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Towards Black Noise: The importance of sound and hearing in shaping spatial experience

Part 1 Dissertation 2016
Josh Fenton
 Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture | UK
This dissertation focusses in on sound, and the user experience of space and architecture. The writer analyses four key works of the sound artist Susan Phillipsz’s. These works have been inserted into specific urban contexts, changing our understanding of the pre-existing space. The author uses these experiences, in conjunction with photographic and sound recordings to understand the folly of these works, and the wider importance of sound in architecture.

Tutor(s)
Ella Chmielewska
2016
Despite the group nature of the experience, the actual listening experience can be quite personal.
The listener cannot help but notice the visual cues present in the space. Firstly, the manner in which the shadows magnify the presence of the loudspeakers in the gallery, but also the juxtaposition between the fragile, broken sounds and the ‘newness’ of
Fog is prevalent in Hohenems as in Bregenz, creating another experiential link between the two sites. The fog is both a visual and aural ‘cloak‘, able to alter the acoustic properties of the space, manipulating the reverberations and echoes. Phillipsz als
Phillipsz sees a direct correlation between the importance of the stair at the Kunsthaus, and the gradient of the site at the cemetery. The upwards procession accentuates the experience of event.
As well as the fog which is encroaching upon the city, and the Kunsthaus (centred), the photograph also documents the relative stillness, the absence of people at mid day. This is the main trainline that connects Bregenz to Hohenems and the satellite inst
Due to the diffuse light which is spread across each floor plate in the Kunsthaus, ascending to the next floor one feels as if they are entering a fog of some kind. The sounds from the two adjoining floors merge with one another to create a more complete
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