Sound+Architecture
TSC [Tunable Sound Cloud] 1.0
Tunable Sound Cloud 1.0
Tunable Sound Cloud is a responsive architectural application that allows for real-time modification and enhancement of acoustic performance of space. TSC focuses on our auditory experience of architecture.
Designed with a responsive modular structure and interactive smart surface.
Interfaced through Grasshopper/Rhino 3D modeling tool + Max/MSP software.
Actuated with Arduino micro-controllers/geared motors + SMA wires.
Tunable Sound Cloud 1.0 from Fishtnk on Vimeo.
Constellation 2.1; Responsive Timisoara
Timisoara, Romania
09 – 16 May 2010
Constellation 2.1 is a responsive environment built for Timisoara Student Festival at D’arc terrace. Map
A revisit to out previous project Constellation 2.0 this project was part of a lecture series in Timisoara,Romania to be followed by a series of workshops in Fall of 2010.
Constellation 2.1 is an interactive installation which responds to the sound of it’s surroundings with a series of microphones and audio sensors. The visualizations projected on the fabric is effected by the sound picked up by the microphones.
Design/ Built team:
Mani Mani, Cosmin Iancu, Dan Crasnic [superman]
Music + Architecture; introducing Tunable Sound Cloud
Tunable Sound Cloud
Beyond acoustics in music performance halls; a responsive sound system for architecture.
My research on Music+Architecture started in 2003 with Professor Gulzar Haider at Carleton School of Architecture. Since then I have been meandering between the two arts/sciences [debatable.] This 6 year search has resulted in a number of art pieces, installations and architectural projects that I will try to dig out and add to this blog as I go. During these years I have learned/worked/collaborated with many different artists,professors, students. hopefully I will get chance to mention their contributions when I talk more about the projects.
It is my goal to keep this research as collaborative as possible and make it a platform for open-source architecture.
In one paragraph:
The Tunable Sound Cloud is a proposal for a layered three dimensional dynamic spaceframe that adjusts to it’s environment with linear actuators driven by micro-controllers. The self-supporting structure, being a ceiling application, is made of an array of triangulated modules that are hinged to one another and folds on itself.The responsive surface layer, actuated with memory alloy wires (muscle wires) will control the apertures of the surface to adjust sound reflection or sound absorption to enhance the acoustic performance of the space.
Intro:
Looking at music in different time periods, from dark ages to baroque, high classical era to twenty first century experimental music, there is a relationship between the architecture of spaces music is composed and performed and how the music is written. In today’s modern or trans-modern era we design we design multi-purpose performance halls and spaces that are so generic that could accommodate any music and program.
I will be looking at responsive systems in architecture and music to design a tunable performance space that could be adjusted to meet the absolute sound requirements for a specific sound performance.
Baroque period 1600-1750
Interior view of Coutances' cathedral, department of Manche, Francephotograph by: Eric Pouhier
Baroque period 1600-1750
Interior view of Coutances' cathedral, department of Manche, Francephotograph by: Eric Pouhier
- Musicians: Bach,Handel,Vivaldi,…
- Architecture: Gothic architecture
- Reverb 3.0-3.2 sec
- Special characteristics of that era: Unaccompanied music ,Contrasting music and vocals
Classical period 1750-1820
- Musicians: Mozart, Beethoven,Haydn,…
- Architecture: Neoclassical architecture
- Reverb 1.8-2.0
- Special characteristics of that era:More popular- published music as entertainment result change in scale of Venue [architecture],More complexity and layering
Romantic Period 1820-1920
- Bayreuth Festspielhaus
- Musicians: Schubert, Puccini, Wagner,…
- Architecture: Neoclassical +Art Nouveau
- Reverb 1.8-2.2
- Special characteristics of that era: Sound/Acoustical engineering,More color and tone in the music, Wagner designs the 1st opera house for his own performance. 1924 grand opera dies; Turandot, puccini.
Modern and Contemporary
Einstein on the Beach 1976
- Musicians: Philip Glass, John Cage, …
- Architecture: Modern architecture
- Reverb: Electronically controlled
- Special characteristics of that era: Music becomes an multimedia performance enhanced by electronic devices.
programmatic topic [the proposal]
Sketches:
This study looks at a dynamic ceiling structure made with two layers:
Spaceframe-structure [Bones]
Surface [Skin]
Structure:
The structure is based on a series of hinged triangular spaceframes, connected and actuated at the top center of the frame to the adjacent frames.
Preliminary sketch of the structural layer:
Skin:
Tunable Sound Cloud; Responsive Surface Study from Fishtnk on Vimeo.
Above is a study of the surface movement with Nitinol wires to control the sound behavior for the Tunable Sound Cloud Project.This study is designed as a 10X10 grid of micro responsive modules [10X10mm units] to control the acoustic properties of the surface.
the physical prototype :
Tunable Sound Cloud, prototype tile from Fishtnk on Vimeo.
below is a study of the system, interfaced through Grasshopper and Rhino modeling platforms, the ceiling structure of the Tunable Sound Cloud is controlled and adjusted to accommodate different acoustical settings.
Actuated with Arduino micro-controller and servo motors.
Tunable Sound Cloud _ responsive ceiling surface from Fishtnk on Vimeo.
Ontology of space in Cmaj7
Ontology of space in Cmaj7
An experiment in music/architecture
This project has been an attempt to compose space from sound. Or capture the space between two musical notes.
Two notes, C and G have been translated through Max/MSP application to a series of numbers. These numbers create coordinates to a point cloud which define a space in Rhino 3D modeling environment. Through a series of exploration with different methods of surfacing some forms and objects were contrived. Each note created a virtual object that was unrolled and unfolded to a group of flat surfaces.
These surfaces were translated through a laser cutting method to two physical models. Each model representing a note became a base for a network of stretchable fabric to connect the inside edges of the two panels together. The space captured between the surfaces is a note between C and G which expresses a Cmaj7 chord.
December 2007
Toronto
Constellation 2.0; a responsive installation [environment]
![Constellation 2.0; a responsive installation [environment]](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3488/3793655627_78a2c23e39_b.jpg)
Constellation 2.0 was a temporary interactive audio/visual installation for the Electric Eclectics festival in Meaford Ontario, 31 July 2009 to 2 August 2009.
This installation is an attempt to engage the visitors with the site and create a unique spatial experience, sensitive to the surroundings with minimum impact on the site. Using tensioned strips of white fabric on light temporary structure and solar powered LED lights, the Constellation 2.0 will create a habitable enclosure that allows small gatherings and engagement with a potential interactive audio/visual installation. During the day, this skin surface will act as a shade while harvesting solar energy for the performance and at night glow and become a screen for the gathering/performance space The scattered light points will be positioned to reflect the stars and the constellations of August night sky, diffused on the white skin and into the field. The light nodes will also become the anchor points for the fabric to structurally connect to the ground. The grass around the nodes will be trimmed by one meter radius to accommodate the visitors stay. The trimmed areas of the field will be connected to one another to create paths and encourage the visitors to explore this unique site.
Constellation 2.0 is responsive to natural and man-made physical pressures in the built environment (Wind, Sunlight) as well as user inputs (tactile/touch). The fabric and tensioned strips are equipped with piezoelectric sensors responding to the wind and people’s interactions. These interactions are manifested in the form of sound and light. For example, the sensed acoustic vibrations are processed and spatialized across the nodes and effects the sound and video projection on the surface.
![Constellation 2.0; a responsive installation [environment]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2507/3794475882_b31b5720d4_b.jpg){kind=small}
![Constellation 2.0; a responsive installation [environment]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2495/3794250058_c64c022d9b_b.jpg)
The Constellation 2.0 stretches for 100′ and is built around 7 nodes.
This project was my collaboration with Cosmin Iancu [Architecture], Navid Navab [sound, MAX/MSP], Jerome DelaPierre [Video, VVVV]
More photos…
