Listening Is Seeing...

Does the act (tool) of listening have a role in the design process?

The act of listening, what does it constitute? Could it be to ‘take notice of and act on what someone says?’1according to Oxford this definition is true. Yet is the responsive nature of listening becoming lost in the deafening noises of modern assumptions that are major influences in the design discourse today? ‘Young designers and even experienced ones lose jobs because they don’t listen to what the client really wants’2.


However, ‘Listening is not just a receptive mode but a method of exploration, where the spectre of sound unsettles the idea of visual stability and involves us as listeners in the production of an invisible world’3, with the invisible world being the context. As Jacques Derrida would put it listening could represent a form of ‘absence’4. Where absence substantiates (compliments) presences with ‘what he does see is symmetrically related to what he does not see’5 (much like background music or dialogue within a movie).


So how does the design of the context (absence) affect the design? Deconstruction would argue that listening is a tool for revealing it as it facilitates the idea that there is no one objective meaning. The way in which someone speaks or sounds move about a space can reveal many ways in which to approach the design, perhaps without even seeing it.
Jim Sinatra and Phin Murphy listened (communicated) and their practical design solutions provided ‘the link between health and the daily physical environment in which we live’6. ‘The whole notion of settlement for remote Aboriginals must take in the broader picture and include landscape rather than architecture around a typical suburban Australian house’7. This was the case for the establishment of the Kintore Camp Community in the Northern Territory, which has seen an increase in the ‘longevity of its citizen’s lives and eradication of diseases such as trachoma’8.
Listening by no means aims to replace seeing as the major method for interpreting design; it must however receive more attention and understanding, by asking questions and becoming a part of a language of discussion, “why is that plaza underutilised?” It is easy to assume that it is due to poor solar access, however any assumptions we may have as designers can be justified if we can listen to what we cannot see.


By using the tool of listening we can picture in our minds perhaps what it is that needs to be designed. Have you been listening? By listening, the design can then become positioned.

Key Terms: Absence; Assumption; Context
   

Figure .1. Notion of Deconstruction "What We Can See"

Figure .2. Condition of poor designed settlements

Figure.3. Proposed solution for aboriginal camps after consulting users
Figure .4. Listening to the screeching violins in "Psycho" adds to the context of the scene

Figure .5. Formulating the position of the design within a framework.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

KEY REFERENCES

 Oxford Pocket Dictionary (2002). Oxford University, Oxford UK.1

 Finlay, J. 15 Awful Mistakes Made by Designers in the Music & Apparel Industry [Internet]. GoMediaZine. Available from: http://www.gomediazine.com/design-articles/interviews/15-awful-mistakes-designers-music-apparel-industry-part-2-3/[Accessed 16 August, 2010]2

 Voegelin, S. (2010). Listening to Noise and Silence- Towards a Philosophy of Sound Art. Continuum Publishing, New York City New York USA.3

 Culler, J. (1982). On Deconstruction: Theory and Criticism after Structuralism. Routledge, London UK.4

 Emerling, J. (2005). Theory for Art History. Routledge, London UK.5

 Castellari, K. (2004). “Indigenous Experiences”. In Landscape Australia, February 2004, pp.24 -2667

 Sinatra, J. & Murphy, P. (1997). Landscape For Health. RMIT, Melbourne Australia.8

EXTRACT TERMS

Listening: “take notice of and act upon what someone says”

Assumption: “something that is taken as certain or true without evidence”

Absence: “the lack of matter that substantiates the visible matter”

Context: “positioning or framing as a subject”

IMAGE CREDITS.

• Figure .1. Scott Spargo, Understanding Deconstruction the Role of Truth Meaning Reality Language. Based on Information from J. Culler, J. Derrida & R. Monelle

• Figure .2. Jim Sinatra & Phin Murphy, “The standard Western house does not provide extended family group needs...” (available from p.17 , Landscape for Health)

• Figure .3. Alfred Hitchcock, “Psycho Shower Scene…” (available from, Daily Telegraph http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/05_01/psychoREX0105_468x461.jpg [accessed August 16th 2010]

• Figure.4. Enviro-structures Pty Ltd Vic. “Big Wilytja Models” (available from p.84, Landscape for Health)

• Figure.5. Scott Spargo, “the Role of Design and its Context”.