The Voice of Architecture

Experiencing Architecture through the Sense of Hearing

Sarah Lucy Tritschler

Final thesis for a BA-degree Icelandic Academy of the Arts

Department of Design and Architecture December 2016

The Voice of Architecture

Experiencing Architecture through the Sense of Hearing

Sarah Lucy Tritschler

Final thesis for a BA-degree in Architecture

Supervisor: Katla Maríudóttir

Architecture

Department of Design and Architecture December 2016

This paper is a 6 ECTS final thesis for a BA-degree in Architecture. It is not allowed to copy this thesis in any way without author’s consent.

Abstract

Architecture is usually assessed through its visual appearance. The impression of a space, however, is

made up of many different sensual impressions, that one is not always aware of when looking at it.

This essay is working with the theories of the phenomenology of architecture which investigates the

way an individual experiences a space through all senses. The essay focuses on the role of the

hearing sense for the perception of a space. Inspired by the phenomenological theories the essay

includes individual experiences of the author and other examples on that the theories are applied to.

The essay begins with looking deeper into the theories of phenomenology and the thesis that

architecture has to address all senses to be able to create ”life-enhancing” spaces. The essay then

focuses on the hearing sense and the centering effect that it has on ones personal connection to the

world. It also looks into the impact that the hearing sense has on ones imagination and memories. At

last, the essay refers to the role of silence which is essential to be able to hear the reflected “voice of

architecture“. This chapter also clearly shows how existential these perceptual experiences can be.

The task of architecture is to consider all senses so that a connection between the individual and the

world is created.

5

Index

Opening 7

1. Phenomenology - The senses in architecture 9

2. The Sense of Hearing 13

3. Memories 15

4. Listening to Silence 17

Closing 20

Bibliography 22

6

Opening

”Sight says too many things at one time. Being does not see itself. Perhaps it listens to itself.“1

”Le marché du soleil est entré dans la chambre

Et la chambre dans la tête bourdonnante.

(The market of the sun has come into my room and the room into my buzzing head.)“ 2

When I was around nine or eleven my parents took me to a new installation in Berlin. I do not

remember where in Berlin the installation was nor do I remember how we got there or the way back

home but I will never forget the memory of what I experienced.

It was dark and cold wind was blowing through my hair. I was walking downstairs with one

hand holding on to my dad’s hand and with the other hand I clung to the railing. I heard muffled

hammering in the distance. I was scared, I felt insecure, not sure about what would happen next. A

cold shiver went through my body even though the wind was weirdly welcoming and warm and the

smell of petrol, urine and a mixture of other odors felt familiar. The stairs stopped. I could sense

that I was in a big place but I did not dare let go of the railing. I hear people walking quickly some

are quietly mumbling. A long mechanical whistle goes through the constant hammering sound that

has been getting stronger with every step ever since I felt the wind for the first time. It is loud, the

wind is getting stronger, it feels like something big is speeding directly towards me. I hold even

tighter onto the rail and my fathers hand. The rattling sounds are getting slower. Now a familiar

sound. I finally know I am in an underground station. The train must have just arrived because I can

recognize the beeping sound of the doors and right after that I can hear the man through the speaker

asking everyone to enter. Now another squeaking sound and the wind gets stronger again, then the

train leaves. I am still standing at my place. I am confused. I knew where I was but it didn’t matter

how much I opened my eyes I couldn’t see the train, the people or anything around me; everything

was pitch black. The only thing I could do was to hold on to the railing and listen and feel the wind.

The installation was organized by a blind school in Berlin. The goal was to show other

people what it is like to navigate around when you are not able to see anything and you have to rely

on your other senses.3 All these noises, smells and sensory impressions that I experienced in this

7

1 Gaston Bachelard, The poetics of space - the classic look at how we experience intimate places, Boston: Beacon, 1994, p. 215.2 Gaston Bachelard, The poetics of space - the classic look at how we experience intimate places, p. 227.3 “Im Finstern die Welt der Blinden begreifen: Ein Parcours für Sehende im Steglitzer U-Bahnhof”, Der Tagesspiegel, 11.12.16, http://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/im-finstern-die-welt-der-blinden-begreifen-ein-parcours-fuer- sehende-im-steglitzer-u-bahnhof/89072.html.

installation were part of my everyday life but I had never experienced them so intensely. This was

the first time I was able to experience space without seeing. It has had an immense impact on me

ever since.

When I visited Basel during a study trip I went to see an exhibition called ”Der Klang der

Architektur“4 or ”The Sound of Architecture“ in the Swiss Architecture Museum and visited a

sculpture by the American artist Richard Serra5 that had very interesting acoustical effects. These

two experiences reminded me of the memory that I had of the installation of the blind school. I

thought it was remarkable that I could still remember how I felt and what I was sensing in this

situation. All these experiences sparked my interest to learn more about how our senses are part of

architecture and how they effect us especially the sense of hearing. To be able to analyze what is

happening to us when we are experiencing a space I will work with the theories of the

phenomenology of architecture which investigates the way an individual experiences a space

through all senses. In the essay I will focus on the role of the hearing sense for the perception of a

space. Inspired by the phenomenological theories the essay includes individual experiences and

other examples.

8

4 “Spatial Positions 10 “Klang der Architektur””, S AM Schweizerisches Architekturmuseum, 15.10.2016, http:// www.sam-basel.org/de/ausstellungen/spatial-positions-10-der-klang-der-architektur.5 “Basels kunstvollstes Pissoir”, TagesWoche, 15.10.2016, http://www.tageswoche.ch/de/2014_31/ kultur/663250/.

1. Phenomenology - The senses in architecture

Architecture influences us every day but because there has been a focus on the visual one can have

a hard time figuring out how all the other senses such as the sound, smell, feel and even the taste of

the architecture surrounding us is impacting our emotions, behavior and life. One of the areas of

philosophy that is investigating the way we experience space is the phenomenology of architecture.

Architectural phenomenology deals with the experience, perception and feelings of being in a

space. It is based on the studies of the philosophers Kurt Lewin, Martin Heidegger, Edmund

Husserl, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Gaston Bachelard who developed the theory of

phenomenology. Phenomenology investigates the questions: What and how is the human and what

is the base of human existence and meaning?6 Phenomenology accepts everything that we perceive

as the truth, even if it does not match the actual cause of events. It assumes that our senses can

deceive us sometimes and that therefore we aren’t always able to see things objectively. However,

what someone has experienced and perceived through his senses, even if it is not true, it is true for

him and therefore it is true when seen in a phenomenological way.7

These philosophers, such as the philosopher and scientist Gaston Bachelard, have a big

influence on many architects. In Bachelard’s book Poetics of Space that was published in 1957 he

investigates the mental pictures that poems and other literature leave behind in your mind especially

those which describe the way the spaces surrounding us present themselves. He analyzes many

poems in various languages to find out what makes the mental pictures that the poems are creating

so unforgettable. He investigates how people perceive the space and how they describe it to others

when explaining to them their truth and experience of space. Gaston Bachelard’s studies did not

necessarily focus on architecture but more on the philosophical aspects of space. He inspires

architects to apply the studies of phenomenology to architecture.

Two of the most famous architects that have worked with the phenomenology of

architecture are Juhani Pallasmaa and Stein Eiler Rasmussen. They both build upon the original

studies of phenomenology but they approach the topic from different angles. In the book

Experience Architecture the Danish architect Stein Eiler Rasmussen approaches the topic of

phenomenology through a historical view point. Stein Eiler Rasmussen utilizes phenomenology in

9

6 Christian Neugebauer, “Günzel, Stephan ‘Phänomenologie der Räumlichkeit’”, InteressensRäume, 09.11.2016, http:// www.european-spaces.eu/2007/03/02/guenzel-stephan-phaenomenologie-der-raeumlichkeit/.7 Christian Neugebauer, “Günzel, Stephan ‘Phänomenologie der Räumlichkeit’”.

context with the cultural habitus8. His theory is that our perception is influenced by what we know

and what we have experienced before and he analyzes the way in which we have experienced and

perceived our world throughout history. He points out that architecture has always been considered

to be a part of the fine arts and therefore we are used to judging architecture visually in the same

way that we are used to judging music with our sense of hearing.9 This explains why, when

experiencing architecture, there seems to be a focus on the visual sense and, in comparison, the

other senses seem less important. An architect is working with all kinds of different art forms; he is

a painter, a sculptor and a designer. In the role of the architect, he combines all kinds of art forms to

solve problems that are similar to the ones that artists or sculptors or designers are working with.10

The factor that sets architecture apart from the other forms of art is that the architect is dealing with

”solving practical problems“ that are connected to our surroundings in our everyday life.11

Architects are building the frame of our world. Even though architects are working with so many

different art forms, they are, when planning a building, reducing their art to only a few items such

as plans, elevations and sections to visualize a building. When the plans are harmonizing together it

is seen as an indication of a good building. However, Rasmussen points out that these plans, even if

they are all going well together and are harmonizing with each other, still they have to have

something more to make a great building. He says that he is not able to directly describe what this

certain something is but it seems to be connected to our other senses.12 For him a building is a

combination of the design, concept, rhythm and purpose.13 All these things are part of what we

experience actively or inactively when experiencing architecture through our senses. We can feel

many different things like the texture of the wall or the floor, the warmth of the sun shining in, the

colors of the building and also hear its sounds and echoes. All these things that we experience

through our senses influence our opinion of a building. Based on Rasmussen’s research there seems

to be a focus on the visual when talking about the perception of architecture, but despite this focus

all the other senses also play a huge part in the experience of a building.

10

8 The word habitus was first defined by Pierre Bourdieu, a french philosopher: “[Habitus] works as a matrix of perceptions, appreciations, and actions that integrates past experiences and lead agents to develop a regular and regulated behavior without being the result of obedience of rules.” In other words habitus combines your past experience with your presents and it influences the way you see, experience, appreciate and react in different situations and make you the person you are. Many people can share a big part of their habitus by belonging to the same culture, social class or group, they will share the same “... class experiences and situations, [although] they will have distinctive habitus and lifestyles.” - Mathieu Hilgers, “Bourdieu, Pierre”, Bourdieu_Mathieu_Hilgers-libre.pdf, 09.12.2016, p. 91 - 929 Steen Eiler Rasmussen, Experiencing architecture, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1964, p. 9.10 Steen Eiler Rasmussen, Experiencing architecture, p. 9.11 Ibid.12 Ibid.13 Ibid., p. 33.

The Finnish architect Juhani Pallasmaa also works with the influence that our senses have

on our experience of architecture. He, however, when compared to Rasmussen’s historical

approach, is using a more philosophical approach and is mainly focusing on the human

development of perception. For example, as a baby we make most of our first sensory experiences

by putting objects into our mouths. These sensory experiences are therefore mainly formed by

orientating and haptic experiences and only later does the visual perception come into play, which is

based on the experience of the other senses. All these experiences that we make during our

childhood are later used in our everyday life.14 We gain the knowledge of how an object tastes and

what it feels like and so do not need to newly touch or taste it to know it. Our knowledge about the

object is based on experiences we made earlier on in our lives. As an architect your own sensory

experiences become part of the design process and therefore become part of the building.

In his book The Eyes of the Skin Pallasmaa comes to a similar conclusion as Rasmussen, that

there is a strong focus on the visual part of architecture. He is concerned that due to an increase of

work done on computers that this focus will become ever more dominant.15 According to him, this

dominance leads to an alienation of the human because, through the digital work designs, drawings,

pictures and 3D models are loosing their plasticity and multi-sensory factors. Juhani Pallasmaa

points out ”It is evident that ‘life-enhancing’ architecture has to address all the senses

simultaneously [...].“16 He concludes that when architecture is challenging to all senses it leads to

us feeling complete in ourselves as human beings. This is because he sees the body as the true navel

of the world and through its senses the body is connecting the picture that one has of oneself to the

experience one has of the world.17 Pallasmaa bases this connection between the body and the world

on the thesis that there is no body without a space but there is also no space that is not already

defined by a body. Our inner self is communicating and connecting with the world through our

body and without our bodily senses it would not be possible to perceive the world. So every time

we are getting in touch with architecture we are receiving and reacting towards the multi-sensorial

resonance of the place that we are in. If a space is not addressing all of our senses equally our

communication between the body and the world is limited and is thus alienating us humans from

the world. Our connection between the world and our inner self is getting lost and therefore our

quality of life is reduced.

11

14 Juhani Pallasmaa, The Eyes of the Skin - Architecture and the senses, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2005, p. 40.15 Juhani Pallasmaa, The Eyes of the Skin - Architecture and the senses, p. 12.16 Ibid. p. 11.17 Ibid.

The artists Christo and Jeanne Claude were both working with changing the way we

perceive the spaces surrounding us. The couple is most known for their big installations in cities

and landscapes. They created a new sensual experience for the people visiting their installations, for

example, by wrapping a stone building with fabric just as they did with the Berlin Reichstag in

1995. They changed the perception of the building and created a new way of experiencing the

space. It was a fascinating transformation of a building that was, and still is, so strongly connected

to the history of Germany. The building was the seat of the parliament during the Weimar Republic.

On the 27th of February, 1933 the building went up in flames, which was exploited by the Nazis as

an excuse to suspend most of the rights of the Weimar Republic, expel the communists from

government and increase the state security of the whole country. The building itself was never fully

repaired after the fire and became even more damaged during the Second World War. In 1945, a

famous picture was taken of a USSR soldier raising the flag of the Soviet Union on top of the

Reichstag which was a symbol of the victory of the USSR over Nazi Germany. The surroundings of

the Reichstag were again altered during the Cold War when the Berlin wall ran around the back of

the building.18 Thus, when the artists Christo and Jeanne Claude eventually got permission to go

through with their project, Western and Eastern Germany had recently reunited and the building

was going to be reconstructed once again. In the beginning people were suspicious and worried that

this project would be seen as an insult to German history but it turned out to be quite the opposite;

the Reichstag became an artwork and was celebrated. On the 17th of June 1995 when I was about

four years old, the wrapping of the Reichstag began and people came to see the transformation.

During the 16 days in which the Reichstag was wrapped, my parents took me there every day to see

the building and be a part of the celebrations around the Reichstag. My memories of this time are

not very clear. They are mainly based on photographs, a piece of the wrapping fabric and the stories

that my parents told me about this event. Christo and Jeanne Claude had transformed not only the

physical perception of the building but also the historical perception of it.19 The new facade they

created was made up of a silvery, shimmering fabric that was tied to the building with ropes. It

softened the edges of the stone facade whose big, cold stones, marked by the traces of the war,

radiated power and strength and made one feel small and insignificant. The fabric itself had a

certain warmth around it and reflected the warm sunlight on to the streets and the park surrounding

the building. The fabric also had a huge impact on the acoustics of the streets. All the sounds that

12

18 “Geschichte des Reichstagsgebäudes”, Deutscher Bundestag, 09.12.16, https://www.bundestag.de/besuche/ architektur/reichstag/geschichte/verlauf/246958.19 “20 Jahre Reichtsagsverhüllung | Euromaxx”, Youtube.com, 4:54 minutes, 10.12.16, https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=ZV-h4BqS1gg.

had been clearly reflected by the stone facade were now damped down by the fabric, in a similar

way to snow that had freshly fallen on the streets and buildings. All these changes had an influence

on the visitors. Their senses were addressed and challenged in many different ways which

encouraged them to stay and enjoy the newly gained connection to their environment. The

atmosphere around the building was calm, peaceful and filled with a unifying feeling of solidarity

towards the building, the people and the world.

When keeping the thesis of Juhani Pallasmaa and Stein Eiler Rasmussen in mind this feeling

of solidarity seems to be the combined result of the history of the building and the new multi-

sensorial experience that the installation created which made people reconnect with their

environment through their body.

2. The Sense of Hearing

When I walked through the Underground station in the installation by the blind school without

being able to see anything, I realized how differently and intensively one is able to experience space

when one is not using the sense of sight as ones main sense. I had to rely on all my other senses and

listen to what they told me about my surroundings; I had to listen to myself. In situations like this

one where our primary sense has been shut off, one can realize that the experience of a space is not

only comprised of what one sees but is actually layers of many different sensory impressions

communicated to one by the space. It thus seems that often one is only aware of these many layered

experiences when one part of them is taken away. Rasmussen suggests that there are many layers to

our experience of a space when he writes ”We are seldom aware of how much we can hear. We

receive a total impression of the thing we are looking at and give no thought to the various senses

that have contributed to that impression.“20

There is not only a focus on the sense of sight in architecture but also in general in our

society, which has been criticized by Juhani Pallasmaa. He believes that through this focus on sight

we are distancing ourselves from the world instead of connecting with it. This focus, the sense of

sight, is gained from one direction, whereas sound, in comparison, is coming towards us from all

directions at once. We are the receiver of the sound and are therefore at the center of the world that

is surrounding us. The world then is created from the inside out in contrast to how it is created when

one focuses on sight which is from the outside. The sense of hearing does not allow for any distance

to the world since the world is built up from within ourselves. Even sounds which we cannot see the

1320 Rasmussen, Steen Eiler, Experiencing architecture, p. 224.

source of are able to reach us. Sounds such as these where you are unable to see the ultimate origin

are called acousmatic sounds; it is basically hearing without seeing. These sounds are most common

today when thinking about the radio, speakers or the telephone. In these cases we hear someone

talking although we are unable to see this person talking which is in contrast to when a television is

the source of sound. The cause of the acousmatic sounds can be the result of earthquakes, chemical

reactions or the expansion and compression of a body, for example, the squeaking sounds that a

wooden house makes in the winter when the wood is compressing itself.21 These acousmatic sounds

are adding yet another layer to the sensual experience.

When we hear, ”we stroke the boundaries of the space with our ears.“22. One is able to sense

the size of the space and the material of the walls surrounding one through hearing. These

informations are reflected back to us by the building. The sounds that one makes when traveling

through a space and touching its boundaries are what defines the space. When these sound waves

are then reflected back one can hear that they have been influenced by everything they have

touched while traveling through that space. Everything the sound waves touch is changing them a

little and leaves behind informations about itself, for example, the material it is made up of.

Informations about the volume is imbedded in these reflected sounds in how they relate to the time

the sound takes to travel back to the ear. When listening to these sounds it can be seen as a

communication or an interaction between the individual and the building. This communication

between the individual and the building becomes quite interesting when thinking about musicians

composing inside a space. When looking back at the history of architecture and music it becomes

clear that there has always been a strong connection between these two art forms. Rasmussen, for

example, points out that when the architectural building style changed from the baroque to rococo

period the style of music changed along with it. That is because the changes in size, shape and

material effected the acoustics in the buildings.23 The music that was played in the baroque

buildings did not sound as good in the new rococo buildings and new music had to be composed

that would fit with the new acoustical effects.

Music that has been composed in a certain kind of space is the result of the interaction and

communication between the musician and the space. When we play this music in another space we

have to make changes to the space or the music in order to make the sound of the communication

14

21 Kane, Brian, Sound Unseen, Acousmatic Sounds in Theory and Practice, New York: Oxford University Press, 2014, 10.12.16, https://books.google.is/books?id=oHZ1AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA76&lpg=PA76&dq=Acousmatic,+adj.: +a+sound+that+one+hears+without+seeing+what+cause+it&source=bl&ots=Rvt9UQDiuc&sig=vBmIC6y JMHORvaUEAngBY9tmtbw&hl=de&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Acousmatic%2C%20adj.%3A%20a %20sound%20that%20one%20hears%20without%20seeing%20what%20causes%20it&f=false, p. 3.22 Juhani Pallasmaa, The eyes of the skin - architecture and the senses, p. 51.23 Steen Eiler Rasmussen, Experiencing architecture, p.234.

sound alike. Sometimes the acoustics of a space are so different that changes to the space and sound

cannot sufficiently help. These spaces are then often labeled as spaces with bad acoustics, although

it always depends on the way the musician is communicating with the space. A quite interesting

project called ”Akranesviti: A space for composing“ is dealing with this kind of situation. The

Lighthouse in Akranes has been fascinating to many artists and has served as a stage or a recording

place for many musicians but some of them had trouble playing their music in this special

acoustical environment. The sound echoes for a long time in the building. It is quite hard to bring

everyday music into this building. The composer Ásbjörk Jónsdóttir took it upon herself to compose

a piece that is made especially for this building. She started playing with the peculiarities of the

lighthouse which makes the acoustics in the building so special. She takes the long echo that the

building makes into account and even works with the different platforms that are in the building by

placing the musicians on different floor levels in the tower. Two pieces called ”Home is where THE

light is“ (sic) and ”Home is where your light is“ have already resulted out of this project.24 When

listening to these half an hour long conversations one can hear and feel exactly what Pallasmaa is

talking about when he says that we can touch the boundaries of the space around us when we are

listening. This example also shows how every building has its own voice which depends on its

shape, material and furnishings. We can hear this voice when we are in a room listening to how the

building is reflecting the sounds we make.

3. Memories

According to Pallasmaa, ”[a] space is understood and appreciated through its echo as much as

through its visual shape, but the acoustic percept usually remains as an unconscious background

experience.“25 This quote again shows that we are often not aware of the meaning that hearing has

for our experience of a space. It is in the background of all the other layers that make up our

experience of a space. Our acoustical experiences play a huge part when it comes to influencing our

imagination and memories.

The first time I realized how memories of acoustical experiences influence the way we

perceive a space was when traveling around Iceland. While driving with my family around the

northern part of the country we made a stop at the museum in Laufás. Next to the museum was a

small coffeehouse where we decided to sit down and have some coffee. It was fascinating; as soon

15

24 “Akranesviti: Rými til tónsköpunar”, facebook.com, 10.12.16, https://www.facebook.com/Akranesviti-Rými- til-tónsköpunar-938105246246330/?fref=ts.25 Juhani Pallasmaa, The eyes of the skin - architecture and the senses, p. 50.

as I entered the coffeehouse all the stress and unease that I felt before when we were in the city of

Akureyri went away and was replaced by an inner calmness and the feeling that time had stopped. It

felt a bit like coming home even though we had never been there before. After sitting there at the

window looking over the fjord and thinking about how strangely homey we felt, I realized what it

was that made me feel so at home. It was the sweet smell of freshly baked cakes and waffles and the

sound of the cooling machine that was used to display the cakes and also keep them fresh. This is a

sound of my childhood. My father grew up in my grandma’s coffeehouse, Café Haag, which is now

run by my uncle so every time we visited my grandma or my uncle we went there and sat at a table

in this coffeehouse. Hearing this sound again effected the way I felt because I connected this sound

with being at home with my family. This example shows how strongly acoustical experiences are

connected with our memory and how quickly our imagination is able to recreate the space that is

connected to this memory. It made me realize how sounds can effect the way one feels in a space

and can also bring back memories.

I noticed that other coffeehouses have a similar effect on me. One example is the old

coffeehouse Mokka-Kaffi in Reykjavik. There is no music playing, the only thing you hear is the

conversations of the people, the coffee machine and the cooling machine for the cakes. These

sounds are absorbed by the carpet floor and the textiles on the walls which create a muffling echo of

the sounds in the space. This lack of music creates a very special atmosphere where the sounds of

the room can still be heard and one becomes part of the space. It seems to be like the ”acoustic

intimacy“ that Pallasmaa describes when he says that sounds and noises create an inner world.

According to him the reflections of sounds and noises have a centering effect. ”Hearing structures

and articulates the experience and understanding of space. We are not normally aware of the

significance of hearing in spatial experience, although sound often provides the temporal continuum

in which visual impressions are embedded.“26

Both coffeehouses have barely changed since their opening in 1949 (Café Haag) and 1958

(Mokka-Kaffi). They still have the same furniture and interior design and they represent the style of

the 50s and 60s. This gives them both coffeehouses their similar but unique characteristic sound

which can be stronger perceived because instead of background music you can hear the voices of

the people talking and the noise of the staff members preparing the coffee. The trace of time in the

coffeehouses has become audible but also visible especially in the coffeehouse Mokka-Kaffi. Along

the wooden wall where the people are sitting at their tables you can see the silhouettes of their

shadows. Over time the wooden wall has lightened due to the sun but it has stayed dark where the

1626 Juhani Pallasmaa, The eyes of the skin - architecture and the senses, p. 50.

shadows of people fell, which has created permanent silhouettes. They are evidence of all the

experiences, conversations and memories that the people have made in this space. The silhouettes

are a reminder of the history of this place that has become visible but ”the acoustic percept usually

remains as an unconscious background experience“.27 Through that the atmosphere in these

coffeehouses seem to be able to ”take us back to the slow time and the silence of the past“ just like

old houses can do.28 It is a way of sitting in silence without sitting in silence.

4. Listening to Silence

In Pallasmaa’s phenomenology of architecture, silence or tranquility is seen as the strongest and

most essential hearing experience created by architecture.29 For Pallasmaa every building and space

has its own characteristic sound which can only be heard in tranquil silence. One has to listen to the

echo of a building just as one would when standing on a beach to listen to the atmospheric sound of

the waves. These tranquil sounds in architecture can be the sound of a building but also those of

cities.

For Pallasmaa not only buildings but also cities have their own voices. The voices of cities

set each other apart through the material being used and the style in which the houses are build. He

argues that today’s cities are losing their voices due to the similarities in building styles, materials

and the wide open spaces, such as parking lots which absorb echoes.30 The globalization of

architecture seems to play a big part in this development today. Compared to older cities and their

buildings, the new buildings in cities all over the world seem to be based on similar design

principles and are therefore already alike when looking at the building styles. These similarities

between the buildings in different countries are even more striking when looking closer at the

building materials of which they are made. The buildings are no longer made from local materials

but instead from materials that have been transported to the city from all over the world. This is just

another factor of why we are no longer used to listening to architecture as a part of atmospheric

hearing. Today we are used to being surrounded with other sounds that are distracting us from the

silence that allows us to hear the reflected sounds of architecture. It starts already in the morning

when we turn on the radio while eating breakfast and the distraction continues throughout the day.

When we leave the house we put on headphones, which completely blocks out our aural

17

27 Juhani Pallasmaa, The eyes of the skin - architecture and the senses, p. 50.28 Ibid. , p. 51.29 Ibid. 30 Ibid.

surroundings which is a sensory overload of mixed noises. When we go shopping, music is playing

in the supermarkets, stores and shopping malls. Often stores even have speakers outside of the store

so that one can hear the music when one is merely walking along the street past the store, which is

again a direct distraction if you want to hear the sound of the city. There is always so much going

on around us that it has become a rarity to have the silence that allows us to hear ’the voice of

architecture‘. It seems like the people in today’s society are so accustomed to the constant noise that

they are not able to handle silence any more. We have gotten so used to the stream of acousmatic

and non acousmatic sounds that we are afraid of facing the tranquility that starts surrounding us

when we turn off the distractions. When we are surrounded by silence the distance that we have

created between us and the world becomes noticeable. In silence we start facing our inner-self,

therefore our thoughts and feelings, and we perhaps feel this lost connection to the world.

How difficult it is to face this situation is shown in the performance of Marina Abramovic

that took place in May 2010 in the MoMA in New York. In this performance piece called ”The

Artist Is Present“ 31, Marina Abramovic is challenging people to face her in silence. During this

performance Abramovic sits on a chair for many hours looking the exhibition visitors directly in the

eyes in silence. The person sitting down on the chair opposite her is putting himself in a situation

where all the attention is on him, also the one of the people waiting around for their turn. The

reaction of the people was unique for every person. Many of them showed a very strong reaction

towards her, some even started to cry. It is interesting to see how the people reacted in this situation.

It is a quite uncomfortable situation for them, there is nothing that could distract them, so they have

to start to face the silence and with the silence they have to face themselves which can be quite an

existential experience.32

The composer John Cage also worked on confronting people with silence. In contrast to the

performance piece of Marina Abramovic the person is no longer the center of attention but instead

she becomes part of the silence. John Cage saw silence in a similar way to Pallasmaa. Cage was

very much interested in the tranquility of everyday life. He liked to listen to traffic and the sounds

that our environment produces.33 He listened to the sound of the city and its architecture. For him

all sounds were important and he did not make a difference between them even if some of them are

usually not considered as pleasing and therefore are not part of the usual study when composing. He

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31 Cotter, Holland, “700-Hour Silent Opera Reaches Final at MoMA”, The New York Times, 09.12.2016, http:// www.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/arts/design/31diva.html.32 Ibid.33 “John Cage about silence”, Youtube.com, 4:17 minutes, 14.10.16, https://www.youtube.com/watchv=pcHnL7aS64Y.

had a way of seeing the beauty in noises and their randomness and applied it to his pieces.34 In his

piece “4’33” he is challenging the audience to listen silence. He does that in a very smart and

interesting way. When playing the piece “4’33” everything starts just like you would expect when

going to a concert. The lights are dimmed and focused on the musician who enters the stage. He

goes to his instrument and gets ready to play, meanwhile the members of the audience stop talking

and get ready to sit and quietly listen to the music that is about to be played. Everything changes

when the musician is placing his hands on his instrument about to play the first tone; he stops and

remains in this position until a certain time is over.35 During that time the audience is surrounded by

silence and because they have prepared themselves to listen their full attention is now on listening

to their own sounds but also to the sounds of the space surrounding them. The audience is in a way

forced to internalize the silence and embrace the sounds of the space and therefore the voice of the

architecture around them. This unusual situation leads to a change in the perception of the space

and, as a result, of the perception of oneself as a human. The fact that it is now possible for us to

experience the space through the sense of hearing, which receives our sounds that are reflected back

at us from the boundaries of the space, makes us the center of the world that is around us.

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34 Brandon W. Joseph, ”John Cage and the Architecture of Silence“, 05.09.2016, http://beauty.gmu.edu/AVT307/ AVT307-001/Branden%20W.%20Joseph%20john%20cage%20and%20the%20architecture%20of %20silence.pdf, p. 94.35 ”John Cage’s 4’33“ ” Youtube.com, 7:44 minutes, 14.10.16, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oh-o3udImy8.

Closing

Philosophers, researchers and architects are investigating the fundamental questions of our

existence through phenomenology. In this case the individual and her perception of the world

around her is in the center of attention. The phenomenology of architecture investigates the way an

individual experiences a space through her own senses. It is part of the phenomenological theory to

assume everything one perceives is the truth, therefore it is not only the visual sense but also all the

other senses that influence us when experiencing architecture. The sense that is most in focus when

judging, designing and experiencing architecture seems to be the visual sense that is being criticized

by the authors Pallasmaa and Rasmussen. The focus on the visual leads to alienation of the

individual from the world. They emphasize the significance of applying all the senses to

architectural planning and experience which creates a life enhancing architecture that connects the

individual with the world.

The sense of hearing is especially able to create a connection from the individual to the

world because the acoustic experience is shaped by an interaction with space. The sound is coming

towards the individual as a resonance of the space around her which makes the individual the center

of her world which is created from the inside out. The sense of hearing also influences our

imagination and memories. Often one is not aware of how much one is able to hear of a space

because one is distracted by other impressions. The sound of the space become audible when sitting

in silence.

In my essay, I applied these connections to my personal memories and experiences, which at

the same time were the starting point of my interest in the subject. It showed me that as an architect

I have to learn even more about how a space is influencing my senses and how my senses influence

my impression of a space. I learned to not only focus on the look of a building but rather on how it

could feel, smell and sound. I think it is very important to keep in mind that the buildings, an

architect is designing, are based upon the personal experiences she made in her life. Writing this

essay has been a great experience for me, that will definitely influence the way I design and

experience architecture in the future. Already, while writing this essay, I noticed how it influenced

my everyday life. I started to turn off my music more often or take off my headphones when

walking around the city. It made me more sensitive to sounds in my surroundings and how they

effect my impressions and memories of a space. Overall I think it is important for architects to shift

their focus from the visual sense onto all the senses. When considering all senses it is important to

make models and have a closer look at the materials and shapes that are used in the design process.

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The experience I had as a child during the installation of the blind school and the strong influence

of this experience on my memories is an inspiration for me as an architect to work together with

people who are living without a certain sense or senses. Their competencies and experiences should

not be overlooked but specifically included into the planning process of buildings and urban spaces.

With their needs and input in mind, all senses are thought of equally in a way that will positively

effect everyone. This would add a new perspective on experiencing a space and could contribute to

creating a ‘life-enhancing’ architecture.

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Bibliography

Printed sources:

Bachelard, Gaston, The poethics of space, translated by Maria Jolas, Boston: Beacon, 1994.Hilgers, Mathieu, “Bourdieu, Pierre”, Bourdieu_Mathieu_Hilgers-libre.pdf, 09.12.2016.Pallasmaa, Juhani, Die Augen der Haut - Architektur und die Sinne, second edition, Los Angeles: Atara Press, 2013.Palasmaa, Juhani, The Eyes of the Skin - Architecture and the senses, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2005.Rasmussen, Steen Eiler, Experiencing architecture, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1964.

Web sources:

“Geschichte des Reichstagsgebäudes”, Deutscher Bundestag, 09.12.16, https://www.bundestag.de/ besuche/architektur/reichstag/geschichte/verlauf/246958.“John Cage about silence”, Youtube.com, 4:17 minutes, 14.10.16, https://www.youtube.com/ watchv=pcHnL7aS64Y.Joseph, Brandon W., “John Cage and the Architecture of Silence”, 05.09.2016, http:// beauty.gmu.edu/AVT307/AVT307-001/Branden%20W.%20Joseph%20john%20cage %20and%20the%20architecture%20of%20silence.pdf.Kane, Brian, Sound Unseen, Acousmatic Sounds in Theory and Practice, New York: Oxford University Press, 2014, 10.12.16, https://books.google.is/books? id=oHZ1AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA76&lpg=PA76&dq=Acousmatic,+adj.:+a+sound+that+one +hears+without+seeing+what+cause+it&source=bl&ots=Rvt9UQDiuc&sig=vBmIC6y JMHORvaUEAngBY9tmtbw&hl=de&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Acousmatic%2C %20adj.%3A%20a%20sound%20that%20one%20hears%20without%20seeing%20what %20causes%20it&f=false.Neugebauer, Christian, “Günzel, Stephan ‘Phänomenologie der Räumlichkeit’”, InteressensRäume, 09.12.2016, http://www.european-spaces.eu/2007/03/02/guenzel-stephan-phaenomenologie- der-raeumlichkeit/.

Artworks:

“Akranesviti: Rými til tónsköpunar”, facebook.com, 10.12.16, https://www.facebook.com/ Akranesviti-Rými-til-tónsköpunar-938105246246330/?fref=ts.“Basels kunstvollstes Pissoir”, TagesWoche, 15.10.2016, http://www.tageswoche.ch/de/2014_31/ kultur/663250/.Cotter, Holland, “700-Hour Silent Opera Reaches Final at MoMA”, The New York Times, 09.12.2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/arts/design/31diva.html.“Im Finstern die Welt der Blinden begreifen: Ein Parcours für Sehende im Steglitzer U-Bahnhof”, Der Tagesspiegel, 11.12.16, http://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/im-finstern-die-welt-der- blinden-begreifen-ein-parcours-fuer-sehende-im-steglitzer-u-bahnhof/89072.html.“John Cage’s 4’33” “ Youtube.com, 7:44 minutes, 14.10.16, https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=Oh-o3udImy8. “Spatial Positions 10 “Klang der Architektur””, S AM Schweizerisches Architekturmuseum, 15.10.2016, http://www.sam-basel.org/de/ausstellungen/spatial-positions-10-der-klang-der- architektur.“20 Jahre Reichtsagsverhüllung | Euromaxx”, Youtube.com, 4:54 minutes, 10.12.16, https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV-h4BqS1gg.

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