Parametric Acoustic Device

PROCESS DESIGN: This research was sponsored by an agreement between the drywall producer Knauf and the Architecture Department of the Pontifical University of Chile. This sponsorship consisted in a founding of 20.000 US $ for developing a material experimentation and building one prototype inside the Architecture Campus with the participation of the undergraduates students, leading to the construction of an acoustic device. “Art plus Science: experimental prototyping design” was the third course incorporated to the sponsored courses, with me as instructor teacher and Arturo Torres as professor. The acoustic device was designed to enhance the acoustic qualities of one classroom by using a script defining the shape of 104 different double curvatures pieces in order to achieve the most waved geometry because is the main shape feature that improves the quality of sound in a room, dissolving the echoes by absorbing and dissolving frequencies. This project involved many specific processes including special planimetry material up to the design of a wood machine composed of adjustable beams which could take a specific double curvature shape. Those processes become relevant when they modify the final product; for example the process of dipping and curving the drywall changes the curving range the board would achieve. In this case, designing the processes pursues maximum control in every procedure in order to create a determined geometry. Consequently, this arise the need about studying the implications of the design process from a global perspective that includes all functions related to the project. The objective of design processes in the subject of experimentation with materials is to control the trace material left in such operations in a given exploration.

YEAR: 2008 - 2009 WORK CHARACTER: PROTOTYPING RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT: “ART + SCIENCE“ GRADUATE / UNDERGRADUATE COURSE PARTICIPATION: INSTRUCTOR TEACHER

PUBLICATION: IN “CUADERNOS DE LA TÉCNICA”, ARQ EDITIONS, SANTIAGO, CHILE, OF THE ACOUSTIC DEVICE “DISPOSITIVO ACÚSTICO FADEU-KNAUF” (2009)

TEACHERS: Arturo Torres/ Paloma Gonzalez