Project Distortion I
2010
Copenhagen, Denmark
Image Source: Brady Peters / Anders Ingvartsen
Project Distortion is a transatlantic collaboration between architecture students and instructors from Copenhagen and New York. This project took as its starting point the desire to create varied experiences of sound and light. Distortion I was an architectural design unit taught by Martin Tamke, Brady Peters, Niels Jacubiak Andersen, Ali Tabatabai, Reese Campbell, and Demetrios Comodromos. It is an innovative sound and light installation for the Distortion Music Festival in Copenhagen, Denmark. The mobile installation was installed in four different venues during the festival, outdoors in the street, in a small nightclub, in a grand hall and in a crowded lobby. The students, from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School of Architecture in Copenhagen and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute School of Architecture in New York, worked together for four months.
Image Source: Brady Peters / Anders Ingvartsen
Project Distortion I is a digitally fabricated, reconfigurable, acoustic pavilion made up of over 100 soft, sound cones arranged in a hexagonal geometric configuration. The cones are hand-assembled and covered on one side with gold foil. The pavilion is an aggregated construction of modular components. Project Distortion is an architectural device to transform our experience of sound and light. It explores the potentials of parametric design, is informed by material logic, and is inspired by the urban experience of light and sound.
Sound is a complex phenomenon that traditional architectural drawing tools do not capture well. This project used parametric design tools to allow for the encoding of relationships between material, geometry, and acoustic performance in a digital model. Computational simulation tools were used to give visual and aural feedback on how designs perform. These tools gave the ability to contemplate the sound of architectural propositions. Different sounds, sound positions, and listener positions could be tested, as could different geometric and material configurations. This project assumes that sound should be a part of the architectural design process.
Sound is a complex phenomenon that traditional architectural drawing tools do not capture well. This project used parametric design tools to allow for the encoding of relationships between material, geometry, and acoustic performance in a digital model. Computational simulation tools were used to give visual and aural feedback on how designs perform. These tools gave the ability to contemplate the sound of architectural propositions. Different sounds, sound positions, and listener positions could be tested, as could different geometric and material configurations. This project assumes that sound should be a part of the architectural design process.
Image Source: Brady Peters / Anders Ingvartsen
Acoustic performance is typically communicated using numerical acoustic parameters represented as graphic displays specific to a sound source and sound location. Arranged in a spatial grid, this can graphically show the gradient of acoustic performance that exists in a space. A specific sound source is still used, and it is possible to virtually move around the room and understand how performance varies from one position to another. Reflection diagrams are another technique used to show how sound should perform in a space. Reflection diagrams typically show the propagation of sound overlaid on conventional orthographic drawings. Less frequently, designers sketch conceptual diagrams of sound spaces in order to capture design intent. Using parametric modeling techniques, these sketches can become drivers for the generation of geometry and material.
Image Source: Brady Peters
New digital modeling tools and techniques allow architects to create digital models that explore and balance spatial, functional, and sonic performance requirements. Architects are then able to explore new and future design scenarios. These new tools and technologies allow for performance criteria and aural relationships to be considered during the design process. These techniques, while they are not creating new potentials, allow for the exploration of potentially unconsidered options and the discovery of hidden optimized conditions within the model definition. In this way, parametric modeling allows for the creation of a tunable digital and design space. Simulation of acoustic performance allows us to hear our designs.
Image Source: Brady Peters
A survey of current architectural design software shows that no software gives feedback regarding acoustic performance. However, parametric modeling can allow the creation of custom digital tools which can allow sound to become a consideration during the architectural design process. Acoustic performance simulation can then provide necessary feedback by which the sound experience can be studied and predicted prior to construction. The science of architectural acoustics provides mathematical descriptions and numerical techniques by which acoustic performance can be simulated. However, this in itself does not bring sound into the architectural design process. Designers must be able to explore and play with different aural concepts. Sound design is missing in architecture. The design of the sound experience exists for cinema, computer games, and industrial design, but not for everyday architecture.
Many thanks to all of the students from Department 8 at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School of Architecture and from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute School of Architecture in New York. The project would not have been possible with expertise, knowledge, and generosity of Akustikmiljö of Sweden.
Many thanks to all of the students from Department 8 at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School of Architecture and from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute School of Architecture in New York. The project would not have been possible with expertise, knowledge, and generosity of Akustikmiljö of Sweden.