Architecture of Embodiment

Klangumwelt Ernst-Reuter-Platz

Klangumwelt Ernst-Reuter-Platz: a project of the Auditory Architecture Research Unit is a book edited by Alex Arteaga, Gunnar Green, and Boris Hassenstein, designed by Gunnar Green, and published by Errant Bodies (Surface Tension Supplement No. 7).

The term “Klangumwelt” can be translated as “aural environment” or, better, “aural surrounding world”. It stands for a radically embodied, situated, and non-representationalist research on the relationships between aural activity and environment. This concept has been developed at the Auditory Architecture Research Unit (Berlin University of the Arts) based on an enactive approach to cognition.

This book presents proposals for the transformation of Ernst-Reuter-Platz, a city square in Berlin. They are the result of a process of auditory artistic research and design developed according to this new approach. Klangumwelt Ernst-Reuter-Platz includes a general introduction into Auditory Architecture by Alex Arteaga, the first presentation of the main design ideas at the Ars Electronica in Linz, three dialogs on architecture, phenomenology, preservation and sociology, student’s projects, and the design of the Auditory Architecture Research Unit for this square.

Auditory Architecture Research Unit