On the Opportunities of the Soundscape Approach to Revitalise Acoustics Training in Undergraduate Architectural Courses

Abstract

Soundscape research has been gaining prominence in studies on the built environment. The soundscape concept is defined as the acoustic environment as perceived and/or understood by a person in context. Compared with traditional building acoustics, the soundscape concept brings interesting perspectives—but also challenges—for undergraduate architectural curricula, where it tries to strike a balance between qualitative and quantitative methodologies, a theoretical approach that in the context of soundscape studies it is often referred to as ‘triangulation’. Starting from real-world higher education courses, the aim of this paper is to examine how the soundscape approach can be integrated into teaching building acoustics at the undergraduate level in architectural courses. Methods such as soundwalks, acoustic measurements, and computational simulations that are commonly used in soundscape research are introduced in educational projects as tools for students to experience, analyse, and articulate the narrative around the sound environment to inform their design concepts and details.

Identifying barriers to engage with soundscape standards: Insights from national standards bodies and experts

“…Embedding soundscape and the ISO 12913 into higher education and professional training can advance the implementation agenda. Engagement by educators (e.g., Milo, 2020;Xiao et al, 2022) and leading industry stakeholders will certainly make the difference in this sense. Quoted from the discussions: "How to quantify the values of soundscapes and holistic well-being from soundscapes will be the key challenge.…”

Human Smell-Technology Initiatives: Can Smell Improve Road Safety?

“…Training providers may also create a course to inform professionals to promote practical smellscape applications. In another human sense, the need for soundscape education in undergraduate curricula has been recently advocated by Xiao J, et al [59]. The authors outline how soundscape can be integrated into teaching building acoustics in undergraduate architectural courses.…”

The role of architectural acoustics course on interior architecture students’ perception of sound and acoustics

“…The recent literature indicates a tendency towards utilizing experience-based and hands-on approaches. Positive feedback was obtained from methods such as teaching the students how to use measurement devices, how to make sound recordings, and assigning them to create sound maps along with soundwalks [2,4,10,11]. Sharing ongoing acoustical projects and experiences, giving real-life examples, and organizing laboratory visits were found to be effective in capturing the students' interests in the subject [11,12].…”

“…It was observed that these approaches helped students better understand the practical implications of their theoretical information. Examples of the case-based approach include investigating the acoustical qualities of an existing space, taking measurements in the given space, proposing acoustic design solutions, and running acoustical simulations to test those solutions [2,4,11,13]. The design-based approach, on the other hand, comprises designing spaces with the inclusion of acoustical criteria and running simulations to test and improve the designs [9,14].…”

“…For example, acoustics is introduced to students in the later years of design education, either as part of other courses or as elective courses that are limited in number and variety [13,15,16]. Furthermore, technical aspects of the subject typically require laboratory settings for experiments, which are not always accessible [11]. Nevertheless, the fact that architecture students prefer learning through practice makes it even harder to captivate their attention in acoustics if taught solely through theory [4].…”