Shaping Sound: Engineering Adaptable Spaces

Abstract

Music and architecture share a unique series of connections, not only in their terminology, rational fundamentals, and creative potential, but also in their special public-facing role in society. These two realms provide opportunities to deeply connect with the people who encounter them and unify groups under shared experiences. However, many projects that have attempted to blend music and architecture simply use sound as a design driver for architectural form, much to the degree that this thesis had originally intended. Instead, what if the architecture of a space could adapt itself to the performances taking place, and allow artists or performers to be themselves without feeling the need to bend their styles to conform to the venue. What if the venue could change and conform to the artist? This thesis aims to explore that possibility, and investigate how architectural solutions could alter a space through dynamics and materiality to better optimize the variety of genres that would exist there, allowing music and sound to perform at its best no matter what qualities of space are needed.