Audible Agency: Sonic Wayfinding and Placemaking
I am an architect and musician from Mexico, currently completing the Erasmus Mundus Master’s in Redesigning the Post-Industrial City (RePIC), studying in Germany, Ireland, and Belgium. Supported by the 2024 CONAHCYT Scholarship, my work explores the intersection of sound, space, and social experience, focusing on how auditory perception shapes territoriality, identity, and movement in urban environments.
Combining my architectural training with musical sensibility, I use field recordings, sonic mapping, and immersive observation to study soundscapes, noise, and sensory urbanism. I enjoy using parametric design tools, digital and acoustic simulations to integrate technical expertise and creative approaches. I have experience in architectural design, construction, academic research, and creative audio-visual practices. My approach embraces experimental, participatory methods challenging dominant visual paradigms, seeking inclusive and sustainable urban futures. I value interdisciplinary collaboration, especially projects bridging art, technology, and social engagement.
Recent work includes video-sonic analyses of urban sound frequencies, studying the acoustic resilience of historic bells, a conceptual corridor sonically reflecting a walker’s footsteps, and a multisensory 3D model exploring simultaneous acoustic, visual, and spatial perception from a pedestrian’s point of view. These projects show my commitment to revealing hidden urban experience layers through sound and spatial perception.
Leading interdisciplinary construction projects, coordinating teams, clients, and schedules, has strengthened my adaptability, project management, and collaboration skills. These experiences, with my international academic background, have prepared me to work effectively in multicultural environments. I am committed to continuous innovation, constantly exploring new techniques and perspectives to expand my practice’s boundaries.
Sound is often dismissed as noise or reduced to data. This project proposes rethinking it as a vital dimension of urban experience and a medium for spatial agency and social connection. Drawing from my background in architecture and music, I explore how sound informs territoriality, belonging, and movement in the city. The project combines field recordings, sonic mapping, and contextual listening to study how people navigate and appropriate urban space through sound.
This research challenges visual-dominant paradigms in urban planning by emphasizing sensory, participatory, and inclusive forms of placemaking, especially in contexts where sound is rarely considered. A key focus lies on the fluid boundaries between public and private space: boundaries often defined sonically rather than physically or visually. By investigating how sound traverses, disturbs, or reinforces these limits, I aim to reveal overlooked dynamics of spatial perception and social behavior.
Previous projects include spectral analyses of everyday urban sounds, a study of the acoustic resilience of historic bells in contemporary soundscapes, and conceptual designs for acoustically dynamic spaces. These inform my current methodology and support further inquiry.
The work addresses urgent urban challenges such as the invisibility of sound in planning, conflicts over sonic territories, and the need for more inclusive, responsive, and sustainable urban environments. By highlighting sound’s role in spatial experience and social agency, the project aims to inform design and policy approaches that recognize sonic agency as essential for equitable and resilient cities.
My research is ongoing, grounded in established methods like field recordings and sonic mapping, and guided by theoretical goals around sound, space, and social experience. While outcomes remain open, this invites collaboration and further exploration of how sonic practices can enrich urban engagement, placemaking, and design.