schoenberg, and post WWII works that were influenced by that repertoire.

Some minimalist musicians believe serial music to be a musical and cultural mistake.

Xenakis suggests serial music to be highly deterministic. In one interview he even compared serial artists to fascists; suggesting that it is radically enforced by rules of repetition and suppression to the particular key or row.

While some view serialism and minimalism as antithesis, others, such as myself, have noted parallels — if not in aesthetics, then at least in certain methods and techniques.

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Fig. 01

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PRELUDE II

PRECEDENT

018

R O M A N H A UB E NS TOC K-R AMATI

Fig. 02

Fig. 03

Fig. 04

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Greek/French; Romanian-born Composer; Music Theorist; Architect; Engineer Roman Haubenstock-Ramati was born on 27 February 1919 in Krakow. There he received musical education in violin, music theory and philosophy as well as composition with Artur Malawski.

After the German fascist troops marched into Poland in September 1939, Ramati’s family had to flee. Before the Soviet Union eventually joined up with the Allied Forces, the composer was arrested and banished a number of times. After his abrupt release, he tried in vain to join the Free Polish Army positioned as a violinist and flugelhorn player but quickly contracted typhoid fever. When he recovered, he found his way to Palestine through Persia and Baghdad.

When he returned to Krakow in 1947 he was soon appointed as the head of the music department.

Haubenstock-Ramati opposed the limitations of artistic freedom inflicted upon the creators by the state, which resulted in his decision to move to Israel in 1950. There he became the director of the State Music Library of Tel Aviv and professor at the Music Academy. In 1957, he returned to Europe to work at the Studio de Musique Concrète in Paris where he drew inspiration from Olivier Messiaen. He has also has been a visiting professor in Buenos Aires, Stockholm and at Yale University.

In addition to composition, Ramati focused on the development of new forms of notation and musical graphics. Many innovative solutions came to life due to his search for a graphic dimension of the mobile form.

Gradually, the composer’s scores were filled with more and more graphic elements, up until the point when the visual aspect became a crucial element of the work and the typically conception of a musical staff was completely eradicated. His graphic scores were a synthesis of music and painting. Both the musical passage and the form of the composition depended more and more on the performers’ ingenuity regarding the interpretation of graphic symbols. The music generated was not only unique to the drawing, but to the improvisation of the performer as well.

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S TEP H E N M A L I N OWS KI

Fig. 05

Fig. 06

Fig. 07

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American; Composer; Pianist; Inventor, Software Engineer Malinowski is best known for his animated graphical score project known as The Music Animation Machine.

The idea came from a hallucination he had in the early 70’s while listening to J.S. Bach’s Sonatas and Partidas for unaccompanied violin. He says, “ the notes on the page were dancing to the music, but at the same time, they were the music.” He then looked at a score of a Brandenburg Concerto and played a recording of it.

He became frustrated and confused when trying to integrate all the individual parts into a cohesive vision.

This made him question whether a complex piece of music could be presented visually in a way that would help the listener follow it.

This led him to a notation, where each note is a bar of color. Malinowski soon bought a computer and began to write software to animate his graphics. The first version of the Music Animation Machine software was created in 1985. In 1990, he started selling video tapes with his animations on them and Classical Arts Showcase began broadcasting them. In 2012, he developed a version of the machine that could synchronize his animations with real time performances. It has been premiered with the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra and showcased the same technology in a TEDx talk in Zürich. As of 2017, his Youtube channel featuring his musical animations had received over 150 million views.

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I A N N IS X E N A K I S

Fig. 08

Fig. 09

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Greek/French; Romanian-born Composer; Music Theorist; Architect; Engineer Due to his involvement in the Greek resistance and civil war, Xenakis was sentenced to death in absentia by a Greek military tribunal and was forced to go into hiding and eventually flee Greece through Italy to Paris. Although he was an illegal immigrant in Paris, Xenakis was still able to get a job at Le Corbusier’s architectural studio. He worked as an engineer at first, but quickly rose to performing architectural tasks, and eventually to collaborating with Corbusier on major projects such as La Tourette convent. Infact, Xenakis designed the overall architecture of the convent, but the final result was a compound of his ideas with those of Corbusier.

While he worked for Le Corbusier, Xenakis was studying harmony and counterpoint with Oliver Messiaen, and also composing music. Through Messiaen, he discovered serialism and acquired a deep understanding of contemporary music.

The experience Xenakis gained in the office played a major role in his music. One of the first important early compositions, Metastaseis B was based directly on mathematical and architectural concepts and is generally referred to as the composer’s first mature piece.

Through designing the Phillips Pavilion for the World’s fair in Brussels in 1958, Xenakis realized the basic ideas of Metastasis and unknowingly, the future of his work. The composition was generated through a combination of the stochastic process in mathematics, the glissandi in music, and Corbusier’s Le Modulor.

Xenakis is now regarded as a pioneer in the use of mathematical models in music such as applications of set theory, stochastic processes and game theory.

Xenakis also integrated music with architecture by designing music for pre-existing spaces, and designing spaces to be integrated with specific music compositions and performances.

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Pithoprakta (right), is another example of a stochastic work. “Stochastic processes are those which have a random probability distribution that may be analyzed statistically, but never predicted precisely. Examples include bacterial growth patterns, electrical current fluctuation, and—in the case of Pithoprakta—the movement of particles within a fluid.”

Composed for 49 musicians, each instrument represents an independent molecule based on the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution law. The law deals with the probable velocity ranges of 1148 theoretical particles moving within an idealized gas at thermodynamic equilibrium. These ranges differ based on the temperature and pressure of the gas. In Pithoprakta, Xenakis graphed these calculations with the vertical axis representing the speed of the particle and the horizontal axis representing time.

These measurements, then connected with lines to show how the velocities change over time, were then transcribed to musical notation, where each particle velocity was mapped to a specific frequency Each vertical square represented a major third and every five horizontal squares represented one measure.

The lines drawn between the plot points translated therefore, to the instruments playing glissandi between the indicated frequencies.

Fig. 11

Fig. 10

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After leaving Corbusier’s studio, Xenakis began to have a huge influence on the development of electronic and computer music. Similar to Malinowski’s music animation machine, Xenakis created an interactive drawing board for music composition. Instead of being able to read already existing music, the UPIC system was able to read and transpose graphic notation and sketches. This musical drawing board revolutionized the act of composition by surpassing the traditional musical notation and offering the user unprecedented independence of action on both the macro and micro levels of composition.

Among his many accomplishments, Xenakis also integrated music with architecture by designing music for pre-existing spaces, and designing spaces to be integrated with specific music compositions and performances.

For all of these reasons and more, Iannis Xenakis became a vital influence in the basis of exploration of Spatial Sound and for my discovery though the y-condition.

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MOVEMENT I

MAKING SPACE FROM MUSIC

The following movement utilizes Mahler’s Klavier Quartet in A minor to first create a new form of music notation similar to Ramati. The notation evolves into the third dimension and becomes translated into space.

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Fig. 13

Fig. 12

The exploration into the Y-CONDITION begins by examining one of my favorite classical compositions: Klavierquartet (piano quartet) in A minor by Gustav Mahler. To begin the diagramming process, the piece was to be read and listened to countless times in order to fully understand the piece and have a deep sense of immersion within it’s melodies and counterparts. The piece could then be sub-divided into major sections of distinction.

One basic ideology of reading music is that the musical staff is read similar to points on a

graph: from left to right; the x-axis corresponding to time and the y-axis corresponding to pitch. This is one major constant held throughout the entire project.

The process of exploration of the y-condition leads to a discovery that can only be seen against the backdrop of another discovery and another and another. The concept of using the interstitial space between the movements was discovered in this step and so only the first half of the Mahler Diagrams were needed to continue the exploration into making space from music.

Fig. 14

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MUSICAL DIAGRAMMING

DIAGRAM 01 begins to plot the notes of which carry the true essence of each section of the quartet. Inherent to a grand-staff, each timbre (instrument) is drawn from highest the pitch to the lowest while slowly beginning to alter the typical musical notation styles and creating one of my own.

DIAGRAM 02 asks what creates a feeling of movement in music, because movement is a characteristic also inherent to architecture. The result being pitch and dynamics (volume). The sound on the page is represented by a single line that splits up by timbre eventually growing in thickness and moving fluidly up and down as it travels along the page. The thickness depicts the volume of each instrument and the vertical movement describes the pitch.

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MUSICAL NOTES LAYER Musically, the piece begins with the main melody in the piano part, then the entire orchestra take a breath together to lead into the trading of phrases

Slurs, or notes played without separation are notated

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A tremelo, or a wavering effect produces by rapid variation of a note is

An accidental, or note not commonly

The typical “bar� found in sheet music

notated by a zig zagging line

found in the key of A minor is

was kept to represent the end of the

highlighted.

piece.

Notes changed size on the page in order to better distinguish their durations. Here the shortest note in the piece, a sixteeth note, is notated.

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MOVEMENT LAYER Melodies within the distinct instruments are highlighted with circles

Here a single note played in tandem by all instruments is highlighted. This note begins each individual melodic phrase and creates a harmonious chord

The “movement� line is static in the

The line of sound is broken up

very beginning to represent silence.

to represent staccato or short

melodies are discovered. The

The line then distributes into position

disconected notes

instruments pass along the same

for each instrument

Connections between the same

melodic phrases as if they were communicating to one another.

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034

SLIDE 01

SLIDE 02

SLIDE 03

SLIDE 04 Fig. 15

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SPATIAL EXTRUSION The diagrams then needed to be extruded into the third-dimension therefore they were cut into plexi glass slides (left). Each slide was a combination of the line of movement from one instrument combined with the subsequent line of the next instrument. Slide 01 contains the line of movement of the violins at the top, and of the violas underneath. Slide 02 contains the lines of the viola at the top, and of the cellos underneath. Slide 03 contains the cellos and the left hand of the piano. Slide 04, the left and right hand piano.

Fig. 16

The INTERSTICE or, the space between, was identified within each two lines of movements / instruments on each slide, and were cut out. This allowed for the slides to be layered behind one another as sections in preparation for the spatial extrusion into the third dimension.

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In order to accurately display the extrusions through the interstitial spaces, a material had to be chosen that would be able to display the fluidity between two slides. The malleability of spandex fabric, made it the perfect material to do so.

Fig. 17

Small holes were cut out around the perimeter of the interstitial cut outs to allow for the fabric to be sewn onto the plexi and stretched in the z-axis.

In this way, you can begin to see how the layered voices of the quartet create cohesive connections of harmonious spaces.

Fig. 18

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Fig. 20

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DEFINING THE EDGE A 3d model was then generated in rhino to better define the edges and rigidity of the extrusions. Next, sections were taken to begin investigating how to allow for inhabitation. To help better understand the scale of the volumes within, Corbusier’s MODULOR was considered.

Fig. 21

Fig. 22

Fig. 23

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Fig. 24_SECTION 01

Fig. 25_SECTION 02

Fig. 26_SECTION 03

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MUSIC ANIMATION FOR ARCHITECTS

01:19:39

00:40:55

00:56:35

Fig. 27

Similarly to Malinowski, a computer animation aided in the attempt of allowing, not only nonmusicians, but more specifically architects, to be able to listen to the music while the camera guides your eye through the circulation of spaces. One can clearly read the extrusions and begin to build associations to the sound on your own. Now, the flanuer is completely submersed in sound and space.

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01:45:34

01:32:23

02:00:49

Scan with QR Reader app to listen to excerpt!

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MOVEMENT II

MAKING MUSIC FROM SPACE

At this point, the translation process from music to space has completed. The following movement takes place within the spaces from Movement I, only this time allowing for modifications based on the human body and experiential program. The new modified spaces are translated into a layered minimal excerpt.

046

B O DY D I M E N S I O N A N A LY S I S

Fig. 28

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The basic logic of LE MODULOR was encapsulated within the idea that the human body is the most fitting tool for the finding harmony in spaces. In search of a new form of measurement, Le Corbusier recognized the relationship of the fibbonacci sequence, or golden ratio, to the human body, and incorporated its values into the new system.

A diagram was created that highlights the major points of LE MODULOR on the body, and cross references them with a controversial rule of minimal / serial music — use of the chromatic scale.

The chromatic scale includes 12 notes instead of just 8 in your typical diatonic scale. These are notes that are the most audible to the human brain in terms of distinction from the next note. In this way, both scales have direct correlations with the human body, allowing for even more opportunity to design truly harmonious spaces, aesthetically, physically, and audibly.

048

ERGONOMIC MODIFICATIONS

Fig. 29

To begin applying my analysis, the MODULOR scale and chromatic scale were overlayed onto the sections.

Architectural modifications were then made in accordance with the two scales and notes were now able to be pulled from the modified sections. Using the constant of time in the x-axis, and pitch in the y-axis, the notes could be read similar to the way the piano quartet’s original interstitial spaces were conceived.

The following sections each display a different scenario of programmed space specific to listening to music and sounds. It is critical to the entire edifice of investigation, that it is understood through lenses specific to the exploration of the y-condition. The translation of space into music and vise versa is the true intent of the analysis and the final product is just one example of what could be generated when using the processes described.

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S E C T I O N 0 1 _ARTIFICIAL

SOUN D

Section 01 displays spaces specific to the use of artificial sounds and projections. Each space is activated by programmed activities involving fabricated sounds or visuals. For example, on the left side of the section hangs a seat made of wooden slabs attached to coils to allow for movement.

Underneath the seat is a very large bass amplifier that when playing, vibrates the seat above with its shear soundwave power. The spectator is submerged in the sound and vibration of the amplifier while in tandem, a video projection plays on the curved wall above. The amp sits within a large sound scoop that reverberates soundwaves back into the model, and directly outside the model. Only if someone were to stand completely underneath the sound scoop, would they be allowed to clearly hear what might be happening within.

AFTER

BEFORE

050

Fig. 30

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S E C T I O N 0 2 _PERFORM AN CE

AFTER

BEFORE

VS SILENCE

Xenakis was one of the first composers to challenge the typical performance arrangement. Some of his pieces specifically called for performers to be seated within the section of audience members. Section 02 demonstrates a challenged conception of a typical performance space on the left, contrasted with a secluded isolation space on the right. The large main space performs just like a common performance space would, only with an added twist to improve the listening experience.

Each member of the audience faces the stage from the distinct seating arrangements of their choosing. What they do not realize is that whatever is being played from the musician on the stage, is begin harmonized from another musician from the ledge above. The “secret musician� accompanies the first performer in a position that allows each audience member equal listening quality based on the architecture surrounding them, without letting them actually see where the sound is coming from. All of the sound from the performance remains confined within the performance space allowing the narrow space on the right to echo only ambient sounds and voices.

The isolation space can only be entered through a short entrance behind the stage seating that forces the individual to crouch. The desire to seek pure silence facilitates the spatial discovery.

052

Fig. 31

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S E C T I O N 0 3_

VISUAL ISOLATION

Section 03 uses a distinct condition of sound from the other sections inherent to the qualities of moving water. Here, the flanuer has chosen one of three paths to pass through, each of which begins to compress the spaces together.

The walls flow downward obstructing views of the other paths and isolating the individual.

As the spaces become more confined and the light becomes scarcer, your sence of sight dims and your hearing almost completely guides your experience. A powerful auditory connection to the other inhabitants and to the architecture begins to build.

AFTER

BEFORE

On the furthest left, one beam of light pierces the space while rain water filters in to air-tight chambers underneath. As the water floods, it pressurizes pockets of air beneath you and creates soft tones that reverberate within. The walls of the tightly compact space in the center sqeeze you in and block out direct light.

Only the tones of the water chambers and the voices of the other inhabitants can be heard. The right most space incorporates a tall rain collection vessel that allows water to flood over the wall and enables you to touch it. Here, only sounds of rain water sprinkling above and trickling down are heard.

054

Fig. 32

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SONIFICATION PROCESS

Fig. 33

Through layering of the 3 sections, a new serial excerpt is created. To begin, sheet music was developed based on the notes discovered. Just like Movement I, each phrase of the staff corresponds to either the ceiling or ground conditions of each section.

Different instruments were assigned to each phrase so that a new quartet piece could evolve.

The piece begins with a violin phrase, that begins to loop again and again as the rest of the instruments begin to layer in. Due to a lack of all four instruments, the piece is written and performed soley on a violin. The image above shows the sound waves of each recorded phrase being layered on top of the next.

Scan with QR Reader app to listen to excerpt!

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FINAL MODEL The final model combines the MODULOR sections together with previous Mahler sections through controlled lofts and extrusions. This was performed in Rhino to create a 3D printed, long promenade of spaces specifically for listening to sounds.

Being that the main focus of the research was on translation into form, the final model does not reside at a specific site or location on earth. Instead, the model floats above a molded ground whose contours respond directly to the fluidity above. The ground was first molded in clay, then plaster casted to better control where it might rise or fall depending on what was happening on the interior.

Fig. 35

For example, when the sound scoops of the large performance space from Section 02 were opened to below, the clay depressed to allow for enhanced acoustical experiences below.

The reverberation of interior sounds escaping the instillation intrigue the individuals on the exterior to find an entrance, or to recall their previous experience within.

The final model breaks into 6 sections to allow for a better architectural understanding of how the sections were joined. In this way, one can see how you may circulate through the resolved program.

Fig. 36

Fig. 37 Fig. 35

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Fig. 38

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059

060

Fig. 40

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Fig. 41

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CODA

RECAPITULATION

Sven Sterken, an associate professor of architecture from the Leuven University, gave a doctoral thesis on the spatial and multimedia work of Iannis Xenakis. In his research he states that speculations about the relation between music and architecture occur on two levels — the intellectual and the phenomenological. The first interpretation relates most to the theory of harmonic proportions and ideas of numeric principals. The latter, deals with the aesthetic effect of a work of art and its immersive power.

Xenakis used a combination of these concepts in the design of the undulating glass panes that cover the facade of the Monastery of La Tourette.

In using Le Modulor to first dictate the spacing of the glass, Xenakis realized that endless permutations of the golden ratio would either result in a dull and predictable composition, or an aesthetically uncontrollable configuration. He then decided that by replacing the concept of rhythm with that of aesthetic density he could control the transition of divisions fluently or abruptly. By combining the phenomenological interpretation with the intellectual he unknowingly discovered the essential quality inherent to his future musical and architectural works.

Throughout this master’s project, each particular step of the process may favor one side or the other, but ultimately always encompass both aspects. The Mahler Quartet Diagram from Movement I, for example, illustrates an understanding of proportions between pitches and mathematical durations of sound in order to plot out notes; at first, it may seem to only fall under the intellectual category. Although, the moment that the notation begins to evolve past the typical staff and the interstitial spaces are generated, the phenomenological interpretation begins to govern the process. The project shifts back and forth throughout from practical approaches to sound and space, to abstract and conceptual realizations between music and architecture. As stated before, the true link between music and architecture has less to do with common features and more with the existence of a third element acting as an intermediate between both fields. The y-condiiton defines this third element in either mathematical proportions or the concept of space.

Looking towards the future, a new study based on scale and more detailed architectural details is forthcoming. What could be the result of using the music generated from Movement II, to try and develop an architectural skin system for the final model? Using the constant axises of reading music (the intellectual), algorithms similar to Corbusier’s panel exercises of Le Modulor can be developed from the notes discovered.

The algorithms can be combined and scaled to stretch across the shell of the model in a way that could exist functionally and aesthetically (the phenomenological).

Spatial Sound is a descriptive process of the translation of music into spatial form, and vice versa. It personally serves as a detailed account of experiments involved in the discovery of the y-condtion. The music and spaces generated exist only as a single example of translation between the two art forms and a guideline for the next researcher. At this point there is no underlying truth; no definitive conclusion. This study is an ongoing investigation that will continue to develop. This is only the beginning.

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LIST OF FIGURES Figure 01 : Exploded axo of the Y-Condition model, Elizabeth Martin Figure 02 : Graphic notation, Roman Haubenstock-Ramati Figure 03: Graphic notation, Roman Haubenstock-Ramati Figure 04 : Graphic notation, Roman Haubenstock-Ramati Figure 05 : Music Animation (rectangles), Stephen Malinowski Figure 06 : Music Animation (circles), Stephen Malinowski Figure 07 : Chord progression w/ harmonic connections, Stephen Malinowski Figure 08 : Phillips Pavilion, Worlds Fair Exposition 1958, Iannis Xenakis Figure 09 : Phillips Pavilion schematic sketches, Iannis Xenakis Figure 10 : Pithoprakta; cross reference of gas particle velocities with musical notes, Iannis Xenakis Figure 11 : Iannis Xenakis with UPIC 1st gen. system, Iannis Xenakis Figure 13 : Mahler Quartet in A minor sheet music, Gustav Mahler Figure 13 : Mahler Diagram: Notes layer, by author Figure 14 : Mahler Diagram: Movement layer, by author Figure 15 : Plexi glass slides with interstitial cut-outs, by author Figure 16 : Exploded axo of Mahler extrusions, by author Figure 17 : Mahler Fabric Model: close up of fabric material, by author Figure 18 : Mahler Fabric Model: front elevation, by author Figure 19 : Mahler Fabric Model: overall, by author Figure 20 : Mahler Fabric Model: close up 02, by author Figure 21 : Mahler 3D Rhino model: front elevation, by author Figure 22 : Mahler 3D Rhino model: Exterior shots, by author Figure 23 : Mahler 3D Rhino model: Interior shots, by author Figure 24 : Mahler 3D Rhino model: Section 01, by author Figure 25 : Mahler 3D Rhino model: Section 02, by author Figure 26 : Mahler 3D Rhino model: Section 03, by author Figure 27 : Mahler Animation Timeline, by author Figure 28 : Body Dimension Analysis, by author Figure 29 : Modulor Section 01, by author Figure 30 : Modulor Section 02, by author Figure 31 : Modulor Section 03, by author Figure 32 : Modulor Model Excerpt: Sheet music, by author Figure 33 : Modulor Model Excerpt: Layered soundwaves, by author Figure 34 : Modulor Model: front close up, by author Figure 35: Modulor Model Sketch, by author Figure 36 : Modulor Model: overall split in sections, by author Figure 37 : Modulor Model: Section Model 01, by author Figure 38 : Modulor Model: overall combined, by author Figure 39 : Modulor Model: overall split in sections 02, by author Figure 40 : Modulor Model Rendering: Front, by author Figure 41 : Modulor Model Rendering: Back, by author Figure 42 : Le Modulor: Panel Exercises, by author

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WORKS CITED blessing5150, Author. “‘Pithoprakta’ by Iannis Xenakis.” Music 7703 - Contemporary Compositional Practice, 3 Apr. 2017, music7703lsu.wordpress.com/2017/04/02/pithoprakta-by-iannis-xenakis/.

Corbusier, Le. The Modulor. Harvard University Press, 1954.

Martin, Elizabeth. Architecture as a Translation of Music. Princeton Architectural Press, 2002.

Schoen, Max. Effects of Music. Routledge, 2014.

Xenakis, Iannis, et al. Iannis Xenakis: Composer, Architect, Visionary. Drawing Center, 2010.

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