Resumen de The generative, analytic and instructional capacities of sound in architecture: fundamentals, tools and evaluation of a design methodology
The disciplines of space and time form two domains to which it is daring to compare, since it is obvious that they are of a different nature. Music happens in time, while architecture happens in space. However, from the first treatises on both architecture and music, repeated calls for comparison, complementarity and influence of both disciplines can be read, at least to the observation of certain common orders between the two domains. In this doctoral thesis we do not question this whole theoretical corpus that has been enriching the relationship between both disciplines. We received it and joined that stream of knowledge. What we do notice, however, is the almost impertinent question that follows: can sound help the architect in his daily tasks? And, therefore, what are the contributions of sound to the architect? To do this we must seek the connection in the principles of both arts, where we can detach ourselves from time and space, and approach the most universal of art forms.
The architect, in his daily work, is faced with three particular tasks: the architectural project, the architectural analysis and the teaching of architecture. Each of the three tasks is connected with the other two tasks: the project is carried out again with the analysis and transmitted to the new architect; the analysis supports the project decisions and gives tools to the disciple; and the teaching has the project as its purpose and the analysis as its method. The thesis presented here shows what sound offers to the task of the project, to that of analysis and to that of teaching. These three tasks are approached from three premises: theoretical foundations, tools and evaluation. The interaction of the three tasks with the three premises gives rise to nine lines of work that articulate the chapters of the thesis.
The first, fourth and seventh chapters approach the three tasks from the premise of theoretical foundations, foundations that perhaps because they are obvious, have been ignored or overlooked but which constitute the nature of both disciplines. The first shows, by the hand of two 20th century authors - the architect Dom Hans van der Laan and the composer Olivier Messiaen - that creation in both disciplines is of a systematic nature. The fourth one revaluates the analytical systems of representation of form both in architecture and in music which, starting with the basic characteristics of its elements, lead to a symbolic notation and a tool for the analysis of the work: the plan and the score. The seventh introduces the student of architecture to the growing separation between music and architecture that has been accentuated to this day.
The second, fifth and eighth chapters approach the three particular tasks from the premise of tools, working tools that help to understand more directly the influence of architecture on sound. The second places virtual reality and auralization techniques at the service of the architectural and urban planning project, enhancing the sound experience in these projects. The fifth deals with the acoustic analysis of exterior spaces and their relationship with the urban configuration of these spaces. The eighth section presents the study of acoustic heritage as an educational tool.
The third, sixth and ninth chapters deal with the three tasks from the premise of evaluation, a check that ensures the influence of sound on them through teaching experiments. The third argues and exemplifies that a sound landscape can be the engine and generator of an architectural design. The sixth one reviews the methods for evaluating the subjective and objective parameters of architectural acoustics. The ninth shows that in teaching sound to architects, "learning by listening" should be given priority over "passive learning".
