Sound, Aurality and Critical Listening: Disruptions at the Boundaries of Architecture

In this article, I briefly introduce the disciplines of soundscape studies, aural architecture and the notion of critical listening through creative examples from my own practice as a sound designer. Three sound installations, Acoustic Intersections (2006), Urban Ephemeral Room (2008) and Choreographies of Inhabitation (2009) present my modus operandi. These works aim to explore the boundaries between architecture and aural design by offering novel design methods that may assist in extending the manner in which the discipline of architecture is practiced, theorized and discussed. Finally, I offer a discussion on the disciplinary boundaries between soundscape studies, aural architecture and architecture, and how these boundaries may be destabilized and extended through an uptake of interdisciplinary practices and the notion of critical listening. The examination argues that the relationship between aural design and architecture is a symbiotic one.