Tuning Spaces: How parametric design, computer simulation, and digital fabrication will impact the acoustic performance of architecture

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Sound is an integral aspect of architectural experience and of building performance. However, despite sound's importance and the existence of applicable design methods in acoustic engineering, sound is rarely considered in the architectural design process. In the past decades, the architect's design tools have substantially changed: the architectural drawing has gone from paper to digital, from 2-D to 3-D, parametric and computational methods now enable the realisation of buildings with complex geometry, and computer simulation can now evaluate aspects of design that were previously not possible. Designers and engineers are now beginning to design for sound using parametric design, computer simulation, and digital fabrication.*******This research seeks to radically and creatively integrate sound into the architectural design process, and test these new processes through the production of novel acoustic surfaces. With a particular focus on everyday spaces such as meeting rooms, lecture halls, and open plan working environments, the experiments utilize computational design algorithms and parametric modelling techniques, combining these with established and custom simulation software to create acoustically performance-driven spaces and surfaces. The research objectives are: to develop digital design tools and link these to computer acoustic performance evaluation: to study the potential of digital fabrication for the production of acoustically performance-driven architecture: to investigate the relationship of the placement of different types of acoustic surfaces and the resulting acoustic characteristics of the space: to study the amount of sound scattering that is necessary to achieve good acoustic performance; and, to develop design techniques and find acoustic parameters to define perceptible subspaces of acoustic performance created by varying material properties of surfaces within an open-plan space.*******Scientific methods for acoustic simulation and auralization will be used to evaluate digital design proposals and established quantitative measurement methods will be used to evaluate 1:1 prototypes. While the linking of design and evaluation is essential, this research proposes that this is insufficient. Architecture is a design process that extends from ideation through to realization, and so the incorporation of acoustic performance must be integrated not only in design and simulation but also into the construction logic of fabrication and assembly. This research will result in the production of novel design methods and digital fabrication techniques in creating new acoustic surfaces. These new design methods will specifically benefit Canadian architects and engineers enabling them better engage with sound, and the development of new acoustic surfaces will generally benefit Canadians and result in better sounding buildings.*********