by Karim Abdel-Wadood

In thinking about the built environment it seems that we are often concerned mostly with the visual aspects of the architectural landscape. This is not necessarily unusual given that how something looks is a very powerful indicator of it’s identity and it’s attributes. We then create heavy associations between our visual perception and how something feels, specifically as it pertains to architecture. Rarely do we ever think about how a building sounds and subsequently, how the way it sounds makes us feel.

As architects, sound intrigues us for two reasons. The first and most obvious reason being that acoustic design transforms the nature of a space and largely influences it’s function. The second reason is that there is an incredible amount of information that can be extracted from any sound recording, specifically as it pertains to spatial data. As sound is created naturally, it comes to interact with the spaces that we have built and is further carved by them.

The entirety of the physical world, as we perceive it, is composed of manifestations of vibrational frequencies[1]. All things are vibrating because all things are in motion. The Earth itself behaves like a gigantic circuit, vibrating at a frequency of 7.83 hertz. This is known as the Schumann resonance[2]. What is worthy of attention here is that Earth’s vibration can be clearly measured in natural environments – places like the ocean – but almost impossible to measure in the city where artificial signals cause interference. Electrical engineer Lewis B. Hainsworth hypothesized that geophysical parameters may have affects on health due to the amount of interference with the Schumann resonance. From this it has been hypothesized that the Schumann resonance acts as a tuning fork for all processes of life. Although that is just a theory, what we know with a fair amount of certainty is that vibrations and resonance have an integral relationship with consciousness[3]. The ways that gamma, theta and beta waves oscillate in the brain and interact with each other simulate various types of consciousness. Specific types of communication between resonating bodies are what allow consciousness to expand beyond a highly simplistic level[4].

The design of a space, specifically in terms of the way the elements are organized relative to each other, affects the quality of the sounds that are interacting with these many surfaces and objects. While these sounds are infinitely variable because they are influenced by things outside the physical elements that we can organize, the way we organize objects within space carves out a specific character to the sounds created within[5]. This concept can be expanded upon when we look at how spaces were designed to specifically accommodate specific sounds. Certain kinds of music were developed in specific spaces and these spaces were designed to accentuate certain elements in those different genres of music. Examples would be how gothic churches were built to boost the textural melodic qualities of Gregorian chanting and how open public spaces became gathering spaces to listen to the heavily percussive and rhythmic music of certain African traditions[6].

As we strive towards elevating the human experience through good design and through building structures with the tools of the Earth that allow us to find shelter, to establish familial structures and to reflect our identities and traditions, we must also seek to push our understanding of what the built environment is supposed to do for us. In creating spaces that acknowledge the relationship between resonance and consciousness we can build incubators for higher forms of being instead of building things that are purely meant to sustain our current state of being. Understanding the relationships between frequencies and the formal physical arrangements that they take on can allow us to create highly meditative and immersive spaces, which will undoubtedly facilitate growth and healing, and perhaps begin to gently push us towards an expansion of our consciousness.

[1] “The Architecture of Sound | Shea Trahan | TEDxVermilionStreet.” Performance by Shea Trahan, TED-Ed, 13 Oct. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-BMF4e-1bg.

[2] Guzman, Isabel Pastor, and Jan says: “Tuning in to the Earth's Natural Rhythm " Page 2 of 2 " Brain World.” Brain World, 14 Aug. 2020, brainworldmagazine.com/tuning-in-to-the-earths-naturalrhythm/2/.

[3] Tam Hunt, Jonathan Schooler. The "easy part" of the Hard Problem: a resonance theory of consciousness. Authorea. January 04, 2019.

[4] Hunt, Tam. “The Hippies Were Right: It's All about Vibrations, Man!” Scientific American Blog Network, Scientific American, 5 Dec. 2018, blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/the-hippies-were-right-its-all-about-vibrations-man/.

[5] Isaza, Miguel. “Sonic Architecture.” Designing Sound, 29 Sept. 2014, designingsound.org/2014/09/29/sonic-architecture/#:~:text=Within%20architecture%2C%20every%20built%20space,into%20a%20unique%20auditory%20experience.%E2%80%9D.

[6] “How Architecture Helped Music Evolve - David Byrne.” TED-Ed, 8 Mar. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6uXJWxpKBM.