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Audio Gallery

Part 1 Project 2008
Andrew Watts
 University of Lincoln Lincoln | UK
The project focuses on the manipulation of sound, the building design is for an Audio Gallery sited on the edge of Jemaa el Fna Square, Marrakech the busiest marketplace in North Africa.
The project was generated through the exploration of a loudspeaker as an object and the resultant sounds emitted by it this was further elaborated on through sound recordings and analysis as part of my site analysis. A number of investigations were undertaken to help inform this process; dissection of the speaker, casting of the speaker followed by dissection of the casts, the recording of sound. The culmination of this being the construction of an installation, designed to map sound waves and allow a coding of the results, the objective being to use all of the collected material to develop an architectural language.
The context of Morocco was integral to the design, the intention being to allow the building to be informed by its context. This became about the noise and sounds I experienced particularly in the vicinity of my site, they were sounds I’d never really heard before but which were still very familiar. This incredibly rich experience led to the development of my brief as an Audio Gallery.
The gallery consists of a series of spaces wrapping around and penetrating through one another, centring on a silent vault in the middle. The intention was to combine a sense of the chaotic architecture of the nearby Souks, but focusing it through an architectural language already established in my initial investigations. As with the Souks an important factor is the users themselves, every sound created affects the building, either in that location, or elsewhere in the gallery. My intention was to create an audio vault and amplifier as a building, to capture the amazing sense of place that is generated by the noise in the Square and Souks.

Andrew Watts

Andrew’s project crackles with the exuberance of a student discovering a new country and culture. His project is predicated on an examination of the contemporary cultural conditions of Morocco as explored and discovered during the unit’s trip to Marrakech, it pays full cognisance to these discoveries. Blending his studio investigation into audio speaker construction and sound installation with his buildings design. His building becoming a series of sound stages that amplify, modify or eradicate the cacophony of sound, which emanates from the Jemaa el Fna Square.
Programmatically the building sits edgily between the traditional use for that site, which is cafes, teahouses and restaurants and a very contemporary view on performance space and potential visual and acoustic interactions with the square. The resultant design is a cross between the sense of spatial chaos experienced in the souks off the Square and a western sense of order and minimalism, the tension between the two creating a unique set of spaces and a unique project.

2008
Introduction - The project was formed from the exploration of a loudspeaker as a physical object and its purpose.
Repetitive Speaker Imaging - Repetition was a common feature found throughout the investigation of the speaker.
Generation of forms - Production of casts of the speaker and further investigation helped manufacture building forms.
Installation - A flour installation helped portray the affect of sound on the physical.
Render 001 - A series of vocal pods penetrates up through a central silent vault.
Basement Plan with Render - An auxiliary stairwell, clad in mesh to allow airflow, reaches the full height of the building, allowing both air and light to penetrate throughout.
Ground Floor Plan with Render - Forms for the building were created from development of the casts.
First Floor Plan with Render - The face of the building has a series of holes punching through to the market place. The forms of these holes distort and enhance the sound offering a different experience of markets atmosphere.
Third Floor Plan with Render - A series of shafts penetrate through the building to almost all areas, allowing the user to add to the sound of those rooms or listen.
Section AA - The focal point of the building is the silent vault in the centre. Some circulation and rooms wrap around this, while others punch through, but still leave the vault silent.
Elevation - The face of the building has a number of openings allowing both light and sound to enter.
Acoustic Detailing - To create a completely silent space, a lone room was constructed, with sound insulation shielding it from the rest of the structure.
Concept 001 - This images shows the verticality of the building and how each space is intended to lead up through the building.
Concept 002 - A series of vertical shafts amplify sound up and down, giving the user an experience of other locations through the structure.
Render 002 - The auditorium space relies on the external environment for the majority of sound and light. Openings in the wall allow for this to happen.
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