sound playgrounds & soundparks – Sonic Architecture

parabolic bench

P.S. 23 1992Ramped walkway between two 8′ diameter vertical stainless steel dishes creates an acoustic space for reflecting and focusing sound. Children discover they can generate sound waves and stop them with a wave of the hand.

ps 23 sound playground

1992 A permanent sound installation at P.S. 23, a Bronx elementary school, commissioned by the NYC Percent for Art Program. The artists designed the entire playground including sound sculptures, paving, seating and landscaping. Bronze drum seats and tables where children create music and experiment with rhythm. Speaking tubes are embedded in the curved concrete bench so children can whisper messages across the play space to one another. Wind bells are mounted on top of the chain link fence, and the concrete paving is textured. Site dimensions: approx. 20′ X 150′.

echo chamber

Sculpture allows children to speak and listen to the acoustic properties of an underground chamber through pipes and parabolic dishes. Painted steel and stainless steel dishes. 5′ X 3′ X 3′.

big eyes / big ears

Rotating tower for extending the user’s listening and viewing capabilities with parabolic dishes and a periscope. Painted steel, stainless steel, optics.17′ x 4′ x 4′.

communal drum

A large bronze drum table and 5 seats that can also be used as drums. Children can speak and listen to each other through pipes embedded in the concrete speaking bench.

ps 244 sound carnival

1996 An installation designed for exploring music and sound phenomena at an elementary school playground in Brooklyn, NY. Commissioned by the NYC Public Schools, the NYC School Construction Authority, and the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Percent for Art Program.

ps 244 drum circle

Bronze drums and two stainless steel Speaking/Listening Dishes are acoustically connected to an underground chamber and the sounds emanate from grates in the curved bench. When children speak to each other through the dishes, the sounds travel into a large underground tank below and they hear the acoustic reverberation. Two stainless steel “Palm Trees” are played by slapping the open ends of the curved pipes on the trunk of the ‘tree’ to produce tuned percussive sounds.