The Architecture of Sound- Tanya Harris

What Architecture Does Sound Orchestrate? Tanya employed the architecture of Nicholas Hawksmoor as an instrument to explore the relationship between sound and form. To investigate this concept, Tanya recorded the resonant frequency of four Hawksmoor churches. The concept of architecture as frozen music and music as liquid architecture, first formulated by Goethe in XIX century, encapsulates the essence of this project. It describes how music and architecture employ the golden ratio; the geometric blueprint evident throughout nature, to express harmony. The study of cymatics reveals that sound vibrations excite matter into geometric forms, which coincide with the golden ratio. By placing water inside a loudspeaker, Tanya discovered the hidden geometry of these resonant frequencies, hence translating sound into liquid architecture. I engraved these sound glyphs onto stone tablets in an attempt to freeze the music of the architecture onto the very stone used to construct Hawksmoor’s buildings. This project aims to provoke new insights into the subtle vibrations through which all life manifests itself.