9 March, 2016

RESEARCH METHOD

ALLAINCE OF MUSIC AND ARCHITECTURE

A TRANSLATION THROUGH GOLDEN SECTION
AARUSHI VASHIST
3B
ROLL NO 34

ABSTRACT
Architecture gives the same mind numbing and boggling effect just like
music does, molding its complexity and emotions to influence us. After the
end of a song what the audience reminisces about its components such as
melody, symphony or in some cases its highlighted peaks. Similarly in the
case of architecture the visitors gets involved or attached to a building,
which the very emotions the architect embodies in his space while designing
that particular space.
In a way its a cycle; an architect listening to a musicians melody of
melancholy while designing a funeral home imparts those same emotions to
a musician visiting a loved one there who in turn returns home to compose a
symphony of sadness.
Architecture begins with a style and a circumstance with respect to culture
just like music. We all make things with context in mind Nature of the room
meant that words could be understood, Rhythm could be untouched when
the proportion of the music room does not change the acoustics so that it
sounds pleasing. Although the volume of the music room makes a difference
and the genre of music being performed changes. This is because the
reverberation of the tones act in accordance to the space its in. For example
Calua performed in open in Africa cannot be performed in a gothic cathedral
that enhances small notes with large amount of reverberation .it would mix
up the symphony. It is not the way music goes as about what it witnesses
and where it can take you. Music forms a new language, narrowing it down to
the true essence of who we really are. It has so many memories and
emotions to it. In this system, there was a large subtle potential of
representing human emotions. People dive in and pass it on: music as well as
architecture. Turns out these forms were capable of expressing beyond the
ability of words.

This statement can be proved by the works of Iannis Xennakis and his
theorey of concordant resonances.

INTRODUCTION
Vitruviuss rule, that the architect must not only understand drawing, but
music was the statement that brought this pair of favorable complementary
arts.
Goethe was a master philosopher who exclaimed this particular statement as
a result of exposure from the flamboyant architecturebaroque architecture
of his time. It's agile, streaming shapes that appear to cement all that is
elusive. Late investigations of architecture and music - the most understood
being Elizabeth Martin's superb Architecture as a Translation of Music bargain less with formal correlations and more with structure, the building
squares of both controls, enlivened by the "music" of John Cage.1
Architecture is frozen music
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe2
Originally Goethes quote translated from German is architecture is petrified
music 3that means architecture is basically music turned to stone. Every
beat, rhythm and melody can account for every contour, moldings and
cornices.
Every beat in music can account for moldings on the architrave in
architecture realizing that both are in repetition. Congruity, be that as it may,
similar to mood and pitch, can be communicated in numbers. The sounds in
a melody comprise of various frequencies in a specific normality of
arithmetical extents that impart different moods. This effect can be similarly
seen in the case rococo architecture or even the tensile structure seen these
days. The hyperbolic paraboloids are nothing else than a three dimensional
representation of the crest and troughs of sound waves with respect to real
time.
The co-evolution of architecture in terms of music is not a new concept.
By the year 1200 structural drawing and musical documentation were
coming up, and a couple of samples of both survive. Protin, working at
Notre Dame in Paris, presented a notational arrangement of long and short
1Kahn, Douglas. Noise, Water, Meat: a History of Sound in the Arts. Cambridge: MIT
Press, 1999.
2 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
3 Felix Emanuel Schelling

notes so he could flag essential rhythms - Dum-ti, Dum-ti, Dum-ti, Dum

generally as Gothic draftsmen were working out complex substitute cove
rhythms - A,b, A,b, A,b, A. The parallels in the middle of design and music are
exceptional. Protin and his performers were working out the harmonies of 3
and 4 songs stacked over one another. These frequently moved in incredible
pieces making consonant harmonies satisfying to the ear. 4

Similarly, architects were additionally stacking three or four levels (arcade,

display, and clerestory) in equal harmonies satisfying to the eye. The
compositional songs did not keep running in as solid resistance as the music.
They were smoothed along and ran parallel in level pieces; however there
are beautiful components that give the architectural studies an
inconspicuous counterpoint. These symphonies are especially obvious on the
off chance that you analyze the development of Gothic crosswise over time,
as appeared in the graphs. Little moldings buzz along the horizontals that
highlight the melodic lines, while more colonnades virtuoso up the verticals
emphasizing the drum beats that are both heavy and in a certain pattern.
The considerable structural logic of even versus vertical strengths begins
here and finishes in the early high rise.

'All craftsmanship' Walter Pater broadly saw in 1877, 'continually moves

towards the state of music. In conceptual music the structure and substance
of the sound and sense are one coordinated thing. Pater's saying turned
into a decent expectation of up and coming artists and also became the
objective for unique art in 30 years. the painters in Paris and outside sought
after a sort of visual likeness musical subjects, and Expressionist and Cubist
modelers stuck to this same pattern. In fact architecture as 'solidified music'
had a long history of following its sister, the parallel specialty of consonant
and cadenced request.5
Numerous qualities unite these two fine arts and a significant number of
make them diverse. Their common concerns can be found in architecture
from these marvelous exhibitions, considered to include every one of the
circles of recognition, the related architectural space was intended to contain
amplifiers and light projectors in decided positions so they could collaborate
with each other. The sound and light along these lines anticipated were
difused by the interior dividers of the space with contemplated and here and
4 Leichtentritt, Hugo. 1915. The Renaissance Attitude Towards Music. The Musical
Quarterly 1 (4). Oxford University Press: 60422. http://www.jstor.org/stable/738069

5 Leichtentritt, Hugo. 1915. The Renaissance Attitude Towards Music. The Musical
Quarterly 1 (4). Oxford University Press: 60422. http://www.jstor.org/stable/738069.

there variable impacts on the observers and their easygoing demeanor. The
same auxiliary rule is embraced for the sythesis of the music, which
infrequently loses its importance when it is listened to out of its spatial
connection, and which for the most part receive the standard of variety of
the thickness as an ideative steady, the innovative capability of which have
yet to be deplete 6
Architecture is art. It is accurately experienced from a few separations and
paces of development, a property misused by Peter Eisenman with another
staccato structure, his amazing field of isolated blocks in Berlin, both a
theoretical urban example and a dedication. Like the Greek sanctuary, it
impels the sentiment conclusiveness by the contrast between light and
shadow. As one clarification for the outline, Eisenman portrayed a
temperament of trepidation that he encountered when lost in an Iowa
cornfield with no signals of introduction or scale. His interminable, undulating
ground of solid concrete blocks actually communicates this sentiment alarm,
when one plummets into its agoraphobic deliberation. 7
For example, the Greek amphitheater is a showstopper for its time; it was
seen as architectural flawlessness. It has its disadvantages in the present
scenario. One of them is that it is an open space which spreads the sound
and the acoustic is lost. One of them being different styles of music cannot
be performed at amphitheater since it is not enclosed and it influences the
collection, the tone and the focus. Concert arenas, theaters, recording
studios, auditoriums are the most particular projects as far as music is
concerned. They require amazingly elevated amounts of acoustic quality,
clarity of tone, pitch and volume and additionally adequate measures of air
space to permit the sound to travel. These sorts of open spaces ought to
permit music lovers to both hear and see the exhibition.
On the other hand a drawback of having a large performance sets aside the
sound to travel. It demonstrates that not all that is big is better. To give a
ambience as expansive and with good acoustics is unquestionably not a
simple task. Golden section can be applied at this point of time to achieve
effective design. (Kanach, 2008)
All things considered, the vibrations are the ones which give feeling of tone.
Individuals can feel them as well as react to them. Every human or living
thing can percept and transmit vibrations. They are connected in an
6 Michael Barron, Auditorium acoustics and architectural design

7Stiliyana Ilieva Minkovska, Architecture and Music, U30025 Issues in Architectural

History and Theory Essay,2008

interminable cycle of musicality, base and volume. This is the place the
meaning of material happens and it is the most vital association between the
sound proliferation and people's observation. The material, together with the
state of the building, is the way to a decent acoustic.
Whenever music and design utilize such common and customary
implications in so streamlined a structure they raise feelings to a high pitch.
The Gothic cathedrals demonstrates the point, particularly while music is
being performed within.
As dynamic works of art in light of musicality, extent and agreement,
architecture and music share an unmistakable social genealogy. Presently,
through advanced expression and digital progress, design can achieve new
statures of imaginative matchless quality.
This can be seen clearly in the works of Iannis Xenakis.
In the fifties, Xenakis was adding to these sort of considerations and was
getting some information about guidelines in structure and whether is
conceivable to deliver something in music or in some other field in the
aggregate nonappearance of tenets, or as such, in a completely free way.
Stravinsky demanded that to make music the standards are fundamental;
Xenakis himself, under ten years back, asserted to be persuaded that:
when Bach, Beethoven or Bartk wrote their compositions they made
some calculations, even though relatively simple. These dealt with
calculating, preparing according to a given order, completing some
operations of intellectual organization, but besides these calculations there
are decisions that work to make these calculations more or less evident, to
make them momentarily disappear in a game of ellipsis and then reappear 8
-Iannis Xenakis
Iannis xennakis had a very tragic childhood as a greek in Romania. he joined
the organized resistance fighter during the world war II during which he met
with an accident following this he can back to complete his engineering
degree from Athens polytechnic institute.9
He worked under le Corbusier who might as often as possible utilize "the
modular". Xennakis was fascinated by the golden section while he worked
8 Sven Sterken, Music as an Art of Space: Interactions between Music and Architecture in
the Work of Iannis Xenakis ,1991

9Ibid.page 5

under le Corbusier who used the concept the modular for the ratio of
spaces.
Le Corbusier built up the Modulor in the long convention of Vitruvius,
Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man, the work of Leon Battista Alberti, and
different endeavors to find numerical extents in the human body and after
that to utilize that information to enhance both the appearance and capacity
of architecture. The framework depends on human estimations, the twofold
unit, the Fibonacci numbers, and the golden section. Le Corbusier depicted it
as a "scope of symphonious measurements to suit the human scale, to be
executed to design and to mechanical things".10
According to the new grove dictionary golden section is a relatively new
concept discovered in 432 BC by Meton who traced the lunar cycle for
nineteen years. Two quantities are in the golden ratio if their ratio is the
same as the ratio of their sum to the larger of the two quantities. 11
Some twentieth-century architects and designers, including Le Corbusier and
Dal, had utilized the golden section as a part of proportioning their work
particularly as the golden rectangle, in which the proportion of the longer
side to the shorter is the brilliant proportionknowing this proportion to be
pleasing to the eye.12
This concept heavily inspired Xennakis as it resonated with his culture and
inherent love of mathematics.
Xennakis after achieving financial stability wanted to explore his passion for
music and he found Olivier Messiaen who mentored him to find relation
between his work and hobby. This turned out to be a very sound advice to
him.
I used to have a tape-recorder, a bad one, which left a little noise on the
tape when you pressed the [record] button. When I noticed that, I exploited
it. I measured the length of the tape and marked it at certain points in pencil.
I pressed the button of the machine at every mark, and when I played it the
10 Ostwald, Michael J. (2001). "The Modular and Modular 2 by Le Corbusier (Charles Edouard
Jeanneret), 2 volumes. Basel: Birkhuser, 2000" (PDF). Nexus Network Journal 3 (1): 145
48.doi:10.1007/s00004-000-0015-0.

11 All is Number Golden Section in Xenakis Rebonds BY GREG BEYER,October 2011

12 Manuel Abendroth," The shape of sound", LARCA, 181-April 2003.

noises followed one another according to the Golden Section. In other words,
I received an exact aural picture of that proportion. (Varga) 13
-iannis xennakis

Philips Pavilion
He began working as an architect five years after he joined le Corbusier as
an assistant engineer.
Through hyperbolic parabola state of the Philips structure, Xenakis speaks
through his underlying thought of Metastaseis the eight minutes electronic
music bit of work which makes soothing environment through its minimal
notes. The work feels like a downpour of rain delicately.14
It is a noteworthy work, both in audient and visual way. It praises an
unfathomable occasion of both spatial and musical manifestations. It
coordinates every required segment for a great component of work light,
shading, views, cadence, sound and engineering. It is a masterpiece for the
time it is presented. Such a masterwork composed by Le Corbusier in a joint
effort with Iannis Xenakis both virtuosos in their own particular rights.
Music and design could resonate the same feelings satisfaction, misery,
disaster or sentimentalism, aggression , comfort and discomfort. It can make
an design more grounded and in addition the design could help fortifying
musical piece of work. For instance, a three dimensional representation turns
out to be much more grounded and intense if music is connected to it. The
music directs the frequency of a space and the development of the feeling.
At the point when the crest comes, the music could without much of a
stretch reflect and speak to it in a way which would make it more particular
and outworldly. Additionally, architecture serves music as well. It gives
spatial significance of what is listened. There are a large number of
perceptions in light of musical work. It is either solid impact deciphered into
a space, or only a commotion which delineates a scene.
For instance, there are spaces and sounds which incite unique suppositions
yet in a practically identical interpretation. In the event that a space is all
around composed, it effortlessly could make you feel dismissed or totally
secure. In the event that a space is outlined on a reason, it could accomplish
13 Varga 1996, 14.
14 Sterken, Music as an Art of Space: Interactions between Music and Architecture
in the Work of Iannis Xenakis

that through its materiality as well as through specific kind of music too.
Everything relies on upon the matter in which the designers wish to fulfill.
Theirs is the decision to play with expressions and aims.

Convent la Tourette
In the case of Convent la Tourette, Xenakis made his own particular a
postulation of least principles, from the general law of the entropy that a few
years back was considered for its expressive potential which drove
straightforwardly to Xenakis' basic meaning of stochastic arrangements.

Xenakis outlined the Phillips Pavilion at the 1956 Brussels World Fair, and
basically without any help composed the exceptionally effective Couvent de
St. Marie de la Tourette. Xenakis put his entire self into the cloister.
Significantly Corbusier alluded to it as the Couvent de Xenakis. Le Corbusier
was in India working on another project, and just sent intermittent orders to
Xenakis for use in the outline. One such thought was an extraordinary faade
of glass, in view of a comparative development Corbusier had gone over in
India. He proposed the utilization of numerous boards of glass isolated by
light emissions, sorted out in a normal lattice. Xenakis built up the thought,
dismissing the repetitive grid for what are presently called his well-known
"musical screens of glass." Xenakis utilized the Modulor to get a movement
of rectangles of the same tallness however of differing width. These were
organized in lines with changing densities and interims to give an
asymmetrical appearance. In the last outline, he stacked numerous layers of

these "ondulations," counterbalanced by a normal

network of concrete square blocks above.15

Xenakis was keen on an idea

of music that was fit for
going past the limitations of
the music, both by
traverse into other
expressive means - as
it happened for the change
of the graphical-musical representations of Metastasis into architectural
plans for the state of the Philips Pavilion - and through the polyaesthetic idea
of the Polytpes and the Diatpes, and in addition through strategies,
frequently lifted up by the utilization of the PC, that related the realistic
development (to create as in composing a score) with the resonating
execution (to make as in delivering a vibrant result).16

CONCLUSION
Music is liquid architecture; Architecture is frozen music.
The answer lies within the nature itself. The link that connects both
architecture and music together is the theory of Golden section. Iannis
15 Noritza Matossian, in her book Iannis Xenakis, 2001
16 Sterken, Music as an Art of Space: Interactions between Music and Architecture
in the Work of Iannis Xenakis

Xennakis influenced by this , developed a series of facades and plans that

helped in translate the music he would listen to while designing into actual
physical manifests. This can be clearly seen in the faade he designed for
Convent la Tourette where his fenestration on two lower floors are arranged
in frequencies. Every beat in music can account for moldings on the
architrave in architecture realizing that both are in repetition. Congruity, be
that as it may, similar to mood and pitch, can be communicated in numbers.
In two of his works, Xenakis estimates the connection between (musical)
execution and structural space. The first one is an unpublished content,
entitled "Lieu" where Xenakis builds up some broad thoughts concerning the
architecture of musical execution spaces. He introduces two contrary
energies: the anechoic chamber and the acoustic show corridor, and argues
for a bargain of both. The second content is 'Espaces et sources d'auditions
et de scenes', initially a discourse conveyed at a gathering in Greece in
1980, republished (in French interpretation) in Makis Solomos, Prsences de
Iannis Xenakis, 197-200. Here, Xenakis builds up a general hypothesis
concerning the interrelation amongst "sources" and 'groups of onlookers'.
After the end of a tune what the gathering of people thinks back about its
parts, for example, tune, ensemble, and notes or sometimes its highlighted
crests. Correspondingly on account of the space the guests gets included or
joined to a building, which the very feelings the architect encapsulates in his
space while planning that specific space.

REFERENCES

Kahn, Douglas. Noise, Water, Meat: a History of Sound in the Arts.

Cambridge: MIT Press, 1999.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Felix Emanuel Schelling

Quotation and Originality. 1868. Quotation and Originality. The
North American Review 106 (219). University of Northern Iowa: 543
57. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25108167
Leichtentritt, Hugo. 1915. The Renaissance Attitude Towards
Music. The Musical Quarterly 1 (4). Oxford University Press: 60422.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/738069
Carus, Paul. 1895. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MUSIC. The Monist 5 (3).
Oxford University Press: 4017. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27897250
Auditorium acoustics and architectural design by Michael Barron
Architecture becomes music by Charles Jenckss
Sven Sterken, Music as an Art of Space: Interactions between Music
and Architecture in the Work of Iannis Xenakis ,1991
Noritza Matossian, in her book Iannis Xenakis,
Ostwald, Michael J. (2001). "The Modulor and Modulor 2 by Le
Corbusier (Charles Edouard Jeanneret), 2 volumes. Basel: Birkhuser,
2000" (PDF). Nexus Network Journal 3 (1): 14548.doi:10.1007/s00004000-0015-0. Varga 1996, 14.

Stiliyana Ilieva Minkovska, Architecture and Music, U30025 Issues in

Architectural History and Theory Essay,2008

All is Number Golden Section in Xenakis Rebonds BY GREG

BEYER,October 2011
Verse, Rhythm and Temporal Hierarchies in Iannis Xenakis Polla ta
Dhina Charles Turner