July, 2017 by Chenyu (Dreamy) Sun, Yue (Chelsea) Qiu
An association of brick walls and Chinese historical changes, through the anthropomorphic brick wall to express the Chinese social environment and Hutong(alley) story. It uses the metal conductor tape, touchboard and human interaction to control the sound. The sound from sampling the Chinese contemporary surroundings and then edit with electric production. It combines the interaction with the human body actions.
Concept
Brick - is a widely used material in the history of Chinese architecture, and has survived and continued to be used in modern society. In the Beijing hutong (alley), brick walls are essential elements. In fact, we are in the life of the brick at all times, affecting each other.
With a love for traditional hutong environment and an understanding of history of developing country, I would like to use the brick wall as a carrier, anthropomorphic it to express the changes in Chinese history, ancient and modern handed down living habits. Through the touch to feel the brick wall lines, listen to the brick wall to tell the story of Chinese history and alley. Letting people in the process of hearing the sound and feeling the touch have a reflection of the meaning of their actions.
Sound
The source of the sound sampling comes from the real life in the hutong (alley).
The sound of a human, animals' actions in life, and the stories that they told.
Sound samples & Edited music :
Drafts
The meaning/representation of positions of points and bodies.
Research & Sample
Process of making
1. Structure design & 2D design
2. Materials try out
3. Assemble and wire circuit
4. Circuit Board decision
5. Circuitry design and prototype
6. Combine circuit with physical design
7. Arduino Coding and Composing for sound
8. First rough assembling, test out the design
9. Fixing Problems of first rough test out (fixed speaker problem)
10. Finalize and Populate
1. Structure design & 2D design
After carefully researched on bricks' structure, I noticed the pattern of brick building is unique identification. The simple metal tapes might show the unique pattern, also are conductive materials that can be used for project purpose.
All the sketch are showed above.
2. Materials try out
This is the process of trying to attach these mental tapes to the wall.
3. Assemble and wire circuit
4. Circuit Board decision
Choosing the Touch Board for the purpose of touch and feel the wall to make sound.
5. Circuitry design and prototype
6. Combine circuit with physical design
7. Arduino Coding and Composing for sound
Code uses open source programming "Touch MP3". Code on Github
11 music tracks include 10 original sound samples and original music compositions.
8. First rough assembling, test out the design
9. Fixing Problems of first rough test out (fixed speaker problem)
10. Finalize and Populate
Finally finalized this project! We shoot a short video about this set and let people experience the Bricks Stories!
