Victoria Meyers architect's Sound Urbanism/ Sound Ecology graduate
seminar at University of Cincinnati's Graduate School of Architecture
produced some amazing sound sections, studying sounds in Cincinnati,
marking the city's change from an industrial to a service economy.
Students: Reuben Alt, Robert Castro; Rebecca Snyder, Joshua Michaels.
Reuben Alt and Robert Castro, Cincinnati Sound Section above;
Sound Recordings from three sites, below. Click the links below to hear the site:
Victoria Meyers architect's Sound Urbanism/ Sound Ecology graduate seminar at University of Cincinnati's Graduate School of Architecture produced informational sound sections, studying sounds in Cincinnati, marking the city's change from an industrial to a service economy. Students: Anjali Patel and Adam Wisler.
Below are a few of the sections, including sound recordings of their respective sites:
Above: the Western Hills Viaduct, over the existing train yards, including elevational images of sites explored by two students in the seminar. Students: Trish Kahler and James Bayless.
To 'hear' the sound sections, click on the links, above:
The work in the seminar was excellent, and the students pushed our explorations about cities, urban space, and sound to new levels. The height of the semester was the Skype lecture by Dr. David Mather, from the Getty, reviewing the works of David Dunn (http://www.davidddunn.com/ASL/Welcome.html), including Dunn's ground breaking work on Sound Ecology. Our goal for the next sound seminar is to schedule a trip to Dunn's studio in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
view of Meditation Hall from Administration porch : Won Dharma Center. Victoria Meyers architect
Victoria Meyers architect, hMa, is pleased to announce that the Won
Dharma Center has won an Honor Award from the AIA NY Chapter. Won Dharma Center is a 28,000 square-foot spiritual and recreational retreat
in Claverack, New York for the Won Buddhists, a Korean
organization that emphasizes balance in one's daily life and relationship to
nature. The center is located on a 500-acre site on a gently sloping hill
with views west to the Catskill Mountains.
The buildings for the Center, including permanent and guest residences, an
administration building and a meditation hall, are sited just off a local rural access road, and oriented west and south to maximize views
and light. The symbol of the Won organization is an open circle, suggesting a void without absence, and infinite return. The buildings are
organized around the dual concepts of void and spiral.
view of Meditation Hall and Administration from west : Won Dharma Center. Victoria Meyers architect
The 3,000
square-foot Meditation Hall is conceived as a simple rectangular void and a
lightweight frame to the natural surroundings. The Hall's wooden structure is
exposed on three sides to form entrance and viewing porches, while the interior
offers expansive views of the mountains.
The
four residential buildings include the dining hall/ administrative building,
and three residential dormitories for guests and permanent residents. The
design of the residential buildings draws on the formal organization of grass-roofed
Korean farm-houses, loosely clustered and organized internally around a single
central void. The roof shapes of the 4,000 square-foot residence
buildings transform in section around a spiral organization, from a simple
slope in section to a complex triangulated geometry where the roof transforms
into an open-air entrance porch. The internal organization of the residence
buildings allows silent walking meditation from courtyard to courtyard.
The courtyards act as passive cooling systems, and when the sliding doors
facing the courtyards open, cross ventilation through the public areas and guest
rooms provides passive cooling. All of the residential buildings are wood
construction, like the Meditation Hall, and deeply shaded to the west and south
to allow natural daylighting without excessive heat gain.
view of guest residences 1 and 2 : Won Dharma Center. Victoria Meyers architect
Victoria Meyers worked with sound engineer Mark Holden to make the Meditation Hall space silent, when the Buddhists desired to have a completely enclosed space. Windows at the Mediation Hall are triple glazed, and the walls, ceiling and floors are insulated, to prevent sound infiltration, if desired. The ceilings above the meditation space includes a membrane separation from the structure of the roof, for sound-proofing.
Victoria will be featuring the Won Buddhist buildings in her upcoming book, 'shape of sound'. The buildings will be featured, based on their insulation for sound, in relationship to John Cage's famous sound composition, 4' - 33".
Architect Victoria Meyers has been selected to participate as a juror for the 2013 'Barbara Cappochin' Biennale Internazionale di Architecttura, to take place in Padua, Italy. The selection criteria for the 2013 prize will include: respect for the environment and human dimensions, appropriate use of materials and structures, and the quality of construction details from the point of view of functionality, sustainability, and aesthetics.
Victoiria will join other jurors, including architects Leopoldo Freyrie, Alberto Cecchetto, Abe Ryo, Nikos Fintikakis, Francisco Mangado, and Nicola Leonardi, Managing Director of the magazine, 'The Plan'.
Victoria Meyers architect is pleased to announce the upcoming publication of her book, Shape of Sound. Shape of Sound will include images from Victoria Meyers's practice with her partner, hanrahan Meyers architects, hMa, as well as images of works by other architects inluding Frank Gehry, and Thomas Leeser.
The book also catalogs Victoria's collaborations with sound artists Michael Shumacher, and Jane Philbrick, and includes separate sound art works by artists Stephen Vitiello and Sarah von Sonsbeeck, among others.
Images from sound artist Sarah von Sonsbeeck: on Silence
The book will catalog a growing trend capturing new media technologies and how they are intersecting with and altering how archtiecture and our built environments are experienced. This interface is changing architecture as well as urban design. Cities are being designed in a far more global environment than previously, thanks to the effects of global networks.
This past year, Ms. Meyers pursued these effects of globalization, and sound, in her course on Sound Urbanism, at the graduate school of architecture at the University of Cincinnati. The book will also include images and sounds from Cincinnati, through visual as well as sound recordings of the city, captured by her students. Sounds will accompany the book, through an App, which will be developed to support the book.
University of Cincinnati Sound Urbanism course poster, Victoria Meyers architect
Victoria Meyers architect, hMa, is pleased to share this recently published feature on the Won Dharma Center in GreenSource magazine. The article focuses on the project's use of green design and natural materials. Below is an excerpt:
"Zen Getaway: A retreat in upstate New York reinforces the Buddhist mantra of simplicity and connection to nature.
By Fred A. Bernstein
March 2013
Whether President Obama has had an impact on carbon emissions isn't
in doubt among the Won Buddhists of North America, part of a sect
founded in Korea in the 1920s to promote interfaith understanding. The
group's meditation center, in Claverack, New York (in the Hudson River
Valley, two hours north of Manhattan), was already under construction
when one of its leaders, Reverend Chung Ohun Lee, attended the United
Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in 2009. She was so
inspired by Obama's speech—in which he vowed to cut emissions by 80
percent over 40 years—that she asked the center's architects to switch
from the conventional building systems they had already ordered to such
energy savers as geothermal heating and solar hot water. The late
changes increased the construction budget by about 8 percent, to
approximately $6.5 million, according to architect Thomas Hanrahan, who
designed the 22,000-square-foot complex with Victoria Meyers, his
partner in New York's Hanrahan Meyers Architects."
view of Meditation Hall from Administration porch : Won Dharma Center. Victoria Meyers architect
Victoria Meyers architect, hMa, is pleased to announce that the Won
Dharma Center has won an Honor Award from the AIA NY Chapter. Won Dharma Center is a 28,000 square-foot spiritual and recreational retreat
in Claverack, New York for the Won Buddhists, a Korean
organization that emphasizes balance in one's daily life and relationship to
nature. The center is located on a 500-acre site on a gently sloping hill
with views west to the Catskill Mountains.
The buildings for the Center, including permanent and guest residences, an
administration building and a meditation hall, are sited as far as possible
from the local rural access road, and oriented west and south to maximize views
and light. The symbol of the Won organization is an open circle, suggesting
both a void without absence and infinite return. The buildings are
organized around the dual concepts of void and spiral.
view of Meditation Hall and Administration from west : Won Dharma Center. Victoria Meyers architect
The 3,000
square-foot Meditation Hall is conceived as a simple rectangular void and a
lightweight frame to the natural surroundings. Its wooden structure is
exposed on three sides to form entrance and viewing porches, while the interior
offers expansive views of the mountains.
The
four residential buildings include the dining hall/ administrative building,
and three residential dormitories for guests and permanent residents. The
design of the residential buildings draws on the formal organization of grass-roofed
Korean farm-houses, loosely clustered and organized internally around a single
central void. The roof shapes of the 4,000 square-foot residence
buildings transform in section around a spiral organization, from a simple
slope in section to a complex triangulated geometry where the roof transforms
into an open-air entrance porch. The internal organization of the residence
buildings allows silent walking meditation from courtyard to courtyard.
The courtyards act as passive cooling systems, and when the sliding doors
facing the courtyards open, cross ventilation through the public areas and guest
rooms provides passive cooling. All of the residential buildings are wood
construction, like the Meditation Hall, and deeply shaded to the west and south
to allow natural daylighting without excessive heat gain.
view of guest residences 1 and 2 : Won Dharma Center. Victoria Meyers architect
Victoria Meyers: Designing With Light
New York Architects Victoria Meyers and Thomas Hanrahan believe that architecture is an environment, 'pure space', manifested in nature. The principals of hanrahanMeyers architects (hMa) have established themselves as unique visionaries, incorporating light and sound into their arresting designs of pure forms. Founded in 1987, the firm specializes in residences, art centers, and community spaces. They design spaces from a vision that connects visitors with the natural world.
www.designingwithlight.us
Victoria Meyers: Shape of Sound Architect Victoria Meyers analyzes the shape of sound; architecture and sound; form; materiality; windows; the urban sound scape, its politics, aesthetics and social character; reflection; virtuality; sound art; and silence.
Shape of Sound on Amazon
Victoria Meyers: Shape of Sound Victoria Meyers architect (Los Angeles, Ca.), principal of hanrahan Meyers architects (hMa) explores sound as it effects architecture, urban spaces, and landscapes. Contributors include hanrahan Meyers architects (featured on the book cover), Stephen Vitiello, Michael J. Schumacher, David Mather, Neil Denari, Bruce Pearson, Howeler and Yoon architecture, and Joseph Ketner.
hMa : Green Initiatives / Sustainable Architecture
United Nations Environment Programme "Environmental Knowledge for Change" this site is an incredible resource on environmental and social issues around the world
Greenopia NY hMa is proud to be featured as a "Greenopia Distinguished Business"
41 Pounds A campaign to stop junk mail (named for the number of pounds of junk mail the average American adult recieves in 1 year!)
The Conservation Fund As part of our nature based vision for architecture, hMa gives a percentage of the firm’s annual revenues to nature initiatives. This year, hMa funded ‘Wildlife Corridors’, through the Conservation Fund. ‘Wildlife Corridors’ provide natural zones through cities and towns that link animals with adjacent nature preserves. This initiative is one of several cutting-edge planning initiatives that forward thinking architects will be adopting as we seek to harmonize human habitats with nature and create sustainable development.
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