Visualizing Music as a Basic Design Assignment in Architectural Education

Abstract

The different aspects of architectural design and music that act in support of one another have governed the inspiration and utilization of music in design education. This paper describes a Basic Design Studio assignment that involves visualizing music by organizing linear and planar units using basic design principles, with the aim of contributing to the transformation of conceptual thinking to physical formation by the integration of domain material taught in basic design courses. Dealing with music as a design tool, the study relates the perceptional and structural analogy between music and design and discusses its contribution to basic design achievements. The visual expression of the products and the manner in which it relates to appropriate basic design principles and elements qualities are evaluated in the context of organization, abstraction and uniqueness. The assignment given to the students to conduct this evaluation strengthened their ability to transform abstract thinking into physical representation, helped them to understand multidimensional thinking and how to engage in creative thinking, contributed to their architectural education and improved their study skills by giving them experience in coordinating design elements, principles and materials, all of which served to stimulate improvisation and reflection of emotions. From the results of this study, it is recommended that music, which has similar approaches and principles to those of architectural design, can be used as a tool in design and architectural education to support different phases of the creation and expression process.

Timbre Spaces: Interdisciplinary Education Between Architecture and Composition

“…• Composition: The arrangement of material on the local and global scale by borrowing proportions from the other discipline, a common theme observed in some of the other musical studios [4,5,6].…”

“…Other educators tried to connect the two disciplines, often with architectural design studios based on a single composition as the inspiration for the design of a building [4,5,6].…”

“…Various educators, especially from the field of architecture, tried to connect music and architecture, and studios at different institutions have attempted an approach based on music or sound. The projects often use a single composition as the inspiration or data that define an architectural design [2,4,5,6].…”