Audialsense

This situated research project is a direct response to rigid conventions of acoustics and architecture in practice.

Overview

This situated research project is a direct response to rigid conventions of acoustics and architecture in practice. The site, Silo468, is a disused gas cylinder on the outskirts of Helsinki, Finland, on an island being redeveloped for housing.

Building on a base of sine waves, additional waves with more complex harmonic overtone sequences were added. Square waves and sawtooth waves resulted in a bed of scaled tones that generated a base drone. These waves were output from speakers placed in a circular array around the site, constantly on and constantly droning. Data from the environmental sensors located around the building was captured and used to modulate a filter of a series of complex waveforms. As the wind eddied around the silo, generating high- and low-pressure points, the sound was modulated by changing the cutoff frequency and resonance of the waves’ upper partials to reflect environmental changes. This created a complex spatially specific timbre in the room, generating a ‘sonification’ of the local environmental changes.

The effect was surprisingly powerful, and the resultant soundscape was deeply resonant and in constant flux. The antinodes generated by the non-fluctuating sine waves generated a clear geometrical pattern on the floor plane that could be physically felt. On top of this, the square and triangle waves gently modulated and shifted, generating a fleeting experience that seemed to tease occupants by constantly moving around the space.

People

Paul Bavister
Ian Knowles
Jason Flanagan

External partners

Helsinki Design Week
Lighting Design Collective

Image credits

Images: Audialsense