Immaterial Architecture: Composing Space From Sound

In the post-digital, heterotopic society, human activities have transcended the limiting confines of physical space. The prevailing urban/architectural philosophies that defined programmed spaces by material enclosures and boundaries are less relevant when information, programs and activities transpire independent of such physical fields. Thus, architecture needs to address this emerging paradigm by conceiving new types of traversable spaces. This design thesis develops the use of electroacoustic techniques to generate immaterial sonic enclosures that allow unhindered penetration of light and matter, while blocking out sound within a strepitous environment. Sound is explored as a material for constructing interconnected spaces without physical boundaries. Through the use of the proposed Virtual Sonic Enclosures (VSE), this thesis aims to provide a weak infrastructure rather than an ‘object’ such as a building to facilitate the seamless networking of spaces and programs to generate new architectural possibilities that reflect contemporary conditions.