A Contribution to the phono-kinetic approach: An architectural experimentation to design a public shelter

Abstract

Despite the current evolution of several tools that help understanding, representing and constructing a better awareness of sound and more generally the sensory qualities of the built environment, the integration of sonic dimension in the ordinary architectural production remains difficult. Sonic dimension is still undervalued considered as an accessory or as a second dimension of the space. Till now, the sonic quality doesn’t have its legitimacy in the architectural and urban thinking except in specific situations where designer should solve certain problems of noise and propagation. Therefore, we should find the appropriate qualitative criteria of the architectural elements that don’t only integrate the perceptive aspects but also the action. In this sense, we shall present an experimentation that has been elaborated to clarify the relationship between sound and movement or sound and action in order to design spatial architectural elements. How can we identify the sonic role during the spatial experiment and explore the different corporal and movement modalities that emerge by hearing? We postulate that the actions potentials that emerge in a sonic context must be considered as an alternative that can modulate the environment in space and time[1].

[1] This paper is based on another article : Approche écologique de kinesthèses sonores : expérimentation d'un prototype d'abri public et ergonomie acoustique, Acoustique et techniques, n° 41, 2005, pp. 24-31