Sounding architecture: inter-disciplinary studio at hku

Sounding Architecture, is the first collaborative teaching development between the Department of Architecture and the Department of Music at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), introduced in Fall 2016. Composed of 67 students and 6 tutors, at the start of their studies, the Year 2 students of the Bachelor of Arts (Architectural Studies) (BAAS), received a year of basic training in the foundation courses. they were able to experiment with sound, shape and materials with no specific goals, except to construct a sound instrument and develop a set of drawings that informs both construction and performance depending on their individual suitability and finding. This was followed by practical work in the workshops led by composer Ken Ueno (UC Berkeley), composer Eli Marshall (Cornell University), percussionist Deborah Waugh (HKU) and fabrication laboratory manager Donn Holohan (HKU), all accompanying their disciplines. In this paper we present critical observations about the studio after a final public presentation of all projects in the 29th of November 2016. The Review was conducted with demonstrations by groups of students supervised by different tutors, in each case focusing on a different strategy to create a connection between Sound, Music, Acoustics, Space and Architectural Design. There was an assumption that the core working process would have to include the design of a new musical instrument, which in some cases became the final deliverable of the Studio and in other cases a step in a process that leads to a different outcome (such as an architectural design, a performance or a social experiment). One other relevant aspect was that Digital technology was used in the design and fabrication of the physical instruments’ prototypes, but in very few cases, it was used in the actual generation or enhancement of sound, with the instruments relying almost exclusively in acoustic and mechanical sound.