// what would it look like if you could sound-map the sounds around you?
This workshop points towards a future where environmental awareness is activated through the sounds that surround us. Building on the pioneering theories of R. Murray Schafer and Barry Truax, it connects acoustic ecology with the arts to cultivate children’s sensitivity through music, design thinking, and technology. At the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC), children follow curated soundwalks that invite them to listen closely, uncover hidden sound layers, and experience the SNFCC in a completely new way. An original composition inspired by the SNFCC’s sonic ecosystem deepens this encounter, guiding participants to transform sounds into visual patterns and create graphic scores that reinterpret the character of the place. With custom-made 3D-printed tools, children learn to soundmap their environment and develop a creative, attentive relationship with the world’s everyday soundscapes.
Field recordings were held in September 2024 at selected locations across the SNFCC at different times of day. These recordings were then classified using R. Murray Schafer’s framework. Based on this classification, the team created custom 3D-printed educational objects that visually represent the recorded sounds and support children in soundmapping their environment.
During the workshop, the children are guided by the educators along a specific soundwalk route. They are invited to pause at selected points, actively listen, and “record” in their memory the sounds that leave an impression—those they will later work with. Afterwards, in an indoor space, they listen to a sound composition narrating the sonic story of the SNFCC. Using both the composition and the 3D-printed sound objects, the children co-create a soundmap of the center.
//credits
artistic research and development// Fotini Kokkali, Marianthi Liapi, Dimitris Barnias
commissioned by// the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center and carried out under the scientific supervision of the TUC TIE Lab // 2024 -
music compositions// Dimitris Barnias, Fotini Kokkali
collaborators// Ourania Altouva – Architect/Educator, Eirini Vallindra – Architect/Musician, Chryssa Georgiou – Architect, Eucharis Gourounti – Architect, Dionysia Daskalaki – Architect, Georgia Manousogiannaki – Architect