Masters Theses

Date of Award

8-2004

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Architecture

Major

Architecture

Major Professor

Brian Ambroziak

Committee Members

Richard Kelso, Scott Wall

Abstract

From Vitruvius’ Ten Books on Architecture to Wagner’s conception of the Gesamkunstwerk, many would agree that each area of art should influence the others. By narrowing my study to the relationship of architecture and music, I will explore in depth how music can directly influence the design, in form and experience, of architecture.
There are two ways to understand the interactions of music and architecture. The analogical is concerned with the artist’s intention and technical procedure. Often, we think of the Pythagorean philosophy concerning the mathematical relationships that both music and architecture employ. These include, but are not limited to, harmony, rhythm and order. The Pythagoreans are credited for having brought measure to music through the study of the monochord, pipes, and bells. Pythagoras discovered through plucking strings of different lengths, hitting bells, and blowing pipes of different lengths that musical harmony existed in multiples of the original note. Architectural form and structure follow many of the same rules in which music is composed. For example, single components of primary structure, such as rhythm, may include secondary structural components to create harmony. Also, Architecture can use musical iconography in the form of buildings. Frank Gehry uses several musical icons and distorts them in order to give shape to his Experience Music Project building. This is the most literal translation of musical influence on architecture. I am not suggesting this is the appropriate way in which these forces meet. However, a combination of the following two interactions will be further explored.
There also exists the metaphorical, the poetic analogies that exist in both architecture and music. We use a different art to describe the impalpable effects that another art has on us in order to better identify that effect. Like built architecture, performed music can capture many emotions and feelings. Music is much like architecture in that it is written as well as experienced. “For Kahn, the work of the architect was closer to that of the musician than to that of the painter because the visual notations on paper which both musicians and architects make represent something outside the paper. A musical score represents sound, an architectural plan the three-dimensional experience of mass, space and light,” (Shaw-Miller, 34). Musicians continually write and rewrite pieces so that in the end, their audience will be able to fully engage in the experience of the music. In order for this to be a rich experience the music must be composed in great detail through many layers. I would argue that music can be used as a precedent for technique and intention, and also for the metaphorical, to create an effect in architecture. In this thesis, I will explain how we, as architects, can learn from the creation and experience of music and translate this into architecture by designing through a deep layering of information in order to create a rich, inspirational experience.

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