[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-84939-en":3,"doc-seo-84939-105":28,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":90},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":11,"language":21,"language_code":22,"site_id":23,"html_lang":22,"table_of_contents":24,"faqs":25,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":26,"read_time":27},84939,687197207639,"Asher","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_a8503ba1806abce46bf441b54a3ca4cd",8,"Research & Report","Extending Xenakis: From Architectural Geometry to Sonification of the Philips Pavilion","Architecture and music are linked through proportion and temporal structure, yet architectural geometry is rarely treated as a generative source for music. This study revisits Xenakis’ transformation from Metastaseis string glissandi to the ruled surfaces of the Philips Pavilion, inverting the direction by sonifying the completed Pavilion as a temporal composition. The model reconstructs nine ruled surfaces, extracts governing ruling lines, samples structural geometry, and maps results to glissandi and density-driven energy blocks. Implemented in Python, it renders MIDI in Ableton Live with real-time 3D visualization to reveal motion, stasis, and structural contrast while extending Xenakis through computational, interactive practice.","Extending Xenakis: From Architectural Geometry to Sonification of the Philips  \nPavilion  \nChangda Ma  \nGeorgia Institute of Technology [cma326@gatech.edu](cma326@gatech.edu)  \nSunshiyu Wang  \nGeorgia Institute of Technology [swang3214@gatech.edu](swang3214@gatech.edu)  \nCanting Zhu  \nGeorgia Institute of Technology [czhu348@gatech.edu](czhu348@gatech.edu)  \nAlexandria Smith  \nGeorgia Institute of Technology [alexandria.smith@gatech.edu](alexandria.smith@gatech.edu)  \narXiv :2607 .06589v 1 [ cs . SD] 6 Jul 2026  \nABSTRACT  \nArchitecture and music have been linked through proportion and temporal structure, yet architectural geometry is rarely viewed as a source of generative music. Revisiting Xenakis’ one-directional transformation from string glissandi in Metastaseis to the ruled surfaces of the Philips Pavilion, we invert this workflow and sonify the completed Pavilion as a temporal composition. We reconstruct the Pavilion as nine ruled surfaces, extract their governing ruling lines, and subdivide each surface into structural lines and spatial sampling points. Four evenly spaced ruling lines per surface generate continuous string glissandi, while 3,357 sampled points develop five density-based energy blocks anda sparse brass and woodwind subsequence. Implemented in Python, the system produces MIDI rendered in Ableton Live, accompanied by a real-time 3D visualization that reveals architectural motion, stasis, and structural contrast through sound and image. In general, this work paves the way for the transfer of architectural geometry as a performable musical structure, extending Xenakis’s architectural and musical thinking to sonification and interactive music practice.  \n1. INTRODUCTION  \n“Music is liquid architecture; architecture is frozen music.”This famous phrase, attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, describes a structural analogy between architecture and music [1] . However, contemporary architectural practice reflects architecture as a medium for transmitting music, rather than as a generator of musical structure. Few studies investigate how architectural geometry itself can be translated into musical logic.  \nA foundational exploration linking architecture and music at the level of form generation traces back to the work of Iannis Xenakis. In Metastaseis, Xenakis projected the mathematical hyperbolic paraboloid onto the string glissandi using a graphic notation of time and pitch [2] . Therefore, the slope, continuity, and density of lines in the hyperbolic paraboloid projection determine the pitch change,  \nCopyright: ©2026 Changda Ma et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0 Unported, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.  \ncontinuity, and ensemble density [3] . Together with the modernist architect Le Corbusier, Xenakis translated music composed of glissando patterns into architectural form in the Philips Pavilion [4, 5], where the musical structure informed the architectural form. However, the translation remained unidirectional: the architecture appeared as a static outcome rather than an active musical agent.  \nRecent advances in architectural parametric design [6] allow architectural elements such as surfaces, vertices, and ruled geometries to be accessed as structured and datadriven representations rather than fixed objects [7, 8] . This transformation makes architectural geometry suitable for sonification. Sonification, as a method for translating data into non–speech sound [9], provides a new acoustic dimension for architectural parametric design.  \nThis study explores the sonification of architecture by reversing the historical process established by Xenakis. Rather than reproducing Xenakis’s instrumentation, our approach takes the completed Philips Pavilion and maps its geometry back into sound. Using parametric architectural modeling, we ","cbCaioRrlhIwtUQU","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaioRrlhIwtUQU","pdf",21123519,1,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n# Background and Literature Review","[{\"question\":\"How does this work invert Xenakis’ original music-to-architecture workflow?\",\"answer\":\"Instead of taking music derived from Xenakis’ method and turning it into architectural form, the approach starts from the completed Philips Pavilion and maps its geometry back into sound as a temporal composition.\"},{\"question\":\"What geometric elements are extracted from the Philips Pavilion for sonification?\",\"answer\":\"The Pavilion is reconstructed as nine ruled surfaces; governing ruling lines are extracted, and each surface is subdivided into structural lines plus spatial sampling points used for mapping musical structure.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the system translate geometry into musical output and visualization?\",\"answer\":\"Equally spaced ruling lines generate continuous string glissandi, point density forms density-based energy blocks, and sparse sampling points create a brass/woodwind counterpoint subsequence. The Python implementation outputs MIDI for Ableton Live while a real-time 3D visualization reflects architectural motion, stasis, and structural contrast through sound.\"}]",1784199593,20,{"code":4,"msg":29,"data":30},"ok",{"site_id":23,"language":22,"slug":31,"title":13,"keywords":32,"description":14,"schema_data":33,"social_meta":85,"head_meta":87,"extra_data":89,"updated_unix":26},"extending-xenakis-from-architectural-geometry-to-sonification-of-the-philips-pavilion","",{"@graph":34,"@context":84},[35,52,67],{"@type":36,"itemListElement":37},"BreadcrumbList",[38,42,46,49],{"item":39,"name":40,"@type":41,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":43,"name":44,"@type":41,"position":45},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":47,"name":12,"@type":41,"position":48},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":50,"name":13,"@type":41,"position":51},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/extending-xenakis-from-architectural-geometry-to-sonification-of-the-philips-pavilion/84939/",4,{"url":50,"name":13,"@type":53,"author":54,"headline":13,"publisher":56,"fileFormat":59,"inLanguage":22,"description":14,"dateModified":60,"datePublished":61,"encodingFormat":59,"isAccessibleForFree":62,"interactionStatistic":63},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":55},"Person",{"url":39,"name":57,"@type":58},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-17","2026-07-16",true,{"@type":64,"interactionType":65,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":66},"ViewAction",{"@type":68,"mainEntity":69},"FAQPage",[70,76,80],{"name":71,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":73},"How does this work invert Xenakis’ original music-to-architecture workflow?","Question",{"text":74,"@type":75},"Instead of taking music derived from Xenakis’ method and turning it into architectural form, the approach starts from the completed Philips Pavilion and maps its geometry back into sound as a temporal composition.","Answer",{"name":77,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":78},"What geometric elements are extracted from the Philips Pavilion for sonification?",{"text":79,"@type":75},"The Pavilion is reconstructed as nine ruled surfaces; governing ruling lines are extracted, and each surface is subdivided into structural lines plus spatial sampling points used for mapping musical structure.",{"name":81,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":82},"How does the system translate geometry into musical output and visualization?",{"text":83,"@type":75},"Equally spaced ruling lines generate continuous string glissandi, point density forms density-based energy blocks, and sparse sampling points create a brass/woodwind counterpoint subsequence. 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