As a continuation of our July issue, some of the team at Elliott + Associates discuss the parallels and connections between architecture and music and name a few of their favorite artists.

Rand Elliott, firm principal and guest editor of Contract's July 2008 issue, muses on the connections between music, architecture and creativity:

When we moved into our current offices in 1994, my colleague Bill Yen suggested "CD Friday." On Friday everyone brings in two CDs. We have a 100-CD jukebox player and we set it on random so all get played during the day. This is our way of sharing the sound dimension. The music always creates discussion and allows for discovery.

Goethe profoundly said "I call architecture frozen music." For me, architecture, like music, has rhythm, proportion, and scale. Music adds the audible dimension. We add music of all of our projects. Music brings the space to life. As inspiration, the music can help you imagine space and form. It allows you to see the sun move through an imagined volume.

Some of my favorite music includes:

Mark Isham; Vapor Drawings; Windham Hill Records

Michael Hedges; Aerial Boundaries; Windham Hill Records

Peter Kater & Carlos Nakai; Migration;Silver Wave Records

The Alan Parsons Project; Gaudi; Arista Records

Tom Waits; Mule Variations; Anti, Inc.

The Sound of Light; Narada Media

Mice Parade; Obrigado Saudade; Bubble Core Records

Four Tet; Everything Ecstatic; Domino Records

Ornette Coleman; Sound Grammar; Phase Text, Inc.

Jack DeJohnette; Oneness; ECM Records

Adding to Elliott's list and expanding on the connection between architecture and music, Michael Hoffner, AIA, a lifelong music fanatic and architect with Elliott & Associates Architects compiled the following while listening to "Velocifero" by Ladytron):

What is the relationship between music and architecture? So much can be said about how music affects us. At a basic level, it creates an atmosphere for our daily activities. Whether driving, doing our chores or working in the areas of our own creative endeavors, music provides the soundtracks for our lives. This is pretty obvious. Beyond a personal choice of what we enjoy listening to during the creative process, what can be said about the relationship between architecture and music?

Music can invoke a sensation of three dimensional space. Fans of classical music are likely to recognize that music having a rich and deep resonant quality can often create a feeling of being in architectural space. The fullness of sound created by classical stringed instruments or, in the right hands, even a Moog synthesizer, can make one feel as though they are in a concert hall, cathedral or some fantastical imaginary space. Try listening to "Everything in its Right Place" from Radiohead's Kid A, or just about anything by Philip Glass. "Pruitt Igoe" from his Koyaanisqatsi soundtrack would be a good selection for design professionals. Glass's music has the added architecture-like qualities of repetition and rigorous structure.

The structure of music has something in common with architecture. Beyond the obvious comparisons that can be made to the ordering and structure of music, there is an aspect that is beyond analogy: In Gyorgy Doczi's seminal work "The Power of Limits," he explores the naturally occurring proportions in nature, demonstrating that there is objectivity in beauty and harmony. Everyone in the design profession is familiar with the way the logarithmic spiral of the golden section proportioning system perfectly describes the nautilus shell. Doczi coaxes further magic from the golden section, relating it to what is pleasing to the ear as well. In whole numbers, the golden section is about a 5:8 proportion. In Western music, there are eight notes in a musical scale. Just as 5:8 is the most powerful visual proportion, the fifth interval of the eight note scale is considered the strongest interval or proportion in music. John Coltrane's "Interstellar Space" is a great example of a musician exploring proportions. Raw and unadorned, it is easy for the listener to imagine that the musical intervals are describing geometric proportions. A very different work called "E2 - E4" by Manuel Gottsching has the compositional repetition, progression and logic that seem to describe a visual geometry—in this case, movement on a chess board. The knowledge of proportions is a tool that architects, designers, artists and musicians all share, used for ‘fine tuning' the work, if not as its very synthesis.

The creative process in architecture is not unlike composing music. Like architects, composers approach their work in ways that are as individual as they are. Brian Eno is a collector of sounds. Sound events are recorded and used in his compositions in much the same way an architect might use a design motif or methodology again and again – not just within a solitary project, but spanning a body of work. If you've listened to Eno's music through the years, you'll hear familiar sound events cropping up again and again. Eno's music becomes recognizable for the same sorts of reasons that Richard Meier's work is recognizable.

Occasionally, there is a very literal link between architecture and music in which a structure participates in the creation of sound. "A Sound Garden" by artist Douglas Hollis seamlessly joins nature and the built environment with sonic events. Located in Seattle's Magnuson Park, it is a group of twelve towers on which standing pipes are mounted. The pipes orient themselves to wind direction and the wind, in turn, plays the pipes.

Former Talking Heads front man David Byrne has recently taken an even more literal approach. Already known for singing about buildings and educating us about modern architecture in his film "True Stories," Byrne has now re-imagined a building as a musical instrument. "Playing the Building" turns New York City's Battery Maritime Building into a gigantic art installation. Byrne has joined elements of the building (pipes, beams and columns for example) to an organ. A refitted organ is placed in the middle of the space, becoming a switchboard for activating machinery attached to the building elements. The machinery uses vibration, wind and striking as ways to "play" the building elements.

Clearly there are some special ways that architecture and music have been and could be intertwined. While it would be ridiculous to suggest that music and architecture need to have a relationship in order to be good or successful, it is interesting to note that there are many parallels and connections that do exist and can be exploited—whether it's as obvious as using your favorite music as inspiration while you create, or as ambitious as using an entire building as a musical instrument.

Elliott + Associates architect Miho Kolliopoulos adds the following to the list of staff favorites:

No form of artistic creation provides the instant gratification for the artist and pleasure from participating in the process for the audience more than music. In my quest for more fulfilling and challenging musical experiences, I have developed nothing but admiration for the "outsider" artist who won't compromise a vision for commercial success. Here are some examples of musicians who did just that:

Yannis Xenakis
An old friend and collaborator with Le Corbusier, he is becoming more and more recognized for his musical genuis, represented by orchestral, experimental, avant garde and noise pieces. His discography includes "Kraanerge" (Asphodel Records); "Large Orchestra Works, Vol. 1" (Timpani); and "Metastasis"; "Pithoprakta"; "Eonta" (Chant Du Monde Fr.)

Derek Bailey
A master guitarist from Great Britain with a jazz background who abandoned the conventional in the early '60s and defined free improvisation for many that followed. His discography includes "Standards" (Tzadik); "The Moat Recordings" as part of the Joseph Holbrooke Trio (Tzadik); "Barcelona" (Hopscotch Records); and "Ballads" (Tzadik).

The Necks
An Australian group who, through their hypnotic, repetitious improvisation, demonstrate an uncanny ability to perform as one. Their discography include "Townsville" (Fish of Milk); "Chemist" (Fish of Milk); and "Mosquito/See Through" (Fish of Milk).

Rounding out the quartet is Mike Mays, who spends his days as a licensed architect for Elliott + Associates and his nights writing music. He recently completed studio work for a new project, named "The Feel Spectres," and a full-length album is expected by the end of the summer. In the meantime, he offers the following:

A song can change any environment into the best place on the planet. Its transcendental qualities have the unique ability to transform a space through sound. The same room is a very different place when the raw power of The Velvet Underground is blasting versus the brilliance of Chopin's piano virtuosity. It is this change that ushers refreshed inspiration to the creative mind. Music, like art and architecture, has shape, texture, rhythm, emotion, and mystery. It conjures images in the mind's eye through use of narrative poetry that is prevalent in the lyrics of Nick Cave or Lou Reed. It washes the senses with soundscapes from Brian Eno or Philip Glass. It is well known that music inspires art. Your blood has ears. The sound seeps in and is carried to any or all of the senses. These reverberations inform artistic work. It may be no coincidence that music and muse share the same prefix. So turn up the volume on something that moves you and create.

A small collection of music that inspires me: Casper Brotzmann, Tinariwen, Built to Spill, Stephen Malkmus, The Arcade Fire, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Elliott Smith, Clinic, Gang of Four, Spoon, and My Morning Jacket.


On that note, Contract wants to know who's playing in your jukebox. Whose tunes get your creative genius all worked up? Submit your favorites by commenting below.