Acoustics, broadly, is the science of sound. Some would argue that the term applies solely to the physical properties of sound, but there are many fields within the discipline that focus not on the sound itself, but how it can be perceived, shaped, and applied.
Sub-disciplines such as electroacoustics (the study of electrical applications of sound, such as recording, processing, and reproduction) and architectural acoustics (the focus of this article) inform not only our understanding of how sound works, but also play a key part in shaping the role sound plays in our daily lives. Both have design methodologies every part as rich and nuanced as their sister fields industrial design, interior design, and architecture.
An Inseparable Art
While there are many resources available describing how sound works in rooms, these sources rarely discuss the role acoustics play in the places we live and work.
Architectural acoustics is inseparable from architecture, in that every building has its own unique acoustical profile, hence why many architectural descriptors have a sonic connotation, such as “airy” or “intimate.” Regardless of whether or not a building is designed for sound, its acoustics are shaped by its external environment, intended use, and the architect or builder’s choice of materials, technology, geometry, interior design, and construction.
Most of us understand and expect how sound works in rooms without ever cracking a book on the subject. We know by empirical observation that rooms with many hard surfaces such as stone or wood are much more reverberant (”echoey”) than rooms filled with carpets and heavy drapes. Similarly, we know that a large room with high ceilings is more likely to be reverberant than a small room with low ceilings, and that an empty house is more likely to be reverberant than a house filled with furniture and people.
Public Domain.
This empirical knowledge was the basis of designing for sound from the Greek and Roman amphitheaters up until the late 19th-century. Performance spaces were a result of architectural trial-and-error – successful spaces were imitated or improved, and the unsuccessful spaces often lost to history. Many are surprised that some of the world’s most beloved concert halls and opera houses, such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam or Milan’s Teatro alla Scala were constructed before the field of acoustics itself. However, outside of sacred or performance spaces, sound played a minor role in architectural design until the field of architectural acoustics was established by the Harvard physicist Wallace Sabine.
(Sabine was also cute as hell, let’s be real here.)
While trying to solve the acoustical problems of the Fogg Museum lecture hall at Harvard, Sabine discovered a relationship between a space’s volume, the surface areas of the room’s different materials, and how long it took for sounds (of a certain frequency) to fade away within the room (reverberation time). He devised a mathematical equation to explain this relationship. In doing this, Sabine not only quantified the degree to which certain materials absorb certain frequencies, he devised a scientific method that could be used to anticipate certain acoustical qualities of a room prior to its construction. (He later used this knowledge to design Boston Symphony Hall, which is a total banger.)
However, even with today’s technological advancements, architectural acoustics still relies, to some extent, on historical success, trial-and-error, and a pinch of design magic. It’s one of those rare fields that is equally an art and a science.
The Acoustics of Everyday Rooms
It’s not just noise problems that make up our everyday acoustical environments, it’s our architecture, too. During the time when industrialization first made homebuilding affordable for more and more people, common houses had a markedly different sonic profile than they do today, by means of architectural, furnishing and material choices.Socioeconomic factors also played an ancillary role in everyday architectural acoustics, as changes in family makeup and economy drastically shaped the sizes and shapes of everyday housing.
Four Houses
The soundscape of the everyday single family house has changed radically since the time mass housing became common after the growth of the railroad. As plans evolved, so, too, did their sonic qualities. These houses, from 1893, 1915, 1936, and 1963, exemplify how changes in technology, economy, and architecture bring with them changes in the architectural acoustics of our lives.
1893
This Queen Anne plan from 1893 is typical of the period. At this time, neither the indoor bathroom nor electricity were affordable or widespread.Furnaces were becoming more common, but were considered to be upgrades rather than established features in middle income homes such as this one, which was heated by fireplaces and wood-burning stoves.
As we are well aware, privacy and prudence were very important to 19th century society. This is reflected in the home’s closed floor plan, which takes great lengths to separate “public” (e.g. formal parlors & dining rooms) and private (e.g. kitchen, storage, bedrooms) spaces:
The home’s ceilings were 9 feet 6 inches on the first floor, shrinking down to 8 feet on the second floor. The floors were most likely wood, and the walls, plaster. The rooms are modestly sized - the largest room being the parlor, which is 14x14 feet wide.
Acoustically, the home was likely very quiet. These types of homes were commonly built outside the city limits in early suburbs connected either by rail or by streetcar, which made them less susceptible to environmental noise than their urban counterparts, despite the large number of windows. Additionally, because the home lacked electricity, plumbing, or a furnace, internal noise levels were likely low as well.
Despite the home’s tall ceilings and reflective surfaces, the rooms, with the exception of the hallways, probably weren’t very reverberant due to 19th century interiors being heavily upholstered and densely furnished, as explained in great detail by this 1887 promotional handbook on furnishing. Interestingly, the guide insists on “noiseless” carpets for the hall and stairs, which suggests that some design decisions in the 19th century home were acoustically-minded.
Hello Friends! It’s hard for me to laugh at Maine, because I love it a lot as a place. It’s got some of the most beautiful natural landscapes and architecture in the country. Sadly, not even Maine can outrun the scourge that is the McMansion:
This 5 bed, 6 bath estate was built in 2004 and all 6000+ square feet of its rustic charm can be yours for just under $900,000 USD.
Cathedral of Wasted Space™
Goin’ old school with the McMansion Hell terminology today. Sadly, the chandelier was not available for scrutiny. Also, is that a security camera above that left “column”?
Sitting Room
I’ll be honest, this looks like the waiting room for a high school principal’s office, with the spoils of disciplinary war mounted on the walls to serve as a reminder to all juvenile japanophiles and LARPing enthusiasts out there just who runs this school.
Kitchen
Googling “angled kitchen island counter rug” produced nothing. Maybe “polygonal bar rug”? I must have answers.
I am truly befuddled by that small television. It cannot be seen from the desk, and not really from the dining set either… Maybe it’s just an oversized digital picture frames that were a thing a while back.
Gr8 Room
What a waste having a stone chimney and not continuing the stone on the inside of the house leaving only a sea of beige drywall between your dated half-fanlights. Also look how close the pendant lights are to the skylights!! I don’t know why, but that bothers me for some reason.
Master Bedroom
yo ya girl used to run a mad mono blue control deck back in the day.
Master Bath
Could this possibly be the first McMansion without a his and hers sink???? Oh my goodness.
Bedroom 2
love when my cat sits in the doorway or in the middle of the kitchen thanks bud
Bedroom 3
I can’t tell what kind of psychological effect having the twin towers watching over you while you sleep will have but I’m pretty sure that’s just a little hmmm.
Sadly, there are no rec room or other bathroom pics (this is a pattern with Maine real estate listings under the $1,000,000 mark for some reason) so we will have to cut our tour short with the rear exterior:
Rear Exterior
To end on a positive note, this house is definitely @goodporchesgreatporches material as much as it is McMansion Hell material.
That’s it for Maine, folks! Join us next Monday for some more 18th Century Architectural Theory (very melodramatic) and next Thursday for a certified dank McMansion in my current state of residence, Maryland. Have a great weekend!
If you like this post, and want to see more like it, consider supporting me on Patreon!Also JUST A HEADS UP - I’ve started posting a GOOD HOUSE built since 1980 from the area where I picked this week’s McMansion as Wednesday bonus content on Patreon! Not into small donations and sick bonus content? Check out the McMansion Hell Store- 100% goes to charity.
Hello Friends! Educational!McMansion Hell is back after a long(ish) haitus - and I hope you like text, because there’s gonna be some text.This Sunday’s topic is architectural theory, aka many an architecture student’s least favorite class(es) in architecture school.
A lot of people see the words “architectural theory” and expect something like this:
(for those curious, this is from Greg Lynn’s 1993 essay “Architecture Curvilinearity: the Folded, the Pliant, and the Supple”)
Fortunately for most of us (sorry PhD students), the vast majority of architectural theory isn’t this complex and esoteric! Hence:
What even is Architectural Theory?
Architectural theory is simply talking about architecture. It encompasses everything from philosophy and aesthetics to history, sociology, and building construction techniques.
Common questions in architectural theory, debated even today include:
What is the role of the architect?
What makes a building beautiful or important?
What makes good or innovative architecture?
What is the role of architecture as an art or as a science? In society?
What is the role of a building within the city or landscape?
Can we create a better world through architecture?
How do (or should) architects reinterpret the past?
How does today’s architecture fit into architectural history?
How does today’s society influence its architecture?
How do changes in technology influence architecture?
Seen above: books that have, at one point, pissed off some dudes in black turtlenecks and glasses. (Photo Sources: Monoskop, Fair Use)
Early Architectural Theory: Antiquity through the Renaissance
Though there were likely many before him whose work was lost in the throes of antiquity, the Roman architect, writer, and engineer Vitruvius (active during the 1st century BCE) is credited with being the grandfather of architectural theory.
Vitruvius’ work De architectura (commonly known as The Ten Books of Architecture) is the oldest existing treatise on architecture, and the only primary source from classical architecture to have survived into modernity.
1931 edition of Vitruvius’ Ten Books of Architecture, screenshot from Archive.org. Public Domain.
Vitruvius’ treatise handled everything from how the Romans built their cities and decorated their temples to the philosophy of architecture and the training of young architects. Vitruvius’ most famous contribution from De architectura was his answer to the question: what makes good architecture?
Vitruvius believed that good architecture satisfies three fundamental laws: firmitas, utlitas, and venustas (commonly translated as firmness, commodity, and delight.)
The Vitruvian Triangle (diagram by me, hereby released into the Public Domain)
Even now, Vitruvius’ requirements for “good” architecture remain relevant, and form a successful basis for theoretical thought. For those who feel like they don’t know how to talk about architecture, asking if something is well-constructed, satisfies its intended function, or could be considered beautiful is a good place to start.
The trickiest of the three is, of course, beauty, as ideas of beauty differs from person to person. For example, I hate McMansions, but love Brutalist architecture, which is loathed by many.
The discussion of whether or not something can be considered beautiful, and why is often referred to as aesthetics.
Renaissance Thought
During the Renaissance, the architect and theorist Leon Battista Alberti expanded greatly on Vitruvius’ ideas of beauty, which he found problematic. (Namely Vitruvius’ idea that the architect can change proportions based on his own judgement rather than the Platonic laws of the universe - which Alberti believed had the potential to invoke aesthetic chaos.) His statements on aesthetics would lay the foundation for three centuries of architectural thought.
Alberti believed (following in the footsteps of Plato) that there is a so-called higher reality to the physical world, which could be expressed through architecture via the universal laws of mathematics and “harmonic” proportions, such as the “golden ratio”.
Leon Battista Alberti, perspective drawing from Della Pittura, 1435-1439. Public Domain
Alberti used the work of Cicero who said that effective connection and embellishment of words gave rise to a certain symmetry - called concinnity - which, when said words were changed, disappears, (though the overall structure or idea remains the same, like a building without ornament). Alberti summed these abstract ideas into three numerical qualities applying to architecture: correct number, outline and position. Alberti’s use of mathematics in art resonated throughout the Renaissance, and his treatment of perspective and perspective drawing had a huge influence on later artists, namely Leonardo da Vinci.
The Platonic idea of universal beauty as expressed by symmetry and mathematical proportion and the Vitruvian triad were further synthesized by Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) - perhaps the most important architect and theorist in history.
Palladio: Villa Barbaro (c.1560)
Palladio’s emphasis on balance and symmetry, and his devotion to the historical forms of Greek and Roman antiquity remain influential in classical architecture to this very day. Palladio’s Four Books of Architecture was not only a classic Renaissance architectural treatise, but also an invaluable source on classical stylings and ornamentation through endless drawings of details, plans, sections, and elevations. In addition, Palladio’s treatise coincided with the dawn of the printing press, enabling it to be transmitted widely, spreading its influence.
Palladio: Villa Rotunda, c.1592. Public Domain.
The Palladian Villa is a classic case study in architectural problem solving, balancing economic materials, saving the drama for the exterior, and emphasizing harmony, symmetry and balance - making each villa easy to navigate both externally and internally. In addition, Palladio’s use of the grid as a compositional tool was highly influential to architects ranging from Thomas Jefferson to the deconstructivist architect Peter Eisenman.
Of course, we can’t forget one of the most important legacies of Palladio: the Palladian window, which would later be completely abused by McMansions.
Well, folks - that does it for architectural theory Part 1 of Many. Stay tuned for Wednesday’s Idaho McMansion and next Sunday’s installment of “dead dudes who wrote about buildings.”
