San Francisco Wave Organ – Image Credit: exploratorium.edu/visit/wave-organ
With a little bit of help from mankind, nature can create some beautiful things. Or, perhaps it is with a little help from nature, mankind can create some beautiful things. Whatever the case may be, these sites are a perfect example of how man and nature can enhance each other’s beauty.
The Sea Organ: Zadar, Croatia
The Sea Organ is referred to by many as an architectural achievement. However, it is also referred to by others as a successful implementation of an experimental musical instrument. Whichever it may be, the object in question plays music by way of sea waves and tubes located under a set of marble steps. Zadar’s city coast was heavily damaged during the Second World War. Though work was done throughout the years to repair the damage, most of the area was turned into a concrete wall. In 2005 the city reopened the sea front that featured this beautiful instillation by a local architect. The waves interact with the tubes to create both a random and harmonic sound that fill the air in and around the coastline.
The Wave Organ: San Francisco Bay, California
Similar to the Sea Organ of Zadar, the Wave Organ is an acoustic sculpture that opened on the San Francisco Bay in May of 1986. A series of pipes the organ interact with the waves of the bay and then broadcasts the resulting sounds to listeners at several different stations in the area. The sounds vary depending on the tide and time of day. Visitors can sit at the end of a landing at the Golden Gate Yacht Club to see and hear the instillation. Stone pieces salvaged from the Laurel Hill cemetery in San Francisco were repurposed for the project and served as the base for the platforms and benches.
Blackpool High Tide Organ: Lancashire, England
The High Tide Organ is a 49 foot tall structure located on the Blackpool Promenade in the Lancashire. The seaside resort area sits between Ribble and Wyre estuaries on the Irish Sea. The sculpture, designed by artists Liam Curtin and John Gooding, is made of concrete, steel, zinc, and copper sheets. The instrument is played by the sea at high tide when the water flows through eight pipes attached to the sea wall. The pipes feed into 18 organ pipes housed within the structure and when the seawater swells, it fills the pipes, causing them to sound.
So it would seem that no matter where you are in the world, with the right tools and imagination, man and nature can find a way to work in perfect harmony.
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