Life is experienced through listening, and place is defined through its specific soundscape. The acoustic ecologist R. M Schafer posed the question: ‘Which sounds do we want to preserve, encourage, multiply?’.

The thesis responds to this by speculating and creating an acoustic experience focusing on the experience of urban sound, and the designing of spaces of sonic retreat, using water as material, and distraction. The overarching theme of the project is acoustic, with rules created through the motorway and structure, transversing the site and use of water. The proposal orientates around the ultimate retreat of a bathhouseand explores different levels of retreat through the surrounding context.

The thesis is placed within Glasgow, a city that has been defined through time by the sound of industry and infrastructure.

The present soundscape is defined by the motorway network.

Constructed in the 1960s, it loops an artery around the centre, creating a physical form of boundary through separating the centre from the wider city. It’s sound acts as a location identifier within the the city, and its construction had a profound impact on the coherence of Glasgow, carving a scar through neighbourhoods and community.