into instrument: a case for the musical tectonic
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Syracuse University Syracuse University
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Architecture Thesis Prep School of Architecture Dissertations and Theses
12-2015
Into Instrument: A Case for the Musical Tectonic Into Instrument: A Case for the Musical Tectonic
Alex Lievens
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ALEXANDER LIEVENSFor architecture, tectonics is what emerges
hen construction is assembled in a way that roduces more than just the construction self. A kind of precious excess. For musical struments, tectonics is what emerges when
he construction of the instrument produces ore than just the sound that the instrument akes.
There is a study of musical instruments hat doesn’t strictly apply to architecture. But or some reason, architecture still starts to merge out of the artifacts of music. This thesis ontends that the link between musical instru-ents and architecture is tectonics, and that ctonic link can be understood and explored
hrough the nature of musical interfaces.
The user interfaces of a musical instru-ent is always thoughtfully considered, in rms of both music and construction. It will be gued that these interfaces – and the actions
ssociated with them – can be discussed nd explored architectonically, beyond just he sounds they produce. Music is being bstracted as an organizing principle, so that he expressive capabilities of user interface can e understood.
The connection between user interface nd action is open to tectonic expression. How e use instruments is what matters, not neces-
arily the sound that comes out of them. The otion of “use” can be conceived in terms of
he primary function of the object, as well as y the thoughtful positioning of the object in pace.
This thesis will observe and investigate
the relationship between musical objects and architectonic construction. It will begin to test relationships between musical notational systems and architectural notational systems. Musical instruments can provide key insights into how architecture might possess the same qualities of interactivity, action and personal value that musical instruments inherently own.
Within the discussion of music and archi-tecture is the constant threat of cliché, and of letting the trappings of musical genre cloud the architectural goals of the project. The hope is that including Music as the principle subject of an architectural problem will allow abstract architectural discussion to become almost literal. In including diagrams of music, dichot-omies like harmony and discord, excess and economy, rhetoric and geometry, will have to be negotiated as real compositional obstacles.
nto Instruments Case for the Musical Tectonic
Advisor: MARK LINDER
ALEXANDER LIEVENS
3
INTO instrument
ALEX LIEVENS
A CASE FOR THE MUSICAL TECTONIC
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
TAXONOMY
ORGANS & ORDERS
INTO INTERFACE
INSTRUMENTURE (ARCHITECTMENT?)
A CASE FOR THE MUSICAL TECTONICThe tricky ground between
frame and stereotomy
Means of sound-making
Means of music-making
Out of interface; into outer-face
De-sounding music with architecture
The tectonics of play
Abstract
0
1
2
3
4
5
I’M MAKING INSTRUMENTS!
ABSTRACT
Instruments are constructed
objects. The nature of an
instrument’s construction is often
the primary indicator of the
instrument’s character. Musical
instruments provide mechanisms
which allow them to control
pitch. Depending on the kind of
instrument, the qualities of the
pitch can also be manipulated.
They are alive; they must be
moved and transformed in order
to produce their distinctive sounds.
If we begin to consider them as
tectonic objects, both literally and
fi guratively, then it would be fair
to categorize them as the most
inherently dynamic and interactive
tectonic objects on the spectrum.
The motivation behind this
thesis lies in the belief that musical
instruments are more fun than
architecture. These objects allow
for a kind of play which architecture
accommodates and houses, but
has yet to live up to. How can
tectonics evolve to include issues
of interactivity, of which are most
clearly demonstrated by the
tectonic construction and function
of musical instruments?
Musical instruments are self-
exhaustive systems. This thesis
will observe and investigate the
relationship between musical
objects and architectonic
construction. It will begin to
test relationships between
musical notational systems and
architectural notational systems.
Musical instruments can provide
key insights into how architecture
might possess the same qualities
of interactivity, action and personal
value that musical instruments
inherently own.
DECORATIVE CLADDING THE THING INSIDE
CARIBBEAN HUT atGREAT EXHIBITION OF 1851
PRIMITIVE HUT 1753
“tectonic nucleus”INSTITUTIONALSTATUS
represent
symbolize
kernform
1) HEARTH
2) EARTHWORK
knot and joint
3) FRAMEWORK
4) ROOF
kunstform REVEALS
}
KARL BOTTICHER (1874)
GOTTFRIED SEMPER (1851)
Theory of Formal Beauty (1856)
“...no longer grouped architecture with painting and sculpture as plastic art, but instead with dance and music as cosmic art, as an ontological world-making art rather than representational art.”
REPLACED
spiritual nexus of architecture, with links to the altar
edify - educate, strengthen and instruct
NON-SPATIAL
“...in which members of varying lengths are conjoined to encompass a spatial field.”
“...compressive mass that, while it may embody space, is constructed through the piling up of identical units.”
Responding to the state of commodity culture of post-modernism, arguing that it was fueled by Romanticism and enacted through scenographic architecture.
“...building is ontological rather than representational in character, and that built form is a presence rather than something standing for an absence.”
immateriality of frame
“[We] tend to be unaware of the ontological consequences of these differences”:
SKY
EARTH
FRAME (light) (dark)STEREOTOMY
ONTOLOGICAL (structural-technical)
REPRESENTATIONAL (structural-symbolic)
Allowing for a constructional element to emphasize an object’s static role and cultural status.
Allowing for a constructional element to be hidden, but present.
KENNETH FRAMPTON (1990)
materiality of mass
“Within architectural discourse, tectonics always concerns issues of building and construction, but never has tectonics been narrowly objective. At the very least, tectonics betrays complex strategies of representation.”
MICHAEL SCHWARZER (1996)
TECTONICS... seems condemned to the dominion of fact.
(GREEK)tekton “builder” or “carpenter”
(LATE)
German theorists refer to tectonics more broadly as
TECTONICS has been deconstructed alongside other devices (e.g. objective vision, linear perspective) for its insinuation of a logic of
the PHENOMENOLOGICAL experience of craft and detailing.
Tectonics as supportive of
19th CENTURY
20th CENTURY
20th CENTURY
ARCHITECTURE’S
coordination of
SYSTEMS OFDECORATION
with
continuity and integration.
MITCHELL
“It is not much of a stretch to claim that through tectonics the necessity of fact gives way to the passions of necessity.”
“Here tectonics is suspended between urges for overpowering and dissolving materiality, mimetic contemplation and technological advance, individual self-realization and nation-building.
Tectonics is at once total experience and splintering representational tale.”
“THE CREATION OF A TIMELESS, TIMEBOUND MOMENT:a mythical quest by Frampton’s standards.
”Tectonics, as the shaping of an authentic reality, is an attempt at salvation.”
“The tectonic presents itself as a mode by which to express these different states and thereby as a means for accomodating, through inflections, the various conitions under which different things appear and sustain themselves.”
I don’t think there’s a hollowness in architecture anymore.. I think today’s crisis is an overwhelming density. A culture of “too much”: too much content; too much to watch, too much to see, too much to read, too much to find meaning in! How is anything special in a sea of specialties?
Tectonics is the product of ideas as much as a construction of products. It encompasses great attempts to redeem the hollowness of architecture in an age of global capitalism and commodity culture.”
“Tectonic strategies [...] bring as much
disruption as stability to architecture.”
TECTONICS as... a counter hegemonic condition of knowledge.
FRAMPTON
A CASE FOR THE MUSICAL TECTONIC
instrument*
an expressive extension of the individual
scientific apparatus, “allowing us to peer into worlds
beyond our normal senses”
both an expressive extension and scientific apparatus
instrument as:
WHAT IS AN INSTRUMENT?
THE TECTONIC LANGUAGE
OF MUSIC THEORY
Understanding music as
idenitcal pieces to be assembled
and disassembled. A certain note
next to another certain note will
present harmony or tension,
depending upon the note.
Conventional music requires
geometric clarity; as such, musical
instruments must refl ect this
clarity without fail and without fl aw.
Why has geometric perfection
stuck around in music, but not
in architecture? Does it still have
a place here? What can music
theory reveal about architecture?
Disregarding genre for a
second, the structures of music
and all of its conventional parts exist
in a self exhausting system, bound
by the number 12. Musical “notes”
can be understood as a serial
system, which can be exploited
architecturally, while still remaining
true to the rules of scale, chord
structure and intervals.
These principles are tectonic,
because they inform structural
principles of musical composition.
They represent an assembly of
pieces, part-to-whole relationships
and the groundwork for what one
might consider ‘song’ or music.
SONG AS ASSEMBLY
CHROMATIC SCALE
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
DIATONIC SCALE
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
PENTATONIC SCALE
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
minor 2nd
major 2nd
minor 3rd
perfect 4th
tritone
perfect 5th
minor 6th
major 6th
minor 7th
major 7th
m2
M2
m3
major 3rd M3
P4
T
P5
m6
M6
m7
M7
HARMONY!
DISCORD!
CHROMATIC SCALE
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
DIATONIC SCALE
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
PENTATONIC SCALE
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
minor 2nd
major 2nd
minor 3rd
perfect 4th
tritone
perfect 5th
minor 6th
major 6th
minor 7th
major 7th
m2
M2
m3
major 3rd M3
P4
T
P5
m6
M6
m7
M7
HARMONY!
DISCORD!
SCALES & INTERVALS
HARMONY!
m3M3 m3 M3
THE CIRCLE OF FIFTHS
MAJOR
MINOR
TAXONOMY
HORNBOSTEL-SACHS METHOD
means of sound-making
means of music-making
+
CHROMATIC BARS
FINGER/FRETBOARD
KEYBOARD VALVES/OPENINGS
PIPE AEROPHONES
BRASS REED PIPE EDGE
WITHOUT VALVES
animal horn (shofar)
didjeridu bulge
trombone
cornets
french horn euphonium
saxophone silver flute
saxophone
single reed bagpipe
recorder
organ flute pipe
oboe
double reed bagpipe
jug
flute piccolo
DOUBLE REEDS
bassoon
conch shell
WHISTLE FLUTES
whistle
SINGLE REEDS
clarinet
HORNBOSTEL-SACHS
WITH VALVES
trumpets
TREE FLUTES
panpipes
SINGLE REED
DOUBLE REED
any musical instrument that produces sound primarily by causing a body of
air to vibrate, without the use of strings or membranes, and without the vibration of the instrument itself adding considerably to the sound.
FREE AEROPHONES
FREE REED
BEATING REED
human voice
organ reed pipes
leaf
sho
khaem harmonica
concertina
pipe organ
pipe organ
bandeon
accordianindia
harmonium
harmonium
reed organ
pedal concertina
barrel organ orchestrion
electric chord organ
FRAMED REED
sheng
UNFRAMED REED
bull-roarer
HORNBHORNBOSTEL-SACHS means
aeolian harp
RUBBED
BLOWN
any musical instrument which produces sound primarily by way of vibrating a stretched
membrane.
INDETERMINATE
PITCHDETERMINATE
PITCH
MEMBRANO-PHONES
bass drum
bongos congas
tambourine
roto drums
friction drum
kazoo
STRUCK STRUCK
snare drum
timpani
TEL-SACHS HORNBOSTEL-SACHS und-making
any musical instrument that creates sound primarily by the instrument as a whole
vibrating—without the use of strings or membranes.
UNPITCHED PITCHED
IDIOPHONES
castanets
jingles
bell
automata
gong
cymbal
rimba
prayer bowls
kalimba
mbira
STRUCK STRUCK
PLUCKED
SHAKEN
slit drum
rattle triangle
music box
HORNBOSTEL-SACHS
xylophone
celesta
RUBBED
glass harmonica
a musical instrument that makes sound by way of a vibrating string or strings stretched between two points.
CHORDOPHONES
violin viola
cello contrabass
hammered dulcimer
ukulele
banjo mandolin
harpsichord harp
PITCHED
STRUCK
BOWED
PLUCKED
piano
guitar
HORNBOSTEL-SACHS
violin
INTO INTERFACE
MUSICAL INTERFACE to ACTION
CHROMATIC BARS
FINGER/FRETBOARD
KEYBOARD
MUSICAL INTERFACE to ACTION
CHROMATIC BARS
FINGER/FRETBOARD
?
KEYBOARDVALVES/
OPENINGS
VALVES/OPENINGS
THE COMPANIONGreat instrument for improvisational activity. Not many “parts” to work with; and range of possibility is not often present. This tectonic requires creative combinations which can also get in the way of its other operations. These interfaces are often on instruments that can be easily transoported. There is a sense of ease.
POLE D
SO
DANCE
O-IL
LOS TROMPOS
HECTOR ASWARE
KEYBOARDSSeems to present itself all at once. “Music” is presented and organized as legible scales, and most systematically out of all of the interfaces. But it is representational. The key doesn’t make the sound. It represents the note. It tells you what you want hear an what you want to know.
THE TOTAL PACKAGE
PIANO
“PLAYING TH
DAVID
HE BUILDING”
D BYRNE
HELSINKI CATHEDRAL PIPE ORGAN
E. F. WINCKEL
FINGER/FRETBOARDSA way to understand compartmentalizing and construction of grids. Music as units. Music as abstraction and geometry. It wants you to know that it’s music, but it won’t necessarily be clear about how you can use it. It can’t really make up its mind. It has to compartmentalize and post-rationalize.
THE POLITICIAN
GUITAR GUY WEXNER CENTER F
FOR VISUAL ARTS FENESTRATION AT LA TOURETTE
CHROMATIC BARS
THE GURUExtremely minimaL. The guru speaks in aphorisms; quickly and with truth. Would be often found outside and in nature. Members of this system refl ect the range of the chromatic scale.
CHIMES“VOL
LUME”
ARCHITECTMENT (INSTRUMENTURE?)
EXPERIMENT #1
The following is a tool proposed
for negotiating between the two
worlds of frame and stereotomy. It
is both empty frame and stackable
brick. This tectonic dichotomy
will be used to illustrate the
inherent musical relationships
of its diagram.. The circle of fi fths
was literally transposed into the
ground work, so as to lay the
“spots” where 12 identical objects
could congregate to form the 12
tones of a conventional musical
scale.
These objects can be fl ipped
and turned, to make it possible to
situate with each other in a self-
exhaustive system of varations.
These variations seek to make
musical relationships between
“notes” clear. Some variations
include fl ipping an object from
its root note to form a musical
path in plan. Certain notes, when
placed next to each other, will
be clear examples of harmony
or discord, depending on which
note they situate next to. A fi eld of
these relationships will serve as a
didactic arena for interaction with
these objects specifi cally through
its system of assembly.
BETWEEN FRAME AND STEREOTOMY
SONG AS “BUILDING” AS
ARCHITECTURE AS MUSIC AS
assemblyassembly
song building
RESTING POSITION
OPEN MAJORS
MINOR FIELD
MAJOR FIELD
EXPERIMENT #2
THE FRAME
HIGH VAULT
LOW VAULT
RESPONSIVE REST
“VIOLIN” “GUITAR”
ORGANS & ORDERS
If we are to admit that organs
are in fact architectural, then we
should be so inclined to observe
and understand and critique its
architectural qualities.
Most of the largest scale organs
also make use of the “facade pipe”
which is a pipe that rests within the
casing of the front pipes. These
pipes don’t make any sound. They
look like music trying to fi t in with
architecture.
Instead of the previous method
– rooting through a taxonomy of
instruments to extract something
architectural – we start to notice
in organs, architecture beginning
to itself emerge out of musical
instruments. Architectural tectonics
become the mode of expressing
ornament for musical instruments
at this scale, as a way to supply or
represent meaning.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AS ARCHITECTONIC
OBJECTS
BIBLIOGRAPHIESIMAGES:
KEYBOARDS“Diverse “Y”-shaped Modern Residence in The Netherlands: Villa 1 - Freshome.com.” Freshomecom Diverse Y-shaped Modern Residence in The Netherlands Villa 1 Comments. March 29, 2012. Accessed December 19, 2015. http://freshome.com/2012/03/29/diverse-y-shaped-modern-residence-in-the-netherlands-villa-1/.
“David Byrne Demonstrates Playing the Building.” Vimeo. Accessed December 19, 2015. https://vimeo.com/52888326.
“Dark Roasted Blend: The World’s Most Magnifi cent Pipe Organs.” Dark Roasted Blend. Accessed December 19, 2015. http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2009/10/worlds-most-magnifi cent-pipe-organs.html.
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FINGER/FRETBOARDSNational Lampoon’s Animal House. Dir. John Landis. Perf. Thomas Hulce, Stephen Furst, and John Belushi. 1978.
“AD Classics: Wexner Center for the Arts / Peter Eisenman.” ArchDaily. N.p., 16 Oct. 2014. Web. 18 Dec. 2015.
Grant, M. J. “Music and Architecture. By Iannis Xenakis. Comp., Trans., and Ed. Sharon Kanach.”Music and Letters, 2010, 465-67.
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Zimoun volume (“Zimoun : Compilation Video 3.6.” Vimeo. Accessed December 19, 2015. https://vimeo.com/7235817.
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TEXT:
Semper, Gottfried. The Four Elements of Architecture and Other Writings. Cambridge [England: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
Schwarzer, Mitchell. Ontology and Representation in Karl Bö tticher’s Theory of Tectonics. 1993.
Frampton, Kenneth, and John Cava. Studies in Tectonic Culture: The Poetics of Construction in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Architecture. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1995.
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Novak, Marcos. “Liquid Architectures of Cyberspace.” Cyberspace: First Steps, edited by Michael Benedikt. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1992.
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