Listed in: Architectural Studies, as ARCH-106 | Music, as MUSI-107
Miriam A. Kolar (Section 01)
(Offered as ARCH 106 and MUSI 107.) Sound––heard or otherwise perceived––influences human existence, how we interpret lived experience, how we understand places and events. Yet our awareness of sound varies individually and contextually.
This course posits sound as a medium that can be constructed and environmentally transformed. How do spatial acoustics inform and affect us? How is sound intrinsic to individual and social experience?
Built environments and architectural forms embody structured acoustic dynamics, whether their particular sonics are design features or ephemeral artifacts of spatial constructs. Musical and engineered sound products directly engage the human activities of sound making and consuming, often abstracted from specific spatial environments, yet substantially linked to sense of place through cultural context. From vibratory mechanics to conceptual design, we will examine the material and immaterial ramifications of sonic structures and the structuring of sounds, their human interactive potentials and experiential implications. An interdisciplinary range of texts, works, and concepts will drive our exploration and analysis of sound as an environmental constant and fundament to human experience.
Students will develop two projects: a concise research paper that initiates a literature review and poses a perspective on a theme related to course discussion, and a design proposal for a space, object, artwork/installation, experiment or music/sound composition that will be presented to the class.
Open to all students; no prerequisites or prior experience necessary. 2 class meetings per week.
Five College Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow Miriam Kolar. Spring 2014.
Section 01
Tu 11:30 AM - 12:50 PM ARMU 212
Th 11:30 AM - 12:50 PM ARMU 212
This is preliminary information about books for this course. Please contact your instructor or the Academic Coordinator for the department, before attempting to purchase these books.
| ISBN | Title | Publisher | Author(s) | Comment | Book Store | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sonic Experience: A Guide to Everyday Sounds | McGill-Queen's University Press, 2005 (reprints 2008, 2009) | Ed.: Augoyard, Jean-Francois and Torgue, Henry | Required | Amherst Books | TBD | |
| The Sound Book: The Science of Sonic Wonders of the World | W W Norton & Co, 2013 | Cox, Trevor | Required | Amherst Books | TBD | |
| The Sound Studies Reader | Routledge, 2012 | Sterne, Jonathan | Required | Amherst Books | TBD | |
| Acoustics and Psychoacoustics | Focal Press, 2009 | Howard, David and Angus, Jamie | Recommended | Amherst Books | TBD | |
| Architectural Acoustics | J Ross Publishing, 2007 | Egan, M David | Recommended | Amherst Books | TBD |
These books are available locally at Amherst Books.