Lecturer at Acoustic Niche Workshop
Sound Architecture & Soundscapes
The acoustic niche hypothesis, as proposed by Bernie Krause in 1983, describes how the acoustic dimension of the landscape is composed of individual organisms that have found their niche in terms of frequency and/or time to facilitate communication. Human influence, with densely populated cities and their infrastructures, brings about rapid changes in ecology and subsequently alters the soundscape of our landscapes.
The workshop investigates the acoustic environment of the Old Botanical Garden in Zurich through mapping, recording, and laser scanning. By building a point cloud model of the location in the AV-Lab, each student was tasked with developing a multichannel acoustic intervention for the garden. These interventions were presented at the Sonic Topology Symposium to experts in the fields of sound art and sound ecology.