AA Istanbul Visiting Director: Elif Erdine
AA Athens Visiting Director: Alexandros Kallegias

The AA Istanbul Visiting School is a collaborative link between the Architectural Association School and the Istanbul Technical University. This spring, will be the second year running for this school where they continue to explore the topic ‘Connected Tower’. The hypothesis of this topic is that if the standard modern tower is to be decomposed and reconstructed as a biological system, it will be liberated from the empirical constraints.

A sister school will also begin this year that will cooperate and challenge the AA Istanbul Visiting School, AA Athens Visiting School, which is collaborative relationship between the Architectural Association School and the National Technical University of Athens. In contrast with ‘Connected tower’, the AA Athens School theme ‘Cipher City’, takes on crafting space horizontally. The hypothesis of this school is to hewn unique kinetic experiential models derived from the horizontal dynamic informational pathways.

Both schools together as part of the AA visiting school will collaborate under the AI umbrella, where one will be the continuation of the other. The opposing dimensions verticality versus horizontality is linked through a common platform.

Participants are encouraged to join both workshops in order to experience the transition between the two architectural limits.

Existing literature addresses various ways to classify sound. For computational purposes, this research considers classification based on the physical characteristics of sound. R. Murray Schafer, expanding on Pierre Schaeffer’s work, compiled a chart that classifies sound that helped his students to observe sound features. Schafer presents his paradigm as a chart linking the sonic event to the object creating that event. In addition to the physical description, each sonic event is classified according to a number of properties: its distances from the receiver, its strength and ambience, whether it is part of a larger context, whether the environment is reflective and produces drift or displacement [1]. He classified soundscape sound into six main categories that have various subcategories: natural, human, cultural, mechanical, indicator sounds, as well as, the absence of sound (i.e. silence).
This method measures the attack, body and decay of a sonic event against its duration, frequency and dynamics [1]. The former three parameters can be explained as the beginning, middle, and end of the sonic event, creating its envelope [2]. The beginning, or attack, of the sound is the onset of the event, which is accompanied with an electrostatic noise. The more sudden the attack, the more noise it creates, however, if the sound is gradual the electrostatic noise is less present and even tonality occurs. The body is the middle part of a sonic event, where the naked ear perceives it as a ‘stationary’ sound. Some sounds do not have this part like bells and gongs. The decay is the time elapsed from when the sound stops until its energy decays to one millionth of its original strength [1].
This thesis will analyze existing public spaces and the interstitial spaces based on R. Murray Schafer’s soundscape analysis techniques. Firstly, an inventory of sound frequencies and energies will be created by placing sensors at predetermined locations. Following, Isobel maps, topographic like maps, will be plotted using contour lines to demarcate change in volume over different areas. These maps will be the bases to evaluate the existing intensities. Sound inventory also will be denoted by surveying the populace that frequent these spaces, as well as, manually observing the sounds. The manual denotations and survey will create static Isobel maps; which have been proven to be informative in previous research. Conversely, the technology used to capture sound frequencies will resolve the factor of time that has been less addressed [3].
Sound wave propagation through medium, frequencies, and ray tracing vectors will be the main parameters of geometric, morphological and material algorithmic experiments. Spatial relation of materials determines the phenomenological characteristic of a space. This also applies to soundscape; the waves of acoustical energy permeating the atmosphere are a part of the physical aspects of the environment. Conventional and smart material testing is an essential part of the study, as well as, analyzing and finding optimum materials that can create, attenuate, or dissipate sound within a certain setting [4].

[1] Schafer, R. Murray. The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the tuning of the world. s.l. : Destiny Books , 1993.
[2] Reas, Casey and Fry, Ben. Processing: a Programming Handbook for visual designers and artists. s.l. : The MIT Press, 2007.
[3] Gaunderlach, Jonathan. Sound: Exploring a Character – Defining Feature of Historic Places. APT Bulletin, Vol. 38, No.4. 2007, pp. 13-20.
[3] Thompson, Emily. The Soundscape of Modernity. 2002.

Within a performance space, the physical area of the stage is much smaller than that of the seating area. However, when it is in use, the acoustical architecture is designed to amplify the sounds created by activities on stage while diminishing any events produced in the seating area. Thus, diminishing the seating auditory area volume and allowing the stage arena volume to claim most of the performance space’s physical boundaries. On the other hand, if there is a debate session one of the audience has the prerogative to create and expand his/her voice’s arena. Hence, changing the sizes of the existing arena’s proportionately.

When a specific sound source, sound event, is loud enough to be heard, by a group of listeners more clearly than the adjacent events, an acoustic arena is formed. Anyone that cannot hear this sound, even if they can visually see the source, are consider to be beyond the boundary of the arena. As a result, an acoustical arena is volume centered around a sonic event.

Acoustical arena volumes are as dynamic as the activities that create the sonic event. They are in a constant Darwinian dynamic combat, where one arena can encroach into, substitute, or completely engulf another. All aural architectural spaces are designed to the principles of acoustic arenas. A successful acoustical design has the ability to manipulate this interplay, by enhancing the auditory connection between a specify sonic event and a listener, over another. This connection is known as an auditory channel.

Aural spatial awareness is one of the possible channels of information that this thesis is concerned with, along with the information received by the human auditory organ and its many sub channels. A listener can receive information through multiple auditory channels when more than one sonic event exists within their horizon. Hence, a listener can exist in more than one arena simultaneously, receiving information through multiple connections. The sonic event does not necessarily need to be overwhelming. The connection is contingent upon the sonic properties of the auditory channel, and if a sonic event is in close proximity, or loud enough to broadcast information, and establish an auditory connection, then it is consider to be within the listeners acoustic horizon.

“An acoustic horizon is the maximum distance the listener and a source of sound, where the sonic event can still be heard” Blesser, B. and Salter, L.R

Not unlike the acoustic arena, an acoustical horizon is a dynamic auditory space that is centered around a listener. Background noise, which is either a sonic event that intrudes, is too soft, or distant to be discernible, defines the shape and volume of an aural space. In addition, curve linear spaces have a direct effect on, not only the shape and volume of aural spaces, but also their location. The shape of the space can be manipulated by concentrating the target sound’s energy in a specific direction. In consequence amplifying the sonic event in one direction rather than a uniform distribution. Aural arenas can have radical shapes; one arena can exist in two nonadjacent physical spaces, simultaneously. This can be achieved by devices such as acoustical mirrors, and whisper galleries .

Acoustical mirrors, or “listening ears” were used during World War I until they were replaced by radar technology. In fact, in the 1930′s there were attempts to establish a sonic connection between England and France across the channel. However, the reason that these attempts were not completely successful is that the distance the reflection can propagate, is highly dependent on the sensory modality. Lately, science museums exhibit this phenomena as a novelty, where two parabolic surfaces are places 100 meters apart fusing two arenas, at the foci of both surfaces, into one sonic arena. Currently, there are new experimentations conducted in the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where a grid of small sonic lenses are used to amplify and focus sound energy to a localized point, creating sound bullets (1) .

The volume of an arena can be manipulated by reverberation and frequency. A physical space that has long reverberation time, such as a performance stage, creates a significantly larger acoustic space. Whereas, sonic events that have sharp frequencies often create a small arena. On the other hand, an aural architect can increase an arena’s volume without increasing reverberation time, when it is undesirable; like in a conference hall. This can be achieved by creating strong reflections that reach the listener shortly after the direct sound, where the human aural sensory perceives them as one strong aural channel.

The auditory demarcation is the equivalent to a visual partition, which delineates an arena or horizon and, therefore, defining an auditory community. This phenomena exists at many scales, from an intimate , personal, conversational, to a public or urban scale. In the abstract, the scale of an arena centered around one sonic event with no interference, is considered to propagate uniformly creating a spherical space. The volume of an intimate arena is approximately 1/2 a meter. The most obvious example is an arena of two people whispering. Less mentioned examples , are the intimate spheres that form within highly noisy environments, like speaking loudly within a nightclub, or on a cliff through a strong gust of wind. A personal arena’s volume is approximately 1 meter in diameter, and the conversational sphere can extend to 4 meters width. These two arenas are exemplified as a normal conversation within a space with a negligent amount of noise. Similarly, these diameters shrink in size within environments with strong interference. Finally, the public and urban scales, which are the concern of this thesis, have significantly larger diameters. The volume is contingent upon the sonic property of the target sound.

There are quite a few physical factors that define an arena’s volume, some are natural while others are a direct result of technological advances. The geomorphology and the macro climate of the area are examples of natural factors; whereas sound absorbing or reflective materials, and urban morphology are instances of acoustical design technology. Geological formations can act as sound barriers or sound conduits. For example, steep terrain would cast large sound shadows, where as valleys propagate a target sound across large distances. Vegetation is another parameter of auditory demarcation. Grass reduces the sonic reflectivity of the ground and trees absorb air-borne sound waves, casting large sound shadows. The edge of thick vegetation like a forest on the outskirts of a town, could stop the propagation of any sonic event, essentially delineating the urban auditory arena and aligning it with the visual boundary. Finally, bodies of water act as perfect sound reflector increasing the size of the urban arena. However, high windshield factors and turbulence along coast lines, can affect the directionality of the sound waves; consequently, counter acting the reflectivity of the body of water to the point that the coast line could be beyond the urban auditory arena.

Historically, humans adapted to their acoustic environments. Early humans adapted to nature and the great differences between aural and olfactory horizons. For example, where there is thick vegetation, the olfactory horizons are significantly smaller than aural horizons. Hence, the Mayan civilization shows evidence of professing aural manipulation in their temples’ architecture. On the other hand, modern humans have adapted to urban environments, public gathering spaces, and enclosed dwellings.

If a group of individuals begin to interact within an auditory arena, the space quickly is defined as territory. The territory inhabitants acquire rules and rights that distinguishes the citizens from the foreigners. Historically, communities and towns were centered around a soundmark. This is the equivalence of a landmark, where a single sonic event broadcasts a unique signal and establishes a connection with every individual, demarking the center of the aural community. Soundmarks provide local social cohesion, and anyone that could not hear this event was not considered a citizen of the township. Some of the more prominent examples of soundmarks, are church bells within Christian communities, and prayer calls within Islamic communities (2).

Broadcasting is not just a human phenomena, on the contrary. Aural communication within a shared acoustic environment is essential to the survival, and part of the complex social habits of various species (Marc D. Hauser 1997 a). Different species use broadcasting in shared environments, where acoustic horizons are much further than that of olfactory horizons like jungles and forests, to attract mates, as warning calls, or establish power. Establishing power by means of broadcasting can be achieved by injecting a sonic event into an acoustic arena. Sonic power is exemplified in historical church bells that became replaced by factory whistles in the beginning of the industrial revolution. In a less obvious way of claiming sonic power, peddlers and shopkeepers in marketplaces use their voices or various musical instruments to attract as many customers as possible. In a modern western society, broadcasting is more to alert rather than to establish political power; which is embodied as amber alerts, airport announcements, or ambulance and police car sirens.

أجراس الميلاد اذان القاهرة عبد الباسط عبد الصمد by merate barakat

Dwelling within the absence of acoustic arenas is a rare phenomena, therefore it has always been considered as a sign of wealth and power. Brandon LaBelle Speaks of an incident when he accidentally answered his cell phone while riding the silent compartment on the Heathrow express. LaBelle points out that the simple auditory arena rule of silence, created a community with its own social cohesion. It is also the easiest arena to be dominated by another event. However, by unknowingly breaking the arena’s rule, LaBelle that the reaction of the community proved he is a ‘stranger’. A strong urban example is the modern day suburbia, where it is completely disconnected from the urban sonic arenas.

There is an argument comparable to that of public spaces and how they have been renders obsolete lately. Some argue that technology has provided means of creating high quality private acoustic arenas, and provided other means that create social cohesion, making public acoustic arenas less relevant regardless of their noise level. However, this does not explain why festivals and demonstrations are still strong social events. This is evident in Greece where demonstrations are continuously held, or how the ‘Arab spring’ riots have managed to bring about change within their social structure. It would seem that this proves that aural architecture, the principles of auditory arenas, and Alain Corbin’s (1998) studies hold true. Corbin found that an elevated sense of territorial identity is a direct result of soundmarks and regular aural urban architecture .

Footnotes:
(1) The ‘Sonic Bullet’ technology is foreseen to be used for noninvasive surgeries. http://www.nature.com/scientificamerican/journal/v302/n6/full/scientificamerican0610-26b.html

(2) Functional Deafness, which is unrelated to biological deafness, is the absence of all acoustic arenas. For example, an individual that is using earphones disconnects him/herself from the all the acoustic channels around, thus they are not within any acoustic arena.

Bibliography

Blesser, B. (2007). Spaces speak, are you listening?: experiencing aural architecture. MIT press.

Castelvecchi, D. (2010). Look, Ma—No Junctions! Scientific American , 26-26.

LaBelle, B. (2010). Acoustic Territories: Sound Culture and Everyday Life. Continuum.

Every city has its own unique set of sounds. Historically, cities were built around a soundmark, for example the resonance of a church bell or the propagation of a calling for prayer. Any one that was living beyond the aural arena of this soundmark; meaning that they cannot hear it were not considered citizens of that town. Soundmarks can vary, for example, a modern day sound like the yogurt seller calling with the same tune (Zabaady) every day at 4 o’clock like clockwork, or the cotton candy seller’s horn. These people are sound marks of a whole range of communities within a city like Alexandria. With the introduction of technology, another set of soundmarks that are unique to Egypt is “Hona El Qahira” the standard radio sounds that could be heard from any cafe’ or taxi driving by.

People that live in the same area and are subjected to the same set of sounds, may they be rich or poor, old or young, or even of different  religions ; all recognize these sounds as ‘home’.  Studies have proven that with the right aural heritage, habitants of the region all feel a sense of belonging to a community, and national pride upon hearing these soundmarks. With the increase in population, rapid technology advances, and the attenuated roar of undesirable sounds (i.e. noise), our aural heritage has been over cast and now barely heard.  My idea is to revive the sense of home and community, as well as, to enhance national pride through resurrecting our long lost aural heritage, and finding new soundmarks that are unique to Egypt. I intend to discuss the many ways to achieve this goal; whether it is through arts and architecture, technology, politics, and even religion.

During the time of discontinuity in our heritage, Egypt lost its unique and identifiable aural soundmarks, and with it the Egyptians lost their national pride. After January 25 2011, our national pride was resurrected but still the communal cohesion is still young. I believe there are many ways to remedy this and through amplifying aural heritage subconsciously the differences will dissipate, leaving the Egyptian main stream moving as steady and forward as the persistent Nile.

This was part of a submission to TEDxCairo

Trauma related art is generally more effective when it is transactive, where the user’s senses are trigger in a seemingly quasi order, which forms a medium where a single narrative is communicated. Psychologists argue that trauma cannot be articulated  within a conventional space, because it is experienced as a “hole in the psyche”. We, as humans, perceive death as the absence of a whole person, rather than the vague idea of loss of life. Thus, memorial design usually utilizes non-space, or absent space by speaking to the senses and conveying a “sensed space”.

In this piece I will examine three different sense manipulatory architectural occurrences; Yad Vesham – the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem, the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, and The Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC. These three examples are chosen for the abundance of information on how the designer successfully attempts to manipulate more than one sense to communicate a specific, yet subtle, narrative.

Initially, I will state some background facts of each architectural cases; and then, based on found research, illustrate the similarity or differences used to manipulate each sense referring to the intended narrative. Finally, I will give my take on the auditory phenomena that is experienced enhancing the overall apprehended phenomena.

Yad Vesham is a landscape in remembrance of the heroes and lost lives of the Holocaust; and  evolved over a series of generations. The different buildings plotted in the landscape are designed to follow the communities ideology adopted at the time. Initially, the buildings’ designed, in the 1970′s and until the mid 1980′s, signified and glorified fighters and heroes. Starting from the late 1980′s, the communities ideology shifted to denote respect for the losses of life and perception of survivors’ trauma.

The Holocaust Memorial in Berlin was designed to follow the latest ideology, as the competition was held in the late 1990′s and was finally built in 2004. Peter Eisenman’s design met allot of opposition due to the location of the site, in Germany, which has worked hard to overcome that part of its history. Thus, the design, effectively, uses subliminal narratives by speaking to the visitors senses, in lieu of physical evidence.

On the other hand, the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC is a part of the Washington Mall in the United States capital, which is a setting for many symbolically and significant buildings and monuments; such as the post civil war reconciliation . This indicates that the United States has not only recognized the loss of life, but also accepted the trauma of the war as an integral part of the Nation’s history. The Vietnam Memorial is considered to be an “absent space”; meaning it is only a reflective wall, where an entire space could be seen and experienced through the field of depth viewed within the reflection.

Conventionally, architectural works primarily speak to the visual sense. Every design and element is designed to manipulate our perception of light, sense of equilibrium, and human scale reference. All three architectural examples use similar design techniques, although very differ in materiality, but equally effective in manipulating the visual perception of the visitor.

Single file movement, forced by a tight space, concept is used in two different ways in Yad Vesham, as well as, the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin. The inscribed diameter of the prism like main museum circulation path narrows at the darkest point of the path. Also, In the children’s museum, the entrance is through a small door and then bunker like tunnels, leading to a dark room. Due to the circulation path this subconsciously communicates solitude. In addition, the inability to clearly see ahead, where view is blocked by the visitors ahead, gives a sense of apprehension of the unknown destination.

On the other hand, in Eisenman’s design the free circulation offers a similar feeling of confinement. However, due to the drop in ground levels the visitor has a clear view in the distance, but no overall view; resulting in a risk of collision at every corner. In addition, this memorial differs where solitude is not what unsettles the viewer, but due to the free flow circulation and visitors always having to jostle their way past others; this results in an experience which one comes closer to oneself trying to avoid strangers.

Entering the Vietnam Memorial is via descending into a space set into the ground. The overall view of the Washington Mall  space is impeded; only a partial views are visible, and distant views and visitors are cut off. This limits the feeling of the vastness of the grounds, forcing one to directly look at a highly polished wall and project within the space beyond the wall’s surface.
The human sense of equilibrium is strongly related to their view in relation to the horizon. Conventionally, humans sense of normality is strongly linked to flat orthogonal planes. When the ground and wall plans shift in angle, even the slightest, against the horizon humans impulsively and continuously try to find their center of gravity.

Slight angular deviation from the norm is used in Yad Vesham main museum and the Holocaust Museum. The different floor and roof planes, in the case of Yad Vesham, and concrete slabs of the Holocaust memorial change the viewers perspective emphasizing the feeling of insecurity and unsteadiness. In Yad Vesham, the main circulation artery is designed as prism, where the walls angles are constantly changing. This is along with the floor planes of the area, which ramp ramp 5⁰ downwards and then upwards, distorting the visitors perspective. Similarly, the concrete blocks in the Holocaust Memorial, which are all the same size of 238 cm, and spaced at equal intervals of 95 cm, are all at different in inclination. A further destabilization design element.

In the case of the Vietnam Memorial the only planer inclination is a ramp leading into the Memorial landscape. The top of the wall aligns exactly with the mount of earth behind it, which results in an unexpected experience when beginning to descend the ramp and entering the space. Furthermore, the perception of the absent space is incomplete without the human interaction. Directly facing the wall, the spatial depth perspective is adjusted depending on the height of the viewer. In addition, the viewer can see the others first before finding their own reflection. Hence, understanding that not only does one see oneself and others, but sees oneself in the other’s eyes. Heightening the self consciousness of the memorial’s visitor.

The idea of turning sharp corners and caught unaware by changes in view, are other destabilizing techniques that have been manifested in all three examples. On entering the main circulatory space in Yad Vesham, one has a clear view to the end of the space. However, the space is divided and roped, impeding direct accessibility forced by a zigzag motion. On entering the children’s museum, it is not a direct approach; the entrance appears as one comes around a bend, surprising the visitor.

At the outside perimeter of the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, the ground plan starts at grade level and concrete blocks are at a welcoming bench height. As the view welcomes one in to the hollow, the ground plane drops 2.4 meters below grade, and simultaneously the blocks grow to 5 meters. This change in scale happens quickly and unexpectedly. This sudden growth of view also occurs in the Vietnam Memorial. Often people come upon the wall unintentionally. This is because the wall’s top is level with grade behind it. The earth is scooped out in front of it to a depth of approximately 3 meters at the apex. What takes the visitor by surprise is the increasing number of names etched on the wall along the descent into the space.

The children’s museum in the Yad Vesham landscape is an architectural complex consisting of dark rooms lined with mirrors. Five endlessly reflected candles that signify the ‘souls of the children’ create a paradox within the space where light and darkness are mixed. As the visitor moves into the space, so do the reflections of the candles enhancing the disorienting experience. The darkness of the room here is like the highly polished surface, of the Vietnam Memorial wall, which do not allow for passive clear reflections. In the case of the Children’s museum the visitor, moving closely to the reflective planes seeing a dark reflection of their selves among the million splintered reflections of the candles. In the Vietnam Memorial, the reflection of oneself is seen behind the names of the lost individuals, engraved on the wall.

In both cases of reflectivity, in the children’s museum – Yad Vesham and the Vietnam Memorial, the smooth surface compels the viewer to reach and touch it. Touching the Vietnam Memorial wall verifies, solidifies, and grounds the engraved names from their apparent floating state. Another phenomena that occurs when touching the dark surfaces; a darker less lucid hand seems to be reaching forward from the space within; creating a connection to the separated and lost individuals.

Another, tactile manipulation is clearly found in the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin is the undulating and buckling ground, that forces a jerky unsteady walk. The feeling of the topology under ones feet throws normality out of kilter, enhancing an unsteady sensation, and gnawing at the sense of familiarity.

Individually each of the previous sense manipulations are strong on their own. However, they are amplified when coupled with the manipulation of the auditory organ. What is heard, or unheard, is what highlights the subliminal narrative intended behind each design.
Aside from the obvious atonal music  greeting the visitors to the children museum, at Yad Vesham, along with the recited names of the lost children there are other implications. The most obvious is found in the Memorial in Berlin and the children’s museum, both Eisenman and Safdi purposefully constrain the users visual ability, forcing the user to depend on their auditory sense to predict what is around the next corner.

In the case of Eisenman’s design, when standing at the parameter of the site, the visual sense is saturated by finding a pattern, where everything, seems monotonous, allowing for the other senses to awaken.  When the visitor is within the concrete ‘jungle’, the only means of apprehending what is around the corner is what one hears. Similarly, and less subtly, Safdi moves the visitor in darkness. Even though the darkness is mixed with candle light reflections, eluding that the visual sense is working. It is not enough to navigate.
Tight spaces lined with smooth sound reflecting surfaces, such as the bunker like entrance at the children’s museum, and the smooth concrete faces of the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, reflect the visitor’s own sounds back to their ears; such as footsteps, breath sounds, and voice. Thus bringing one closer to oneself, and enhancing one’s self consciousness.
In the landscape of concrete blocks, of the Holocaust Memorial, act similarly to the Vietnam Memorial wall, detaching the viewer from the outside sounds of the city. Plunged in the center of the Holocaust Memorial, one can see the occasional bus drive by, but is unable to hear it. This is because not only are the concrete blocks acting as sound barriers, the sound waves that have not been blocked are traveling above ear level.

This applies to the Holocaust Memorial, and partially to the Vietnam Memorial, where the only sounds that are heard are from the landscape behind the viewer facing the wall, and the other visitors to the Memorial. Coupled with seeing others reflections in the space beyond the wall, this phenomena enhances the meant narrative of connection.

Davis’ statement “Perception is never unmediated” [1] emphasizes that the physical environment cannot only be visually perceived, or only through any one sense for that matter, but collectively. Aristotle, in ‘On the Soul’, defines the sense of being sentient, perception, is the sense by which animals perceive that they perceive. The Classical Greek, like Roman Philosophers, medieval Arabic, Hebrew, and Latin thinkers dubbed it “The common sense” [2]. An architectural design is found to be successful when it manipulates one or more perception in order to convey a certain aesthetic significance.

New-borns have a connection between their five senses, similar to that of what adults have between the senses of taste and smell. This is due to the abundance of neural connections between all the sensory cortices. After six months the neural connections start a purging process based on the child’s environment, disconnecting the exorbitant connection4. However, the development of the neural networks has a few anomalies. Brain scans have shown that the visual cortex in visually challenged children is active when reading Braille, which is primarily a haptic stimulus [3].

James Turrell, a mathematician and psychologist, talks about sensory Synesthesia *; which is another neural connection anomaly between the visual cortex and other cortices; where they do not fully disengage. The perception through vision can affect the sensation of taste. He adds that similarly perception of colour can be triggered by perception through sound [4]. Thus, a sensation produced in one modality is triggered when a stimulus is applied to another**.

Programmable music is a phenomenon that is similar to Synesthesia, that all humans experience, which is an essential phenomena to this research. Differently, it is an associated thought that the brain always tries to create by comparing visual patterns with aural ones. For example, when one listens to Vivaldi’s Concerto No. 1 in E major, “La primavera” (spring) – Four Seasons, most listeners can associate the intermitted high pitch notes with bird song [3]. Humans that have lived within an urban setting can identify certain rhythms and frequencies with transportation, high-pitched sounds with alarms and sirens. To an urban dweller, the sound may signify destination, or danger.

[1] Davis, Walter A. The act of interpretation: A critque of literary reason. 1978.
[2] Heller – Roazen, Daniel. Inner touch archaeology of a sensation. 2007.
[3] Campen, Cretien van. The Hidden Sense: Synesthesia in Art and Science. s.l. : The MIT Press, 2007.
[4] Turrell, James. ART:21 Spirituality. [interv.] pbs. 01 23 2002.
* Although there is no record that Liszt was synesthetic, some of his documented quotes suggest so. “Gentlemen, please a bit more blue! this key demands it!” “This is deep violet. I beg you to focus on that! Not so pink!”
** Aristotle found an explanation for the relationship between pitch and colour based on Pythagoras’ mathematical principle of pitch.