1st Edition
The Routledge Companion to the Sound of Space
This Companion explores a range of conceptual and practical relationships between sound and space across various disciplines, providing insights from technical, creative, cultural, political, philosophical, psychological, and physiological perspectives. The content spans a wide range of spatial typologies, from large reverberant buildings to modest and intimate ones; from external public squares to domestic interiors; from naturally formed environments to highly engineered spaces. These compiled insights and observations explore the vast diversity of ways in which sonic and spatial realms interact.
This publication therefore forms important bridges between the intricate and diverse topics of technology, philosophy, composition, performance, and spatial design, to contemplate the potential of sound and space as tools for creative expression and communication, as well as for technical innovation. It is hoped that by sharing these insights, the book will inspire practitioners, scholars, and enthusiasts to incorporate new perspectives and methodologies into their own work.
Through a rich blend of theory, practice, and critical reflection, this volume serves as a valuable resource for anyone interested in exploring the intricacy of relationships between space and sound, whether they are students, professionals, or simply curious. Our companion provides a cross-section through shared territories between sonic and spatial disciplines from architecture, engineering, sound design, music composition and performance, urban design, product design and much more.
List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Contributors
Main Introduction
Emma-Kate Matthews and Jane Burry
Part I: Architectural Acoustics – Introduction
Jane Burry
Chapter 1: Designed Extremes
Shane Myrbeck
Chapter 2: Introducing Acoustic Shadows
Pantea Alambeigi and Jane Burry
Chapter 3: Transferring The Impression Of Real And Imaginary Spaces
Philip J B Jackson and Philip D Coleman
Chapter 4: Beyond The Sweet Spot: Sound, Space And Emotion
Raj Patel, Ian Forsyth, Jane Pollard and Ed.Gerrie Van Noord
Chapter 5: Architectural Acoustics of the Sagrada Família Basílica
Sipei Zhao and Mark Burry
Chapter 6: Intimate Acoustic Environments On Record
Emil Kraugerud
Chapter 7: Long Range: Intrinsic Acoustic Performance
Zackery Belanger, Catie Newell and Wes Mcgee
Part II: Psychology And Physiology – Introduction
Jane Burry
Chapter 8: Immersive Ambisonic Spatial Audio Design for Extreme Environments
Stuart Favilla
Chapter 9: In an Open (Music) Field. Space And Time Notation for Representing Landscape
David Buck and Carla Molinari
Chapter 10: Lend Me Your Ears
Michael Fowler
Chapter 11: Imagining Together
Nina Garthwaite
Chapter 12: Aural Diverse Spatial Perception: From Paracusis to Panacusis Loci
John Levack Drever
Chapter 13: On Sonic Growth And Form; Biometric Evolution of Sound and Space Paul Bavister
Chapter 14: Infrastructures of Inaudibility: The Spatial Politics of Assistive Listening
Jonathan Tyrrell
Part III: Philosophy And Politics – Introduction
Mark Burry
Chapter 15: Reading Aloud: The Vocalisation of Living Space
Paul Carter
Chapter 16: From Affordances to Value Chains: Probing the System of Sound, Space and Public
Sven Anderson
Chapter 17: On Vibrational Architectures
Gascia Ouzounian (Text) and Jan St. Werner (Images)
Chapter 18: House of Silence, of Stillness, of Solitude
Mark Taylor
Chapter 19: Dimensionless Space (With Serrated Edges and Sucking Noises): Intimacy, Asmr, Micro-Magic, Sensory Scholarship and Other Taboos
David Toop
Chapter 20: Posthuman Listening to the More-Than-Human Soundscape
Jordan Lacey
Chapter 21: Towards A Topology of Music
Ildar Khannanov
Chapter 22: Sound’s Spatial-Material Circuitry
Raviv Ganchrow
Chapter 23: Place, Sound, and Architecture
Jeff Malpas
Chapter 24: Shaping Sounds of Future Environments
Eleni-Ira Panourgia
Part IV: Sound Art and Music – Introduction
Emma-Kate Matthews
Chapter 25: Spatiosonic Dialogues: Exploring Architecture's Role in Music Composition and Performance
Emma-Kate Matthews
Chapter 26: In Praise of Emptiness: A Future for Performance Venues
Fabricio Mattos
Chapter 27: Opera in the Bathhouse; Exploring an Acoustically Led Approach to Dramaturgy and Scenography
Rosalind Parker and Pedro Novo
Chapter 28: Sound, Space and the Iko Loudspeaker – The Apparent Paradox of Diversity with Unity
Angela Mcarthur and Emma Margetson
Chapter 29: Intimate Sound: Making Known, Curating and Composing for Small Spaces
Lawrence Harvey
Chapter 30: Listening With, Listening Toward: Proposing Graphic Transcription as a Means Of (Re)Hearing Space
Ben Mcdonnell
Chapter 31: Site-Oriented Music Curation. Contouring The Listening Spaces
Sasha Elina
Chapter 32: Notes from the Far Field
Philip Samartzis
Chapter 33: Fluid Architectures and Aural Sculpturality – Towards an Aesthetic of Sonic Spatio-Temporal Environments
Gerriet Krishna Sharma
Chapter 34: Acoustic Atlas - An Orchestra of Echoes
Cobi Van Tonder
Index
Biography
Emma-Kate Matthews is an architect, composer, musician, and researcher. Her work explores the creative intersections between sonic and spatial practices through the production of site-responsive and spatialised audiovisual projects.
Jane Burry is an architect and Head of University of Adelaide’s School of Architecture and Civil engineering. Jane’s research leverages digital fabrication with simulation and feedback to create better, more sensitive, human-centric spaces through linking to environmental and perceptual experience including the auditory.
Mark Burry AO is an architect and the Founding Director for Swinburne University of Technology’s Smart Cities Research Institute (SCRI). His role is to lead the development of a whole-of-university research approach to ‘urban futures’, helping ensure that our future cities anticipate and meet the needs of all – smart citizens participating in the development of smart cities.
