The two places I visited were an underground tunnel, similar to the one we were in in Bern and the Food Market in HPH.

The primary function of the underground tunnel is to simply cross the road at a place where a crosswalk would disturb traffic. Because of that, it is a bare concrete space which creates a highly reflective environment. The sound in the tunnel was loud with a lot of reverb. The closer I was to the microphone the more one could hear the reverberation. Longer continuous sounds produced more reverb than shorter ones. Footsteps and voices were louder, echoing along the corridor. Sounds from passing vehicles were surprisingly loud. The space was cavernous and “boomy”.

Geometry-wise the space was a long narrow parallelepiped with smooth concrete surfaces. Because of that, the space acts as an echo chamber. Overall, it felt alive and echoey, making all sounds “boomy”.

In contrast, the Food Market in HPH is designed both for comfort and function. It is a space where students gather both to socialize and to study – two use cases which I thought wouldn’t fit well together in the same space. However, the open-plan design with tall ceilings makes sound dissipate quite easily, allowing for both functions. Even though you can hear noise from the people around you, you cannot easily make out what they are saying. In the recording sound gets quiet quickly once the speaker is behind you or further away from you. Sounds do not linger so even when the space is full it doesn’t feel overwhelming. Footsteps are fairly clear but disappear quickly.

The space feels a bit “dead” acoustically due to the minimal echoes despite the large open design. The part of the space which I recorded in also simplifies to a large parallelepiped despite the fact that the whole Food Market has more complex geometry. Sound was very clear in close proximity to the microphone.