Episode 06 · · 54 min
The Room That Listens Back
Architect Lena Cho built a room to do almost nothing. Then she sat in it, and the silence lied.
With Lena Cho, Architect of quiet roomsSilence / Rooms
Cold open
The cold opens are spoken by your browser from the script on the page.
Mara Voss
There is a room in Rotterdam that was designed to do almost nothing. No echo from the street. No hum from the lights. Lena Cho built it, then sat in it, and told me the silence was lying.
Lena Cho
Silence is never empty. It is a frequency you have not named yet. If you stay in that room long enough you hear your own blood. That is not a metaphor. It is a design problem. I had to decide whether the building should hide that, or admit it.
Mara Voss
So the room listens back.
Lena Cho
Every good room does. The bad ones just pretend they are not there.
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