Silence is the base condition for Sound Urbanism and Sound Ecology. Sound Urbanism // Sound Ecology is the title of a course taught by Victoria Meyers architect in 2012 - 2013 at the University of Cincinnati's Graduate School of Architecture. Above: hMa's (Victoria Meyers architect) Won Buddhist Retreat, where the Meditation Hall was developed as an enclave of silence. This was achieved both through the site planning and landscape design (by hMa), and also by attention placed on sound-proofing in the building, in collaboration with Jaffe Holden Acoustics.
Silence is also featured in the works of John Cage, and Sarah von Sonsbeeck, above. Silence was a major aspect of the semester's studies, and included reviews of Cage's 4' - 33", Cage's monograph, 'Silence', above; Paley Park in NYC, designed by landscape architects Zion and Breen, which notably is not quiet, but filled with the sound of water, drowning out the sounds of New York City; and, more recently, the works of Dutch artist, Sarah von Sonsbeeck, including her piece, featured above, 'one square meter of broken silence'.
