Concrete Dreams of Sound

Gormley, Gerard (2024) Concrete Dreams of Sound. [Composition]

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Abstract

Concrete Dreams of Sound is a practice-based sound project investigating the relationship between sound, vibration, materiality, and architecture through an extended acoustic exploration of the Barbican Centre and surrounding Barbican complex in London. Developed over several months in 2023, the project examined how architectural spaces and materials can function not only as acoustic environments for music, but also as active participants in its production and transformation. The work involved extensive field recording processes throughout the site using a range of microphones, contact microphones, hydrophones, and vibration-based recording techniques. Recordings captured airborne sound, structural vibrations transmitted through surfaces and concrete, underwater acoustics from ponds and water features, and resonant responses from architectural spaces including stairwells, basements, hallways, elevator shafts, and exterior walkways. These sounds were subsequently played back into the site and re-recorded, generating layered acoustic interactions between sound, material, and space. A violin was used throughout the project as a means of activating and probing architectural responses rather than as a conventional melodic instrument. Through these processes, the work explored the micro-textural and resonant characteristics of materials such as concrete, glass, metal, and water, foregrounding the acoustic identities of the built environment itself. The project forms part of an ongoing research investigation into site-responsive sound practice, acoustic ecology, resonance, and architecture, examining how sound can reveal the material and spatial properties of the environments in which it occurs.

Item Type:	Composition
Depositing User:	Research and Knowledge Exchange Office Admin 1
Date Deposited:	09 Jul 2026 12:52
Last Modified:	09 Jul 2026 12:52
URI:	https://bnu.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/id/eprint/21095

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