Caroline Claus
Urban Sound Design Studio
The urban context on both sides of the highway is very different. The green character on one side of the motorway, the houses and the more mineralized nature on the other side. What does this mean for the sound environments of both places, the listening experience in public space s along the high way? Can we imagine a different sound environment, a possible future sonic experience? What role can urban design play in a rethinking of the sonic experiences in this context? How can different urban sonic experiences be organized and enrolled in the design of various public spaces?
The ambition of the program is to develop, question and challenge existing strategies for managing urban sonic experiences by proposing an extended method and various tools for qualitative sound analysis with a focus on the perspective of design practitioners. In different workshops we introduce a grounded understanding of what urban acoustic quality is and how we can work dynamically and creatively with everyday urban sonic experiences. We will focus on a qualitative approach of urban sound environments inspired by the avant garde output of urban electronic music and the acoustic ecology of Augoyard and Torgue (CRESSON). The aim is to go beyond a taxonomic manner of urban sound analysis in order to examine the sound environment at a greater level of structural and phenomenological depth.
Through the introduction of a method and different tools the studio offers participants the opportunity to experiment and to develop a reflection on urban sound design. Participants are encouraged to develop their own possible instruments for interventions in the public space. An experimenting with the preparation of toolboxes and practices in situ as part of a design method is encouraged. Different tools and practices can be used together to explore and represent the territory in a different way. Initial results are shared in situ with a larger public to interrupt, to inspire discussions in everyday practice and affect the planning and construction of public urban spaces in terms of acoustic quality.
