D Fin House by Craig Steely

_project: D Fin House
_architecture: Craig Steely
_location: Captain Cook, Hawaii

Traditionally, architectural practice has been dominated by the eye. Since ancient times, ornamentation, symmetry, strict proportions, rhythm, and patterns have all been used to address the visual sense in our built environment. The other senses, such as sound, touch (including proprioception, kinesthesis, and the vestibular sense), smell, and on rare instances, taste, have, nevertheless, begun to receive more attention from architects and designers in recent years.

The perception of sound in architecture is complex; every building has one. The sound of flipping pages is accentuated when one enters a quiet library; in a chapel, murmured prayers are charmingly absorbed. Materials and textures that tend to reflect, change, absorb, channel, or enhance sound can help shape a place.

Since first appearing in 2009, ASMR - autonomous sensory meridian response - has become a global internet phenomenon. It is a special sensory response in the body caused by visual, tactile, audial, and other more specific personal impulses known as "triggers," such as whispers, delicate hand movements, and light touch. A tingling sensation that starts at the top of the head and can move down the neck and limbs is how the experience is described.

The D Fin House video has as its soundtrack the natural sounds of the Hawaiian environment. These layers of sounds allow us to perceive the context of the building and make us aware of the surrounding environment. It is as if you could close your eyes and be transported to that location.

In the book Eyes of the Skin, Juhani Pallasmaa defends that “sight isolates, whereas sound incorporates; vision is directional, whereas sound is omnidirectional. The sense of sight implies exteriority, but sound creates an experience of interiority. I regard an object, but sound approaches me; the eye reaches, but the ear receives.”

Our senses are enriched by our imagination, our past experiences, and the spaces we want to experience in the future. Like other senses, the auditory sense is an equally important part of our body.

_written by Daniela Moreira Silva
_film by Architecture Hunter & Farallon
_cover image by Darren Bradley