MUR|MUR
THE SOUND SENSING WALL
ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: SPRING 2013
TYPE: RESEARCH/ INSTALLATION
Parametric architecture often promises of change, flexibility and continuos transformations. This research/ installation project, tests theses assumptions in a framework that allows for human interaction. One often considers architectural space to be inanimate, incapable of tangible formations. Inspired by Ovid’s narration of the unfulfilled love of Thisbe and Pyramus, the project calls upon sound and touch as agents of transformation, causing visible changes to the structure of a wall.
The “mur|mur” allows for change based on a series of incremental movements in response to human’s voice on its two sides. Each face of the wall is covered in incisions reminding one of the cleft, so crucial in sustaining the lovers’ relationship. Sensitive to human voice, the wall protrudes if one whispers into it with a low voice, and retracts if one scream with a high voice. Activated by sound sensors, the inside mechanism of the structure reacts to a person talking. The cracks occasionally allow one to take a glimpse into the other side, based on the curvature created on the surface of the wall.