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Noise is the second leading cause of ill health in Western Europe, just after air pollution. Interview with Daniel Mermer

16 of January '25

Noise has become an integral part of life in modern cities. From street sounds to traffic and industrial noise, the hustle and bustle of urban life can not only be annoying, but also lead to serious consequences for quality of life and public health. What are the sources of this noise, what impact does it have on people, and how can we manage it? I discuss this with Daniel Mermer of {tag:pracownie}.

Daniel Mermer

Daniel MERMER - Graduate of the Faculty of Architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology. He gained experience at the Faculty of Architecture of the Politecnico di Milano and at the studio of Massimiliano Fuksas in Rome. Since 2003 he has been running his own design practice and is a designer and partner in the OPEN architektura office. He is the author of public, residential and commercial buildings, including several projects in African cities. Recently, he has been involved in the process of creating a linear city development study for Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Privately a lover of music, bicycles, snowboarding and greenery.


Klaudiusz Szwajka
: What is urban noise?

Daniel Mermer: It is one of the basic pollutants. According to the WHO (World Health Organization) list, it is the second - just after air pollution - cause of ill health in Western Europe. We can call noise a sound that exceeds 55 dB. Anyone who has the ability to measure sound through various apps or meters will see that this 55 dB limit is not that high at all. The conversation we are having right now is most likely located close to this noise limit. So it's worth pointing out that the phenomenon we're talking about, so-called acoustic smog, is long-term exposure to noise above 55 dB, if only heard on our streets, in front of our homes or in public places. Statistics show that in the European Union 25 percent of the population lives in acoustic smog, among urban residents it is already 50 percent. And this number is growing every year.

strategiczna mapa hałasu Warszawy - hałas drogowy, 2022

Strategic noise map of Warsaw - road noise, 2022

© Mayor of the City of Warsaw, 2024


Klaudiusz Szwajka: How does exposure to acoustic smog affect us?

Daniel Mermer: Noise directly affects our mood. It makes us nervous, makes it harder for us to relax. People who live near noisy streets have trouble sleeping, and also, even if they do sleep, they sleep more shallowly. There are also a lot of studies that talk about how it negatively affects, for example, our heart function or vascular system.


Klaudiusz Szwajka: How is the problem of noise in the city changing over time? Why has noise become a problem?

Daniel Mermer: Analyzing acoustic maps of cities, we discovered that both railroads and airports play an important role in exacerbating the problem of acoustic smog in cities. The latter, in particular, has a huge impact, since the airport's rails generate much of this noise. The main factor that drastically exacerbates the problem, however, is the increase in automobile traffic. As the years go by and the wealth of Polish city dwellers increases, so does the number of vehicles on the roads. This phenomenon is increasing significantly. For many years, streets were treated as the bloodstream of our cities. Every newly designed quarter was always carefully planned for individual transportation, until a sudden change. An era has come in which thinking about ecology, about green spaces, innovative ideas have emerged to separate the two worlds - the world of cars and pedestrians, private and public transportation. We are just at this point.

strategiczna mapa hałasu Warszawy - hałas kolejowy i lotniczy, 2022

Strategic noise map of Warsaw - rail and air noise, 2022

© Mayor of the City of Warsaw, 2024

Warsaw lacks friendly spaces for people; most of the squares have been designated for cars. For example, Constitution Square has a parking lot surrounded by streets, a great square by the way, with service first floors with arcades, which by the way gives it charm, only it is not a place for people. Invalids Square - nothing, Three Crosses Square - beautiful spaces, a charming church in the middle, but very limited by the road network. It all looks beautiful, but these are not places for people, they are not spaces where we would want to spend time. There was a time when we delighted in shopping malls, and I think it wasn't just about being able to spend money. We simply lacked public spaces where we could feel comfortable. Suddenly, in a mall, we have a roof over our heads, it's clean, it's safe, it's quiet. We've created enclaves of tranquility for ourselves, but it's such an erzac, because we long for the city itself to be pleasant for us. My little dream, back in college, was a competition to design Constitution Square, which is not far from our department. We used to spend a lot of time there. As part of this competition, the entire parking lot was to be moved underground. This solution seemed both simple and brilliant to me, as it would create a fantastic green island in the heart of the city, and move traffic to the outskirts. I imagined mini-concerts, various attractions and community activities that could take place there regularly. These are the kinds of places we would like to see in our modern cities.


Klaudiusz Szwajka: Is noise pushing us into enclosed spaces such as shopping malls?

Daniel Mermer: The factors for the emergence of shopping malls were certainly many. One may wonder where the attraction of such places comes from in terms of spending time in them. We are at a stage when malls have come of age and are starting to be remodeled in the direction of leisure services. It's not just movie theaters, but also spas, sports centers and much more. There has been a shift in burden. We are all being pushed by the noise of cities. We are much more likely to go for a walk or an ice cream in the park than to go to Marszalkowska Street. This is the result of the presence of cars, noise and the fact that we can't hear each other. One could say that we isolate ourselves a bit from the city, our contact with it becomes purely visual. We move in cars, where it is quiet, between other quiet places, such as home or work. We escape to parks, shopping malls, we escape our cities. I myself escape to the woods on weekends and bike there, because it's too noisy for me in the city.

bariera akustyczna - kształtowanie kwartałów zabudowy w relacji do ulicy, proj.: Open architektura

Acoustic barrier - shaping building quarters in relation to the street, proj.: Open architektura

© Open architektura


Klaudiusz Szwajka: Noise in the city is not only cars, but also restaurants, people and other urban sounds. We have to decide what noise we tolerate and what we don't. We want the city to be lively, but we don't want it to be so loud. Paris comes immediately to mind as an example of a city that is not associated with intrusive noise, even though it is full of life.

Daniel Mermer: I don't know if there is a concept of good noise, I would use the word "sounds." Noise is made up of various sounds that on their own are not so bothersome and cruel to us, but together they already form what we call noise. Paradoxically, the sounds associated with street life, with cafes, restaurants are high in Europe in terms of street noise. One might wonder, if we did such an experiment and cut out the sounds of passing cars and left only the sound of restaurants, would it be more or less pleasant for people. When I'm on vacation in Italy, I like to hear the sound of porcelain cups, baristas preparing coffee, the noise of people talking to each other in a cafe or restaurant. I can also imagine a situation in which people living in places such as Warsaw's Old Town, where there is a high saturation of such establishments, have trouble with this, because it is well known that such nightlife ends differently, and it is not just the hum of elegant conversations. However, I believe that people make conscious decisions. We have different enclaves where windows face inner courtyards, apartments near parks, we do not necessarily have to live in the old town.

bariera akustyczna w biurze, proj.: Open architektura

Acoustic barrier in the office, proj.: Open architektura

© Open architektura


Klaudiusz Szwajka: Will we get rid of cars from cities?

Daniel Mermer: I don't believe that we will get rid of cars completely. It seems to me that the technology will change. Perhaps they will be not so much proprietary vehicles as public ones, like buses or streetcars. Maybe they will be automatic or driven in some other way, but they will be with us for a long time to come in such a foreseeable future.


Klaudiusz Szwajka: What can we do as architects to combat this noise?

Daniel Mermer: If we live or design in a city surrounded by noise, where acoustic smog reaches 55 dB and more, this fact should be taken into account when designing buildings. They should be a kind of enclaves, providing the quietness needed to work, live and dwell. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to take into account the right materials, acoustic parameters and the use of appropriate windows and ventilators. When designing housing estates, we sometimes create such buildings that take on the role of a sound barrier, separating the rest of the estate from the main source of noise. However, they must meet specific acoustic parameters.

strefy hałasu, proj.: Open architektura

Noise zones, proj.: Open architektura

© Open architektura

In our projects we use solutions like lumons, which are a kind of second skin of the building. It is also important to remember the importance of greenery and parks, although they do not constitute a good acoustic barrier. Their presence has a relaxing effect and allows you to distract yourself from the surrounding noise. For example, Pole Mokotowskie has almost the same noise level as the surrounding streets, but being there makes you feel pleasant and comfortable. We should think ahead and develop public spaces. Maybe we can develop two or three squares in a city like Warsaw that would be more dedicated to people. I dream that something like this will happen, to restore public space to the city's residents.


Klaudiusz Szwajka: Goethe wrote that "music is liquid architecture, while architecture is frozen music." How do you understand this?

Daniel Mermer: It seems to me that this is quite obvious. Music is one of the closest arts to me, but, as a fellow musician explained to me, it is mainly based on mathematics. All music is derived from rhythm on the one hand and melody on the other. When he explained the divisions and rhythmic relationships to me, I was surprised at how mathematical and orderly his mind is. Architecture, of course, has a mass of trends, and there is purely organic architecture that spontaneously forms outside of big cities, but there is also that architecture of big cities that is created in architectural offices. Here, too, we use rhythms and compositions. These are the same worlds, we use the same tools, and this has been going on since the beginning of our culture, just in different materials and languages.

Klaudiusz Szwajka: Thank you for the interview.


interviewed: Klaudiusz SZWAJKA

more: A&B 04/2024 - green city,
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