Below is an expert from my newsletter discussing the acoustics of the built environment. Acoustic design should extends into the places we call home. Too often, design focuses on the visual senses. We care so much about how things look or how light impacts a room that we forget the other senses that a design should consider. Acoustics in particular can turn a beautiful space into an uncomfortable place to live. Whether it is blocking the noise of the outside, creating a quiet place to read and think, or finding ways to introduce the sounds of nature into the interior, acoustics are something that are an important consideration as I design homes.
A snowy walk through the streets of Fort Greene, Brooklyn reminds me of my childhood. It has been 17 years since I have lived in a climate that has snowy winters and it is a pleasure waking up to snow blowing past our apartment windows, covering the surrounding rooftops, and accumulating on the streets. Snow transforms the city in many ways. Often overlooked and under appreciated is how it transforms the city’s acoustics.
I love cities and have lived in some of the largest and busiest urban centers in the world. From the frigid winters of Montreal to the heat of Bangkok, the crowds of Shanghai to the artistic hub of Berlin, the outdoor paradise of Portland to my current home in New York City, each place has it’s own character and pace of life. And each has it’s own soundscape.
Almost every morning in Portland I was unpleasantly awoken at sunrise by the screech of crows. Here in NY there is a constant drone of the noises of city life. Traffic roars along Flatbush; people unrelentingly express their love of car horns; sirens grow and fade as ambulances or police race through the streets; helicopters whirl overhead as they crisscross the sky carrying police or billionaires to some important destination. The biggest downside to life in a city is this constant noise.
Snow changes all of that. Traffic dissipates as people huddle indoors. With less traffic, there are fewer car horns, reduced tires on the roads, and less emergencies needing attention - thus fewer sirens. Flights are grounded leaving the sky clear of human made sounds. Meanwhile the falling snow blankets the city with an acoustic carpet, deadening the audible soundscape.
It is refreshing, and a reminder that cities are more pleasant without the rumble and rattle we all make. The quiet streets are a joy to wander down. In the park you hear the deadened sounds of children laughing as they sled and play in the snow. An occasional dog barks. You hear the slight wind or creak of trees. The snow muffles the intruding sounds beyond the park’s borders.
We need to remind ourselves that cities don’t have to be so noisy. We can design places that have better acoustics and thus create better places to live. We can restrict traffic - either by closing streets, removing lanes, or implementing congestion pricing. Adding protected bike lanes would encourage people to drive less. Charging for parking and subsidizing public transit would further reduce car use. Electric vehicles can replace the roar of combustion engines. It would be an easy political win to ban helicopters as they are completely unnecessary and only serve a tiny handful of people.
The design of our streets, public spaces, and buildings can consider the acoustics of the urban environment just as they respond to climate, weather, and other functions. While we currently focus on how things look, we rarely discuss how the built environment impacts how things sound. I hope this changes.
Cities can be places where the noises of nature outweigh the sounds of human. Sirens and traffic could be the exception rather than the dominant force in the urban soundscape. I’d rather hear the sounds of wind, the songs of birds, or simple have quiet spaces to walk and think, even when I’m in the heart of a dense urban environment.
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