Month: November 2023

Notes on Iain Chambers and “Concrete Paris” Composition:

• Composer behind “Concrete Paris,” part of BBC Radio 3’s Between the Ears series.
• Explores the musical composition of brutalist concrete buildings from the 1960s and 70s in the outskirts of Paris.
• Approach involves using location recordings as musical components, with buildings playing lead roles.
• Founder of Langham Research Centre, known for using field recordings in compositions.
• Interest in site-specific work exploring sound within the built environment.
• Previous projects include electro-acoustic music inspired by brutalist structures, such as Trinity Square multi-storey car park in Gateshead.
• Inspiration for “Concrete Paris” came from the publication ‘Brutalist Maps of Paris.’
• Explored sites like Créteil, Ivry-sur-Seine, and Bobigny, capturing distinctive sounds of brutalist architecture.
• Utilizes stereo and contact microphones for recordings.
• Stereo microphones capture deep building sounds and threshold sounds bleeding into it, while contact microphones focus on resonant places within the architecture.
• Describes interaction with buildings using contact microphones as “playing the building.”
• Program includes interviews with key figures in the design of the buildings, providing context and insight.
• Dr. Robin Wilson, co-creator of Brutalist Maps of Paris, describes the soundscape as impressionistic, capturing an urban journey.
• Composition aims to transform familiar sounds into something that speaks to the truth of the place.
• Reflection on successful brutalist social housing, citing Ivry as an example of mixing uses effectively.
• Hopes listeners enjoy the “slightly dreamlike” and “otherworldly” results, offering an escapist virtual trip to Paris.
• Expresses interest in continuing exploration of architectural sound, mentioning the desire to work on a project at Cardross Seminary.

https://www.ribaj.com/culture/brutalism-sound-concrete-paris-ian-chambers-robin-wilson

Notes on “Brutalism in Sound: Concrete Paris and The Gathering Grounds”

• Sound energy splits into three upon striking a surface: reflected, absorbed, and transmitted.
• The surface’s material, shape, and composition determine the proportions of the split.
• Smooth concrete is an ideal reflector, with minimal absorption or transmission of sound energy.
• Concrete rooms exhibit high reverberation times due to minimal dissipation.
• Acoustic architecture adage: an open window is a perfect absorber for the listener.
• Each room has a unique acoustic fingerprint based on size, shape, and materials.
• Large, full, and hard rooms sound different from their counterparts.
• The experiential equivalence of absorption and transmission as non-reflective processes.
• In Brutalism, the architectural style embodies the contrast between reflection and non-reflection.
• Brutalist structures emphasize hulking, sweeping, and economical design, not expressly acoustic.
• Concrete, a dominant material in Brutalism, highlights the contrast between reflection (solid) and non-reflection (void).
• Mario Ciampi’s museum at 2626 Bancroft Way exemplifies Brutalist design without acoustic treatment.
• Concrete and glass surfaces remain bare, offering a scientific glimpse into the relationship between sound and form.
• The museum’s intrinsic sonic condition cultivated its reputation in the experimental music scene.
• Ciampi’s design rejects soft transitions and gradated materials, representing extremes of acoustic possibility.
• The venue’s closure in 2014 interrupted the permeation of its sonic consequences into architectural consciousness.
• “Acoustic Deconstruction of 2626 Bancroft Way” aimed to explore a potential acoustic future rather than document history.
• Published in 2016 as an insert for the vinyl LP “Acoustic Deconstruction,” featuring work by Ingrid Lee, Matt Ingalls, and Maggi Payne.
• LP resulted from a collaborative project by Jacqueline Kiyomi Gordon and Zackery Belanger to study and document the acoustics of 2626 Bancroft Way.
• Produced by Jacqueline Kiyomi Gordon for The Lab SF.

https://zbelanger.medium.com/brutalism-exposed-the-essence-of-acoustic-architecture-59d69541bfb5

Notes on Iklectik 2021 Event: “Brutalism in Sound: Concrete Paris and The Gathering Grounds”

• Venue: Iklectik, Lambeth (independent performance space and research arts laboratory)
• Collaboration with sound artist and composer Iain Chambers
• Focus on Chambers’s 15-minute sonic score, “Concrete Paris”
• Developed a new image and text projection sequence to accompany the performance
• Sequence followed the rhythmic changes of Chambers’s piece
• Explored a journey across Paris, combining imagery of Brutalist architecture with found objects and surfaces of the inner city at night
• The event also featured the premiere of “The Gathering Grounds” (11 minutes)
• Generated from fieldwork in the landscapes of Darwell and Powdermill reservoirs, East Sussex
• Blend of black-and-white photography with a sonic composition made entirely from field recordings
• Included a spoken narrative for three voices, constructed from fieldnotes
• Montage of archival and social media texts from occupants and users of the land over time
• Represented various perspectives, from engineers and archaeologists to ramblers and fishing clubs
• Allowed different cultures of language to intersect, revealing different itineraries and modes of attention
• Journey unveiled an increasingly contested landscape of diverse land use, ownership, and agency