Abstract:

Sound can provide valuable contributions to the education and practice of architecture. First, architecture students should develop a theory of how sound and other environmental systems can become part of a larger theory of the making of architecture. Second, architects are trained to have highly developed sensibilities in the aesthetic design of space. Expanding the aesthetic component of buildings and environments to include the aural environment has the potential to enrich the fabric of communities and buildings. Third, architecture students must become acquainted with the materials, analytic techniques, and design approaches that acoustical consultants use. Furthermore, for acoustical information to become an integral part of architectural design and education, it must be organized in a way that allows expression or poesis to occur because these aesthetic principles are the building blocks of architectural design. Therefore, the science and engineering principles of noise control and architectural acoustics must be transformed into material that can become spatial, visual, and manipulable in creative ways by a design team. This requires that the basics of acoustics be reformulated in an architectural manner. This paper will address several of the transformations that have been attempted in the architectural acoustics curriculum at the University of Florida.