Keio Research Institute at SFC

* This laboratory has been completed.

Outline

The informatization and use of networks has advanced rapidly since the mid-1990’s, and has followed two distinct directions in the 21st century: the development of broadband networks and the ubiquitous environment.

These two actually grew quite independently at first, with a new synergy based on both starting to appear at some point. The spread of “twitter” from 2009 is a typical example of this. Now, a new age of new standards is about to start whereby digital agents in the mobile environment will transmit and receive various types of information, not only through texts but also still images and audio-video images, through P2P.

However, there has been almost no research, either domestically or overseas, into reevaluation of the overall situation of what kind of information environment these changes are providing to users.

In this laboratory, we analyze the high-end performance environment for music requiring the most focused attention to details, based on the neurocognitive architectural design theory (SAI) developed by Schröder, Ando, and Ito. We also propose a new and effective temporal and spatial design model for an augmented environment where acoustic and electronic sounds coexist in “real space,” and attempt to develop SAI as a basic theory into a “practical science.”

We are also aiming to implement and realize actual performances, based on the music and acoustics related Stockhausen-Ando-Ito model (SAI2), and to redeliver media information. We would also like to initiate business outsourcing for certain areas, such as intellectual property of the new engineering model developed during this process.

Main Research Areas

1. Environmental measurement of historic and modern architectural structures (acoustics, lighting and air-conditioning)

   Analysis of the acoustic characteristics of historic and modern architectural structures, including concert halls, opera houses, churches, synagogues, mosques and Buddhist temples in Japan and overseas, through an impulse response approach based on the Ando-Ito model, and clarification of the nonlinear dynamics of the environment

   (Major Architecture Examples)
   Domestic: Catholic churches (especially in the Nagasaki area: Urakami Cathedral, Oura Cathedral, Shitsu Church, Himosashi Church, Kurosaki Church, Nameshi Church)
   Buddhist temples (Jodo sect: Shiba Zojoji Temple, Jodo Shin sect: Higashi Honganji Nagoya Betsuin, etc.)
   Others: The Kobe Muslim Mosque, New National Theater, Tokyo, etc.
   Overseas: Berliner Philharmonie, Musikverein (Vienna), Teatro alla Scala (Milan), Bayreuther Festspiele (Germany), Aachen Cathedral (Germany), Cath?drale Notre-Dame de Paris, St. Thomas Church (Leipzig, Germany), Nationaltheater Mannheim (Germany), etc.

2. Analysis of vocals, music and acoustics in historic and modern architectural structures

   Binaural nonlinear acoustic analysis based on the Schr?der-Ando-Ito model for vocals, music and acoustics, historically delivered or performed in certain areas of the above-mentioned architectural structures.

3. Neuroscience analysis, model development, and temporal and spatial design for environmental cognition based on Part 1 and 2

   A focus is placed here on augmented temporal and spatial design, according to individual purposes. For example, “sound configuration that allows language to be heard more clearly” and “a stronger immersive virtual reality environment.”
   Research into innovation seeds beyond the mere definition of musical and acoustical production, based on achievements mentioned above. That includes the design of an environment that allows elderly and hearing-impaired people to recognize spoken language more clearly.

4. Musical performances and acoustical production in “real space” based on the new model, and evaluation

   The emphasis here is on conducting performances in a hybrid environment based on this model. For example, the “Rennyo Noh Stage Reproduction Project at Ishiyama Honganji Temple” in a pure Japanese environment, will be conducted based on the environmental measurement of Jodo Shin sect Higashi Honganji Temple Nagoya Betsuin. There is also the comparison evaluation of spatial dynamics response through identical performances by the same group of musicians from Berlin, in different acoustic environments in both Japan and Germany.

5. Creation, performance, recording and network redelivery of new productions based on the new model

   In Part 4, existing compositions and religious events are reproduced and evaluated. In Part 5, we will create productions with completely new values based on the temporal and spatial dynamics described above, and conduct performances, recordings and delivery of media in a systematic way.
   For example, we will utilize the new (2010-) work in progress commissioned to a composer, Joji Yuasa, featuring a collaboration of Noh, instruments and computer technology based on the text of Zeami’s “Fushikaden”; and compositions by laboratory members, including Toru Iwatake and Ken Ito.
   We will comprehensively promote the potential of music in the new informational and biocognitive environments through the creation of high-end music, and the development and delivery of those contents. We would like to implement this through organic collaborations with external institutions, including Buddhist temples and universities that specialize in music.

Researchers, managers and professors