Welcome to Hear, Here. This project was the final part of Ric Lipson's Diploma/Masters in Architecture at The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL in 2009.
The project concerns itself with sound and the body. Sound is an integral part of the way we understand the space surrounding us. Size, quality, timbre, texture and the atmosphere of a space can all be inferred by the way in which we experience sound. Based on ideas taken from the Suffolk island of Orford Ness (an old Military testing ground) the project developed a pre-occupation with the acoustic qualities of circular spaces and with ambient sonic landscapes. The building is the final movement in the score of this experiential journey concerning itself with sound and the body. By giving concepts physical form, the experience can be explored.
It is a tour-able, demountable structure. It is a piece of architecture, sound art and theatre. By exploring concepts of resonance, reflection, absorption, forced and natural, the work creates a 'sonic geography' framed within a physical construct that invites you to explore, listen, improvise and experience. The acustic pavillion exists, it is here to be experienced, for the user to enter and listen within. Essentially the pavillion is a big ear capturing sounds from it's immediate environment. It's geometries can intensify, resonate and distort these found sounds and act as a passive instrument, playing sounds of the city based on the occupier's position within the structure.
The piece was intially exhibited in the UCL Quadrangle in June/July 2009. The work was then featured in Architecture magazine 'Building Design Online' under the heading of 'the class of 2009'. visit www.bdonline.co.uk. Since then drawings and video of the project were exhibited at the Chelsea Arts Club London, as part of their architecture exhibition, 'What If?...' Theses works were also featured in exhibition 'Digital Hiterlands' and are published in the book, 'Passages Through Hinterlands' by Riuri Glynn. http://www.digital-architecture.org/. The work has also been featured by the Centre for Creative Collaboration. http://creativecollaboration.posterous.com/hear-here-an-opportunity-to-collaborate
The building is has just finished being on display at the Central School of Speech and Drama. It is now trying to find a home or the next exhibition outing. If you have any ideas or are interesting in working with the piece, please contact me, ric@riclipson.com
A video of "The Making of Hear Here" can be seen below.
For more information please contact Ric Lipson at ric@riclipson.com and for more of Ric's work, please visit www.riclipson.com
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Ric was in Unit 23 at the Bartlett, led by Bob Sheil and Emmanuel Vercruysse, his theoretical Tutor was Paul Bavister of Audialsense, his structural advisor was Ron Packman of Packman Lucas, and acoustic consultancy came from Arup. 'Hear, Here', has also been supported by The Centre for Excellence in Training for Theatre at The Central School of Speech and Drama as the next step in the ongoing and collaborative live project with Unit 23 identified as 'PERFORM'. Over the course of the next 2 years, graduates from the unit will form a small practice at the Bartlett to design, prototype and develop an experimental mobile theatre. The project is also supported by UCL's response to the governments 'recession busting' Economic Challenge Investment Fund. The Centre for Excellence in Training for Theatre was established at The Central School of Speech and Drama in January 2005 as one of 74 Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) funded schemes to establish Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning nationwide to reward and invest in excellent teaching practice. The Central School of Speech and Drama was the only whole-institution award, made in recognition of its status as a specialist drama school of internationally recognised excellence. Its work occupies a cutting-edge position at the interface between higher education and industry practice, serving as a national laboratory for pedagogic exploration within a vocational theatre setting. The award has enabled the School to invest in state of the art provision for teaching and research spaces in addition to ongoing funding for the development of innovative practice, both within the School and in the professional arena.