reSITE, in collaboration with MAAT, has completed its one-of-a-kind satellite event at Amanda Levete-designed MAAT Museum on February 12, 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal.

Called RESONATE, the one-day event, powered by MAAT and reSITE in collaboration with Meyer Sound, has welcomed over 320 visitors to rethink the notion of Sound and Space, a first ever conference focused exclusively on the intersection of Architecture and Sound. 

The day began with Bill Fontana who led a tour of his Shadow Soundings installation that brought to the inner oval space of the museum a choreographed fugue of the distant sounds of the 25th of April bridge and the depth of the Tagus river.

After Barry's opening the event, Barry and Pedro Gadanho, Director of MAAT, held a short conversation about the RESONATE. 

“Architecture is a visual culture, perhaps because of media. We look at architecture through our eyes when it's actually a more tactile experience. We forget that sound is really fundamental for your comfort and experience," said Pedro Gadanho. 

Martin Barry, Founder and Cahirman of reSITE

“Any bats, owls and dolphins in the room?“ In his traditionally interactive opening, reSITE’s Martin Barry drew a parallel between supernatural auditive capabilities of those species and groundbreaking acoustic and architectural environments that result from cooperation between architects and innovative engineers as well as technologies from Meyer Sound which closely collaborated on the event.

"Let’s think sound first, using technology and space to create unforgettable and pleasant sound experiences across architecture and public space," said Martin Barry during his introductory speech.

In one-day event, the flexibility of cultural venues, the tactility of sound though the application of new technologies and the evaluation of sound as the public space sit at the core of the discussion with with a provocative audience.  

RESONATE hosted artists, sound experts, world-renowned design leaders and acclaimed architects coming from diverse backgrounds and disciplines to discuss their experiences and opinions, showing that how they position sound and its related experiences in new digital era. 

Elizabeth Diller, founding partner of DS+R

Elizabeth Diller in conversation with Andrew Tuck from Monocle, UK

Elizabeth Diller from Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R), Louis Becker, Partner, Design Principal at Henning Larsen Architects, Michael Jones from Foster&Partners, Kjetil Trædal Thorsen of Snøhetta, as well as sound designers from Meyer Sound, Arup and several artists and performers were among the speakers at the event.

Elizabeth Diller stressed that "flexible space is driving her approach for all new cultural interventions," while Kjetil Thorsen concluded during the closing keynote that "creativity needs to be distinctive and people are at the center of Snøhetta’s design process."

Michael Kimmelman, architecture critic and columnist of New York Times

Michael Kimmelman in conversation of Martin Barry, Founder and Cahirman of reSITE

Michael Kimmelman’s, keynote was all about the omnipresence of sound, an ignored and often underappreciated aspect in our lives, homes and public spaces, as a royal guest of reSITE. Kimmelman, architecture critic and columnist of New York Times, was in conversation with Martin Barry, Founder and Cahirman of reSITE.  

"We will look back on sound as the public space element that plagued this era the way scent defined the Middle Ages," added Kimmelman during the conversation.

Louis Becker, Design Principal and Partner at Henning Larsen Architects

"Flexibility of a public building is important for us. There is a connection between sound, technology, and public spaces," stress Becker during his talk for the Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Center in Reykjavík, Iceland. 

The conference' outreach was highly successful as its almost one half on the guests were women (46%), thanks to a special offer launched by the organizers to stimulate female representation at the event, and further their mission for gender balance in architecture and design.

"Architect becomes an engineer. Engineer becomes a musician. Musician becomes an architect," said Kjetil Trædal Thorsen, co-founder of Snøhetta during his discussion for Oslo Opera House. 

"Creativity needs to be distinctive. There is no architecture without people," he added.

From experimental art to state-of-the-art acoustic engineering, a wide range of professions were represented including architects, sound and acoustic designers, engineers, musicians, artists and researchers, all discovered innovative and cross-disciplinary common ground of the future of acoustic spaces. 

Raj Patel, Principal of Arup, gave a lecture titled "Presentations: Acoustics & Architecture: Past, Present & Future". 

Patel said that "Rooms will become smaller. Digital technology will change everything. New experiences will be pushed by sound. Architecture will hear us.”

Patel was in conversation with Michael Jones from Foster & Partners, UK. "Noise and sound is different: we don’t want noise, but we want sound," said Michael Jones during the discussion.

View from a tour of Bill Fontana’s Shadow Soundings sound and live streaming installation at MAAT

RESONATE was the fruit of a new partnership between co-organizers fostering innovation and a globally relevant dialogue:MAAT offers a common ground for discovery and critical thinking that crosses art, architecture and technology; reSITE, a leading voice in Europe in the field of rethinking architecture and public space to make cities more livable. 

The event was closely related to Bill Fontana’s Shadow Soundings sound and live streaming installation at MAAT.

World Architecture Community is official media partner for RESONATE.

Top image: Pedro Gadanho of MAAT and Martin Barry

All images © Paulo Andre Coelho

> via reSITE & MAAT