Conceptual architectural/acoustical design

Abstract

The thinking which characterizes acoustics as a branch of physics and engineering has difficulty with the architectural design process—the process that generates a room concept in the imagination and experience of the architect. The architect has learned to ‘‘sense’’ the visual properties of a room as the design develops in the interaction between mind and media. Phrases such as ‘‘wanting to be’’ express the architectural intention but too often such intentions are dismissed as arbitrary; acoustics may then be about fixing the design with acoustical add-ons. Occasionally there is a true meeting of minds—a creative and receptive architect and an acoustician able to communicate at the level of the architectural intention. There is evidently an auditory dimension of wanting to be which is one with the visual. This paper explores the idea in several examples and concludes with suggestions for the training of acousticians.