Landscape frames a living room, looking north. The house sits surrounded by old growth trees. Water to the north, and to to the west. Stone, water, wood, wind and light. Continue reading

hMa's vision of upstate New York for Teardrop Park brings greenery, and a sense of displacement between the city and the urban environment: woven fabric / Sound Urbanism. Continue reading

hMa Themes: Themes for hMa projects include: Green Urbanism; Musical Works/ Sound Urbanism/ Sound Ecology; Ramps/ Stairs; Rocks; Spirals; Water; Weave Architecture/ Weave Landscape; Wind; Window/ Sky Frames. This article will present examples of each theme. Continue reading

Victoria Meyers's 2013 graduate level course at the University of Cincinnati, Sound Urbanism / Sound Ecology, studied the change in the aural environment in Cincinnati, as the city has transitioned from an industrial to a high-technology economy. Continue reading

Shown: a detail image of Partch's Chromelodeon, a keyboard instrument with six octaves, and 43 tones to each microtonal octave. This instrument can be directly tied to the ideas of Johannes Itten, whose book on color theory, The Art of Color, defined contemporary color theory. Itten was a Swiss Expressionist painter, designer, teacher, writer and theorist, associated with the Bauhaus. Partch notated the micro-tonal intervals between sounds on the Chromelodeon using a color coded system, related to tones. Continue reading

Continuing the presentation of the Sound Urbanism/ Sound Ecology seminar from University of Cincinnati in the Spring semester 2013, I am showing four of Max Neuhaus's projects that were discussed in the seminar. Passage Works, shown in Neuhaus's sketch above, was a proposal by Max Neuhaus, to install sound installations, so that when people walk or drive down a street to reach a destination, their passage would be marked by various sounds. These points of sound inflection imply an active role for the listeners, who move through the piece, and set a series of static sound structures into motion. Continue reading

The best thing about Max Neuhaus is how Max studied things that most of us just take for granted. Like his study, above, suggesting the use of elevators and coloration to develop how one moves through an elevator. So that different colors would depict different floors, but the colors would also create different wavelengths of light, and these differential wavelengths would determine the sound(waves) that people would hear as they 'elevated', floor to floor. Victoria Meyers: Sound Art/ Sound Ecology Continue reading

Class 5 was dedicated to Max Neuhaus, following Max's contributions to Sound Urbanism/ Sound Ecology. The Image above depicts the reach of Neuhaus's Networks, or Broadcast Works. In 1977 Neuhaus formed 'Radionet' - initially an area with a radius of 20 miles in diameter around Manhattan: an open network combinding radio waves with telephone lines, for open on-air communication. Later Neuhaus expanded to 'Radio Net' - an On-Air forum that combined 190 Radio Stations. Continue reading

A quick overview of Sound Urbanism / Victoria Meyers architect, to date. The class has covered works by Stephen Vitiello, including his Light Recordings from the World Trade Center, and Pieces from Marfa, Texas. John Corigliano, composer, whose piece 'Campani di Ravello', is an attempt to recreate the spatial memory of Ravello, Italy, through bells, and other sounds. Ravello is a unique place, where five medieval chapels with original Medieval Bells still mark dawn, daily. A re-cap of the readings from Blesser + Salter's book, especially readings that detail the ideas behind the concept of a 'soundmark'. We checked in with the Seminar's Cincinnati Sound Sections. Continue reading

11.Toru.Takamitsu.1 Victoria Meyers' Sound Urbanism / Sound Ecology seminar at UCincinnati (Spring 2013) looked at the sounds and writings of Toru Takemitsu. Above, Takemitsu's 'a flock descends into the pentagonal garden'. Toru Takemitsu was a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu was incredibly skilled in the manipulation of Instrumental and orchestral Timbre. Takemitsu wrote scores for over 90 films. He was also known for successfully juxtaposing silence with sound. Continue reading

When Xenakis came to Le Corbusier's office, he was a trained engineer. Xenakis brought training in several mathematical forms that LC felt encouraged to apply to his architectural works. This includes Stochastic systems, which Xenakis first applied to the windows of LC's housing project in Reze, 1950 - 54. Sound Urbanism/ Sound Ecologly: Victoria Meyers architect Continue reading

Speakers/ Lecturers who presented to the seminar included Prof. Mara Helmuth, who is a Professor at the CCM at University of Cincinnati. Prof. Mara was selected as a presenter because of her broad knowledge about sound, as well as her connection to Harry Partch, John Cage, and David Dunn. Continue reading

PIerre Boulez, in his studio in IRCAM, the International Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics and Music. IRCAM is one of the world's largest public research centers dedicated to musical expression and scientific research. Victoria Meyers architect: Sound Urbanism // Sound Ecology Continue reading

Is Brian Eno's name an anagram? If you switch the letters of his last name: eon (an extremely long, indefinite length of time): you get his relationship to Long Now Foundation. Our interest in Eno, however, is his relationship to music and sound, and how he brings the history of Bells to the Long Now Ambient sound/ Sound Ecology/ Sound Urbanism. Victoria Meyers architect. Continue reading

Shown above: an anechoic chamber - a space without any echo. A room designed to absorb reflections of sound. Next to that - a diagram of two parabolic mirrors, facing each outher. Parabolic mirrors are capable of fusing spaces that are separated by up to a quarter mile - using echo, and reflected sound. Both of these are tools to use for understanding sound, sound waves, sound ecology, and sound urbanism. Continue reading

Silence is the base condition for Sound Urbanism and Sound Ecology. Sound Urbanism // Sound Ecology is the title of a course taught by Victoria Meyers architect in 2012 - 2013 at the University of Cincinnati's Graduate School of Architecture. Above: hMa's (Victoria Meyers architect) Won Buddhist Retreat, where the Meditation Hall was developed as an enclave of silence. This was achieved both through the site planning and landscape design (by hMa), and also by attention placed on sound-proofing in the building, in collaboration with Jaffe Holden Acoustics. Continue reading

Process: Duchamp: Framed Glass. This refers to architects hMa's process (Victoria Meyers architect) in designing DWi-P : Digital Water i-Pavilion. The building was designed around ideas about how glass can have a presence that exceeds its physical thickness. The thickness can be determined through its intellectual ideas, which can greatly exceed the physicality of the glass thicnkess. In the case of Marcel Duchamp's Large Glass, that thickness was processed and presented as a physical rendering of Einstein's Theory of Relativity, cut into the glass surface. In the case of hMa's WaTER wall, that thickness could be seen as an exposition about the thickness of current ideas about physicality, as related to digital technologies; and the presentation of a social critique about the increasing scarcity of clean water, even as the world's water levels rise, due to melting ice caps. Continue reading

Above: Infinity Chapel, showing the sequence from MacDougal Street (the Reading Room) to the Chapel, to the west. Next to the photo of the Infinity Chapel Reading Room, the diagram of the building's sound and light portals. These 'portals' are boxes that light above and below, and with movable 'sound panels' to allow sound to come up from the basement level, below. These are also visible as boxes, in the image of the Reading Room, above. Continue reading

Formal sound spaces designed by Victoria's firm include WaveLine, in Queens, New York. WaveLine is located near the Queens MoMA, and PS 1. For more information about Sound Urbanism, see earlier posts by this blog. In 2014 Victoria will be publishing Shape of Sound, with Black Dog Publishers, London Continue reading

Above: Cincinnati Sound Sections by University of Cincinnati School of Architecture students Laura Helminski and Jaron Popko. Continue reading

Victoria Meyers architect's Sound Urbanism/ Sound Ecology graduate seminar at University of Cincinnati's Graduate School of Architecture produced some amazing sound sections, studying sounds in Cincinnati, marking the city's change from an industrial to a service economy. Students: Reuben Alt, Robert Castro; Rebecca Snyder, Joshua Michaels. Continue reading

Women in Architecture: Female architects in the post include Zaha Hadid, Jeanne Gang, and Sarah Wigglesworth. To view the post, visit the link below: http://mdehnd.wordpress.com/2012/10/19/is-the-architect-has-being-a-woman-in-architecture-changed/ Continue reading

Victoria Meyers architect's Sound Urbanism/ Sound Ecology graduate seminar at University of Cincinnati's Graduate School of Architecture produced informational sound sections, studying sounds in Cincinnati, marking the city's change from an industrial to a service economy. Students: Anjali Patel and Adam Wisler. Continue reading

Musique Concrete: from Victoria Meyers architect's course at the University of Cincinnati Graduate School of Architecture: Sound Urbanism. Click on the link, to hear a composition from Pierre Schaeffer, the 'father' of Musique Concrete. Continue reading

Victoria Meyers architect's book, Shape of Sound', will have a sound piece, based on the wavelengths of light related to the colors of each chapter's heading. Check in to this blog for postings of the sound score for Victoria's book. Sound Urbanism/ Sound Ecology ; Victoria Meyers architect Continue reading