Mumtaz Hammad works across urban planning, sound design, and writing to explore spatial justice, cultural preservation, and community-centered mapping. They hold an M.S. in Urban Planning from Columbia University's GSAPP and an M.A. in South Asian Studies from UT Austin.
Their trans-disciplinary practice investigates how community spaces are located, interpellated, and experienced through processes of planning, performance, and sonic composition.
Their writings have been published in EFNIKS, Spy Kids Review, URBAN Magazine, Cordite Magazine, and Rest for Resistance.
Interlaced Existence: A Contemplation on Nothingness
Audiovisual Composition
2024
Composed for: Interlaced Existence Architectural Theory Seminar, Columbia GSAPP Medium: Field recording, original poetry, sound design, original visual recordingsProject Overview
An audiovisual composition exploring "nothingness" as the intertwining of oceanic and spiritual architecture. Through layered field recordings and original poetry, this piece examines how the ocean's spatial negativity holds vastness and intra-actions that inform understanding of built and unbuilt environments.
The work engages with oceanic poetics as methodology for architectural speculation, arguing that nothingness—which always-already escapes linguistic capture—reveals itself through sonic and spatial experience rather than theoretical explanation.
Field Recording
Recorded ocean soundscapes capturing the rhythmic churning of waves, wind, and ambient coastal acoustics. The recording methodology prioritized immersive, non-interventionist capture—letting the ocean's sonic architecture speak without human mediation.
Original Poetry
Composed original poetry verses addressing nothingness, void, spatial negativity, and oceanic architecture. The poetry functions as both theoretical exploration and sonic material, with attention to rhythm, breath, and the space between words—itself a form of architectural nothingness.
Sound Design Layered field recordings with vocal narration, creating spatial audio environment that envelops listeners in oceanic experience. Sound design choices emphasized:
Spatial depth and immersion
Rhythmic interplay between voice and waves
Silence and negative space as compositional elements
Temporal dissolution through sustained drone and repetition
Video/Visual Component
Minimal imagery
Original video recordings of ocean waves
Subtitles of original poetry
Dissolution of imagery with Adobe Premier Transition effects
Interventions of quotes from Barad and Lao Tzu on black screens
Relevance to Spatial Practice
This work bridges my architectural/planning practice with sound and theoretical research, demonstrating how:
Spatial Theory Informs Design: Understanding negative space, void, and nothingness enriches architectural and planning approaches to open space, public realm, and unbuilt environments.
Sound as Spatial Medium: Sonic composition creates architecture that listeners inhabit—relevant for acoustic planning, soundscape design, and understanding how auditory experience shapes place.
Interdisciplinary Methods: Combining poetry, philosophy, and sound design models integrative approaches to spatial research and design pedagogy.
Cultural & Spiritual Space: Engaging with spiritual architecture acknowledges non-Western spatial traditions and alternative frameworks for understanding built environments.
Production Details
Location: Staten Island South Beach Recording Equipment: Zoom H1 Handy Field Recorder, iPhone Voice Recorder, Field Recording Open Source MP3 of the ocean recorded by Xserra Sound Design Software: Ableton Live Vocal Recording: Studio/home recording setup on Adobe Premier Post-Production: Mixed on Ableton Live