← WorkM.Sc. Computational · 2022 · ITU MBL
ComfortAudio
Spatial Sound Visualisation · A public urban park, Istanbul
Category
M.Sc. Computational
Course
Computer Programming in Architecture
Year
2022 — Fall Term
Institution
ITU MBL
Instructor
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sema Alaçam
Tools
Java · Processing · Minim Library
From the Talk
Metamesh Triennale #190 · 44:29
ComfortAudio is a computational project developed during the Computer Programming in Architecture course at Istanbul Technical University M.Sc. program. The project emerged from a design meeting about upgrading a public urban park in Istanbul — one of the city's central green spaces.
The park was analysed thoroughly with landscape architectural analysis and acoustic observations. Sound frequencies and loudness were generally within normal ranges, but certain spaces were affected by extreme urban noise. This situation would negatively impact the spatial experience of park functions.
ComfortAudio consists of a compact Java/Processing code that visualises the frequency and loudness of recorded sound at given spatial points, drawing this data as ellipses with size and color based on acoustic properties — creating a spatial sound identity for each zone.
Demonstration Film
Demonstration Film
A demonstration video showing the ComfortAudio software processing spatial audio recordings from 5 zones of a public urban park, visualising sound frequency and loudness as dynamic ellipses in real time.
Project Poster
Project Poster
Final submission poster — Computer Programming in Architecture, ITU 2022–2023 Fall Term.
Listening to the Park
Listening to the Park
It began as a placement study for a public park-renewal program in Istanbul: where should each piece of outdoor sport equipment go? The first pass relied on traditional, observational analysis. Later the method was rebuilt in code — a Processing/Java tool that reads the field-survey videos and extracts both frequency and intensity from their sound. The park carries vehicle noise in some pockets and natural quiet in others; the tool maps this acoustic terrain and matches each activity to the soundscape that suits it — turning a subjective siting decision into a measurable, audible one.