Ian Simpson Architects, Beetham Tower, Manchester, England, 2004-6 ‘An intermittent hum, in windy weather, is believed to emanate from the roof’s glass blade which was first reported in May 2006 - just weeks after the tower opened. It is close to standard musical pitch of B3 (247 Hertz) and has been compared to a “UFO landing.” Work to reduce or eradicate the noise took place in 2007, 2008 and 2010. Foam pads were installed in 2007, aluminium nosing in 2007 and further work done in February 2010, but attempts to eradicate the noise permanently have been unsuccessful. In January 2012 strong winds caused very loud humming and the architect apologised. It was suggested that the decorative glass blade could be removed to solve the problem.’

Ian Simpson Architects, Beetham Tower, Manchester, England, 2004-6

‘An intermittent hum, in windy weather, is believed to emanate from the roof’s glass blade which was first reported in May 2006 - just weeks after the tower opened. It is close to standard musical pitch of B3 (247 Hertz) and has been compared to a “UFO landing.” Work to reduce or eradicate the noise took place in 2007, 2008 and 2010. Foam pads were installed in 2007, aluminium nosing in 2007 and further work done in February 2010, but attempts to eradicate the noise permanently have been unsuccessful. In January 2012 strong winds caused very loud humming and the architect apologised. It was suggested that the decorative glass blade could be removed to solve the problem.’

Leo Villareal, The Bay Lights, San Francisco, CA, 2013

"I hear the whistle of the locomotive in the wood. Wherever that music comes it has its sequel. It is the voice of the civility of the Nineteenth Century saying, ‘Here I am.’"
— Ralph Waldo Emerson, From Leo Marx’s The Machine in the Garden, 1964 (via archrecord)
"There is a beautiful saying by an American philosopher, Alan Watts. He used to say that through our eyes the universe is perceiving itself, and through our ears the universe is listening to its cosmic harmonies. And we are the witness to which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence."
— Stefan Pashov, Werner Herzog’s Encounters at the End of the World, 2007

BAM + ARUP, Renderings of the Nature Gate, Nanjing, China, 2013

“The simple and elegant form of the gate performs naturally as an enhanced acoustical device. Sound from the inside of the Nature Gate, like the cascading fall of water, is projected into the Jiajing Riverside Park. And conversely, like an ear, the Nature Gate amplifies the sounds of the external environment for those standing inside of the gate.”

Tonkin Liu Architects, Singing Ringing Tree, Burnley, England, 2004

British Government, Sound Mirrors, Greatstone Lakes, England, 1928-30 (via spectralfuturist) ‘The sound mirrors were part of Britain’s national defense strategy. They were designed to pick up the sound of approaching enemy aircraft.’

British Government, Sound Mirrors, Greatstone Lakes, England, 1928-30 (via spectralfuturist)

‘The sound mirrors were part of Britain’s national defense strategy. They were designed to pick up the sound of approaching enemy aircraft.’

atelier WHY, Riverfront Design Competition Entry “The Forest,” Detroit, MI, 2012 (via archinect)

Julian Treasure, “Why Architects Need to Use Their Ears,” TED Edinburgh, Scotland, 2012

‘Due to poor acoustics, students in classrooms miss 50 percent of what their teachers say and patients in hospitals have trouble sleeping because they continually feel stressed. Julian Treasure sounds a call to action for designers to pay attention to the “invisible architecture” of sound.’

British Army, WWI Aircraft Detection before Radar (radio detection and ranging), c. 1917 (via polychroniadis) 

British Army, WWI Aircraft Detection before Radar (radio detection and ranging), c. 1917 (via polychroniadis) 

(Source: ztox)

Klein Tech Solutions, Anechoic Chamber with a Tank, 2011 Reminds me of Inges Idee’s German Panther in Berlin from 2007 (see here).

Klein Tech Solutions, Anechoic Chamber with a Tank, 2011

Reminds me of Inges Idee’s German Panther in Berlin from 2007 (see here).

Etymologies of the Month (August 2011)

August 2011 saw the Beginning of the BLDGS Studio on the GA Tech School of Music

  1. Music (n): mid-13c., from O.Fr. musique, from L. musica, from Gk. mousike techne “art of the Muses,” from Mousa “Muse” (see muse); In classical Greece, any art in which the Muses presided, but especially music; The use of letters to denote music notes is probably at least from ancient Greece, as their numbering system was ill-suited to the job; Natural scales begin at C (not A) because in ancient times the minor mode was more often used than the major one; The natural minor scale begins at A.
  2. Sound (n): “noise,” late 13c., soun, from O.Fr. son, from L. sonus “sound,” from PIE *swonos, from base *swen- “to sound” (cf. Skt. svanati “it sounds,” svanah “sound, tone;” L. sonare “to sound;” O.Ir. senim “the playing of an instrument;” O.E. geswin “music, song,” swinsian “to sing;” O.N. svanr, O.E. swan “swan,” prop. “the sounding bird”).
  3. Noise (n): early 13c., “loud outcry, clamor, shouting,” from O.Fr. noise “uproar, brawl” (in modern Fr. only in phrase chercher noise “to pick a quarrel”), apparently from L. nausea “disgust, annoyance, discomfort,” lit. “seasickness” (see nausea: 1560s, from L. nausea “seasickness,” from Ionic Gk. nausia (Attic nautia) “seasickness, nausea,” from naus “ship”); Another theory traces the O.Fr. word to L. noxia “hurting, injury, damage.”
  4. Voice (n): late 13c., “sound made by the human mouth,” from O.Fr. voiz, from L. vocem (nom. vox) “voice, sound, utterance, cry, call, speech, sentence, language, word,” related to vocare “to call,” from PIE base *wekw- “give vocal utterance, speak” (cf. Skt. vakti “speaks, says,” vacas- “word;” Avestan vac- “speak, say;” Gk. aor. eipon “spoke, said,” epos “word;” O.Prus. wackis “cry;” Ger. er-wähnen “to mention”).
  5. Pitch (n): “tar,” O.E. pic, from L. pix (gen. picis) “pitch,” from PIE base *pi- “sap, juice” (cf. Gk. pissa, Lith. pikis, O.C.S. piklu “pitch,” related to L. pinus; see pine.
  6. Rhythm (n): 1550s, from L. rhythmus “movement in time,” from Gk. rhythmos “measured flow or movement, rhythm,” related to rhein “to flow,” from PIE base *sreu- “to flow” (see rheum); In M.L., rithmus was used for accentual, as opposed to quantitative, verse, and accentual verse was usually rhymed.
  7. Melody (n): late 13c., from O.Fr. melodie, from L.L. melodia, from Gk. meloidia “singing, chanting, a tune for lyric poetry,” from melos “song, part of song,” originally “limb” + oide “song, ode.”
  8. Harmony (n): late 14c., from O.Fr. armonie “harmony,” also the name of a musical instrument (12c.), from L. harmonia, from Gk. harmonia “agreement, concord of sounds,” also as a proper name, the personification of music, lit. “means of joining,” used of ship-planks, etc., also “settled government, order,” related to harmos “fastenings of a door; shoulder,” from PIE *ar-ti-, from *ar- “to fit together” (see arm).
  9. Timbre (n): “characteristic quality of a musical sound,” 1849, from Fr. timbre “quality of a sound,” earlier “sound of a bell,” from O.Fr., “bell without a clapper,” originally “drum,” probably via Medieval Gk. *timbanon, from Gk. tympanon “kettledrum” (see tympanum: “drum of the ear,” 1610s, from M.L. tympanum, introduced in this sense by Italian anatomist Gabriello Fallopio (1523-1562), from L. tympanum “drum,” from Gk. tympanon “a drum, panel of a door,” from root of typtein “to beat, strike” (see type)).
  10. Texture (n): early 15c., “network, structure,” from M.Fr., from L. textura “web, texture, structure,” from stem of texere “to weave,” from PIE base *tek- “to make” (cf. Skt. taksati “he fashions, constructs,” taksan “carpenter;” Avestan taša “ax, hatchet,” thwaxš- “be busy;” O.Pers. taxš- “be active;” Gk. tekton “carpenter,” tekhne “art;” O.C.S. tesla “ax, hatchet;” Lith. tasau “to carve;” O.Ir. tal “cooper’s ax;” O.H.G. dahs, Ger. Dachs “badger,” lit. “builder;” Hittite taksh- “to join, unite, build”); Meaning “structural character” is recorded from 1650s.

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