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by Pascal Amphoux + Théa ManolaThree manners to activate our listening of the city in ordinary situation of co-presence or walk­ will be expressed&#160;: The environmental listening, the médiale listening and the landscaped listening.The technique of the reactivated listening will briefly be recited: meaning sample, principle of recurrence, domains of relevance (passage of the analysis to the project).The tower of the sound effects and the sound quality of the courtyardTranslation : A little different from the rest. Sort ofinterview. Q: Who are you? I would like to know who Iam. I am an architect and geographer. I did a little of architecture at the endof my studies. Researcher, not really either in architecture nor in geography –more like social sciences. Two laboratories: CRESSON (one of the founders) +one in Lausanne (evolution of living spaces). Around 15 years ago, I became a professor,at the Architecture School of Nantes. Around public space and urban project.When I was nominated, I put research aside for a moment. I needed a bit ofpractice, and he works on public projects in Lausanne &#38; urban studies.Territorial projects, etc. He accompanied the evolution of projects(urban projects – one of the first ones). Carriers of the transition from urbanproject to territorial project.Q: When you arrived, what were yourinterests around the sound? Switzerland was very closed up, I worked onhuman ecology. That’s how I met Jean-François (Augoyard). Analysis toimagination, important passage to understand phenomena. Nowadays, we don’t talkabout sustainability, but now it’s ecological transition. Meeting with otherresearchers on ecology. For 35 years, no one really paid attention. J.F. wasinterested in that, and I liked his work on sound. I like people who are alittle marginal (and JF. Was working on a “marginal” subject on his thesis).Q: Pascal is known for the Environnement – Milieu – Paysage method.What is it? Why? When?A: Very quickly. EMP is a way to summarisethe only thesis I ever did in my life. Theory that can resonate in many fields,in a universal way. Stemming for works on sound (methods mentioned by JF earlier).Work in three different cities in Switzerland (multilingual country) – test toanalyse the sound quality of environments (three cultures that are verydifferent from one another). Despite that fact, and the difference ofexperience of public space, I realized that people react in similar ways tovery different situations. Empirical work. Distinguish three ways of listening:Environmental, medial and landscape listening activities (3). In some cases,people distance themselves to analyse. They step away from the soundenvironment. In that same fragment, the same people do not hear the vent of thevideo projector (which you didn’t notice before I pointed it out). Now, you’relistening to the environment. Before that, it was the sonic milieu. Ensemble of objective, measurable andcontrollable facts (Sound environment)Fusional, natural and living relationships(Sound milieu)Sensory, aesthetic and differing phenomena(Soundscape) Almost passive way of listening. It allowsus to erase what we hear, to focus on something else. Environment: outsideMilieu: withinSoundscape: both – perceptual and sensoryrelationships, through aesthetic experiences. “What affects/touches me”Earlier, JF mentioned the Chinese conceptof Sharawadji – tension between environmental listening (unbearable) and themilieu, then the soundscape (beautiful).Hypothesis: this is universal andindependent of the cultures. Regardless of our culture, we work with thesethree areas/fields/concepts.Distinctions between Listen (écouter), Hear(ouïr) and Perceive (entendre). The semantic dimension becomes fundamental tothe research. It allows to make distinctions. What aboutnoise? Acoustic pollution (environment)/sonic pollution (milieu)/phonicpollution (landscape) – three different things.Three different types of sounds. Behind it,three different actions. Big distinctions thanks to the semantic dimension.More precise criteria – sonic signatures,that sign the identity of a place. If you hear Big Ben, you know it’s London.Those are extremely pregnant and important. Sonic pollution: we don’t payattention to acoustics as such anymore, but to ordinary sounds. This can leadto conflict with neighbours, etc. Different forms of sounds, and theconsequences are completely different.Model of sound urbanism: not the same toprotect the environment (defensive attitude, technicians, control and design ofnorms), to consolidate a milieu (offensive attitude, users/residents,regulation of social interactions), to compose the landscape (creativeattitude, designers, evolution of cultural and aesthetic models). The three dimensions must be articulatedtogether. Q: Fourth term in that tripod: AMBIANCE –funding concept for the laboratory. (singular/plural?)A: To me, it’s very simple. Ambiance is themodality of articulation/dynamics of these three ways to see/hear the world.The concept of ambiance articulates these three concepts/notions. Some are moredominant than others at times, at other times, they are more balanced, etc.It’s a form of co-presence between thosethree types of listening.Ecoutes (terms in the nautical environment– I can’t quite translate that, sorry) Analytical relation, or connected to theambiance (“Nice ambiance” = something that we can’t quite hear, but that holdsus) + sensory dimension. Question of aesthetics. Way to navigate those three dimensions.Q: Does it remind you of the threedimensions of ambiances?A: Yes, in a way. On an epistemologicalscale, I like ternary structures. I am very critical of dual structures,because it quickly turns into oppositions.What I’m interested in is the “AND”. In thehistory of landscapes, it’s not about “or” but the “and”. First, paintings(mode of representation), then we use the terms to designate perceptions. Thetwo dimensions are valuable. If you build your thinking in a ternaryway, the ideas can navigate. Three ways of thinking. I think a lot in ternaryways. Question of articulating the three dimensions/aspects. The three areneeded. Otherwise it doesn’t work.The art of designing is the articulation ofthe three.Q: How do you work on the conceptual modelto make it practical in design? A: All this work was done simultaneouslywith the other one on effects. The question of sonic effects implied thequestion of effects at all times. Effects imply the “right” time. Event. The three listening activities helped todesignate criteria from what people told us on the cities in Switzerland.People liked the idea – recurring aspect. People were never mistaken on thetype of space, whenever they listened to the recordings. It’s not objective in a measurable way, butit’s objective as in shared between many people. Question of an expressive sample (notrepresentative). People were very different from one another. They tell thingswith their own words, and then you can pinpoint what always comes back/comesback often.The articulation started to appear. Thevocabulary started appearing too. Classification – fractal categories.Parallels between the different types oflistening activities (if one was found in the milieu, for example, thenparallels were supposed to be found in the two others).You can go beyond that point. Very fine andspecific vocabulary at this point.Power of description and conception.Those criteria are not to be taken asrecipes. But we can invent situations to trigger some of these effects. Thereare not criteria to apply but it’s away to trigger some situations, andhave more chances to see something specific.The vocabulary changes everything to theway of designing. We can be more precise.Two examples – on the other screen.Rudy Decelière: artist who works withsound. Sound installation under the Learning Centre, EPFL (Lausanne).Architecture out of nowhere. Under that space on the picture, pure sounds withlittle tools. Each one had a pure sound. The goal was to represent water. I went there – I found it great. Theenvelop earned a sound material. Cf. JF earlier and the example of the market.Constant, continuous background soundscape. Usually well experienced/received.Every sound emerges in a very distinctive way, before they all blend togetherand slowly fade into one murmur.In applying the three analytical listeningactivities, behaviour patterns are implied by the sound intervention. We can’tprove it, but we can witness it. Fitting with the architecture.Synaesthesia Second example: Acoustic screen. To be usednot just for what it was intendedfor. They can modulate and go beyond the norms. Work on the perceptions(opening, closing, dynamics, etc.)Underneath the viaduct – lots of decibels(from traffic) Recreating a total silence, modulation, etc. Many projects have great qualities when itcomes to sound, but that often happens intuitively, without really meaning to(even though there is obvious quality and technicity). They can becomeprinciples we can re-use in other contexts/projects. Not to determinebehaviour, but to imply attitudes. We will come back to it with GrégoireChelkoff and Théo Marshal. Questions?Question 1: Re-activated listening: helpswith the typology. The sonic milieu (listening) is not conscious. Do peoplebecome conscious of it when they re-listen to it?A: Yes. Some things are not said bysomeone, and when they re-listen the recordings, they become aware. (at leasttwo listening sessions seem to be necessary). Some people mention this, others say that,but there’s something more, and I can add this… Idea of “recurrence”“Someone said xxx” “What? Not at all!” Somepeople don’t hear the same things. They hear things but don’t perceive. Themedial listening is always present – but it is identified.Question 2: What is the difference betweenambiance and atmosphere?A: I don’t know.Atmosphere – something aerial/close to air.Often, they are confused. Differences that are fleeting.Linguistic question. Translationproblems/discussion.Atmosphere: aerial/air connotations.In French, Ambiance is more neutral. It’snot an element (=/= air). Dominant connotation. Latin etymology – waltz ofambiances. Ambire – going around.Dynamics, movements, that kind of elements.Atmosphere is primarily elementary.Terms to go towards feelings. The body is implied either way. You must feelfree to use the words, and create meaning with the surrounding words.Words are semantic basins – you can’t translate a word by another word. Translation by Sophie Provost 