In the Place of Sound: Architecture Music Acoustics

In early June 2006, a group of over one hundred artists and researchers met for a three-day conference in the Architecture Building at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada, to discuss-from as many different viewpoints as possible-the varying relationships between sound and space. This conference was part of soundaXis, a city-wide festival involving most of Toronto's new music community and organised by the Toronto Coalition of New Music Presenters. Out of the lively discussions at this conference, two primary themes emerged: the fraught condition of the relationship between sound as space, and the problematic role of representation and its twin, translation, in any discussion of this relationship. This book presents thirteen essays taken from the conference which address one, or both, of these primary themes. In addition, seven graphic essays have been included which present projects in which architects explicitly take on sound as a generating material in their designs. The resulting chapters in the book provide a diverse and, hopefully, provocative collection of ideas and images. They are meant not so much as a comprehensive study of the sounduspace nexus-such a study may not actually be possible-but as a place to begin the discussion.
About the Author: Colin Ripley is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Architectural Science at Ryerson University, and Graduate Program Director for Ryerson's new Master of Architecture degree. Broadly speaking, Mr. Ripley is interested in architecture as a form of cultural exploration. Specific areas of research within this wide field include the role of architecture (and of the architect) in the extended framework of Western cultural practices; and the use of sound in architectural design. He is also a director of RVTR, which seeks to operate as a bridge between academic research practices and professional practices in architecture. Colin Ripley holds a Bachelor of Engineering from McMaster University, a Master of Science in theoretical physics from the University of Toronto, and a Master of Architecture from Princeton University. Marco Polo is a registered architect and Associate Professor in the Department of Architectural Science at Ryerson University, Toronto. Educated at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, he has worked in professional practice, has published extensively on architecture and design and was editor of Canadian Architect from 1997 to 2003. Recent work includes the touring exhibition and accompanying catalogue 41 to 66: Regional Responses to Sustainable Architecture in Canada (2005, curated and authored in collaboration with Professor John McMinn of the University of Waterloo School of Architecture), and The Prix de Rome in Architecture: A Retrospective, published by Coach House Books (2006). Arthur Wrigglesworth is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Architectural Science at Ryerson University, Toronto and a practicing architect, licensed in Ontario and California. A graduate in Architectural Science from Ryerson and SCIArc (Southern California Institute of Architecture), he has participated in the design of a range projects throughout North America as well as globally. His current areas of research are focused on: the ability for architecture to impact social justice issues; and the use of digital media techniques in the conceptualization, representation and perception of the design process and product.