‘Harmonielehre’ for architects: Exploring the relationship between music and architecture by scripting

Abstract

This paper reports on an introductory scripting class that, whilst teaching the basics of algorithmic design to a large number of architecture students, also explored the commonalities between architecture and music. Historical and recent precedents as well as the theoretical and the practical aspect of the project and its pedagogical outcomes are discussed. The technical section includes a detailed description of the setup created for the students. The musical data format used was MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface), which was read into the 3D computer graphics package MAYA and turned into 3D geometries using the scripting language MEL (Maya Embedded Language). The paper also discusses the resulting student works and in how far the musical nature of the data is visible in them.