Undergraduate work +
“I call architecture frozen music.”
– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Music can have profound emotional effects on their listeners. People have often tried to simulate these rhythms and sounds via visual communication. In an attempt to translate these emotions to the field of architecture, music’s relationship to mathematics and rational sequences were investigated and incorporated into a scripted event of 99 measures. The music chosen to demonstrate the ability of the script is Beethoven’s 9th symphony in d minor. The script was not written particularly for this piece, therefore any file converted to midi format and then into a database of textual information can be used to simulate different results.
Using the pattern of a spiral to relate to the musical staff, the notes of different instruments are woven through the primary spiral reflecting the speed and rhythm of the musical piece. The individual parts reflect the volume at which each instrument is performed and the play between different parts coming in and out during the sequence. The intent is that one could read the fluidic movement of the music’s course throughout the composition.