Aural Architecture....

Ideas from this post come from reading 'Spaces Speak, are you listening?' by Barry Blesser & Linda-Ruth Salter. See also http://www.blesser.net/spacesSpeak.html

Rather than just focussing on the physical characteristics of a space and our perception of acoustic parameters, sounds aural architecture has more of a focus on our experience of an aural space. There is a large ammount of information on measuring acoustic processes and sensory detection but not so much on the phenomenology of aural space.

Auditory spatial awareness

Auditory spatial awareness is made up of a complex mix of things:

• physical attributes of the space
• auditory perception
• personal history & cultural values

It influences:
(1) our social behaviour by emphasising aural privacey or reinforcing social interactions;
(2) our orientation and navigation through a space;
(3) our aesthetic impressions of a space by adding aural richness or contributing to a feeling of sterility or barreness if there is a lack of acoustic features;
(4) and enhances our experience of music - the space is an extensin of the musical or vocal art form performed within it.

These 4 components of auditory spatial awareness also correspond to the 4 main paramters of aural architecture.

The combination of numerous surfaces, objects and geometries in a complicated environment creates and 'aural architecture'.
'Aural' here refers to the human experience of a sonic process, of listening. So aural architecture refers to the properties of a space that can be experienced by listening. [Listening defined as active attention or reaction to the meaning, emotions and symbolism contained within sound]

An 'aural architect' selects specific aural attributes of a space based on what is desirable in a particular cultural/social environment. That is, they focus on the way people experience the space when listening (cultural acoustics) rather than the way the space changes the physical properties of sound waves (spatial acoustics) that an acoustic architect/engineer would.

Aural architecture and visual architecture have paralllels; when they align, they reinforce each other (eg. cathedral, grand opera hall). But sometimes conflict (eg. expensive restaurant with a reverberating clatter).

Soundscapes & aural architecture

Food metaphor: sonic events = raw ingredients; aural architecture = cooking style; soundscape = resulting dish...
Soundscapes - the sounds themselves are important but for aural architecture, sounds are only required to illuminate it but this disinctive is not always relevant.

Light is needed to illuminate visual architecture, sounds are needed to illuminate aural architecture. Humans produce sound but not light.