Community can be defined by sound. Soundmarks are a list of sounds that describe or are present in a named urban environment.
Since 2001, demolition of the hutong housing districts and erection of isolated high rise office spaces in Beijing has triggered a rapid and distinctive change to the urban grain particularly within the financial district situated to the west of Tiananmen Square.
The recent domination of harsh infrastructure constructed in this area, has changed the soundmarks of the city, from a sound base dictated by humanly generated and natural sound, to a base governed by technical sound.
Roads bisect the site, cordoning off the remaining low level houses from the tall blocks. What is the effect of the change in emphasis of the sound in this area and how does sound affect and govern human perception of the environment and atmospheric condition?
An investigative study into the effects of sound on the human interpretation of space will lead to an architectural proposal situated in the financial district of Beijing.
The intention is to first investigate sound propagation and behaviour at a macro scale within the urban context.  The effect of surface treatment and articulation on sound will then be explored at a building scale. Finally the intricate control of sound at a micro scale will be considered.
Properties of sound such as the following will be tested through 1:1 and virtually generated interventions;
• Echo, reverberation and filtration

• Ubiquity / Anamnesis

• Sharawadji (a Chinese term referring to the sublime of the everyday experienced through sound in a surprising location)

The intention is to design a new soundscape for the financial district of Beijing within the typological context of a bus terminal, seen as a gateway to the city. This will aim to reduce the effect of traffic noise as well as acoustically re-branding this district of the city.