Wednesday 14 December 2011

A singing tree...


This piece of public art is high above Burnley on the Pennine moors in Lancashire, England. It was designed by architects Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu in 2006 and won a Royal Institute of British Architects award. The Singing Ringing Tree is a 3 metre (9ft) tall construction comprising pipes of galvanised steel which harness the energy of the wind to produce a slightly discordant and penetrating choral sound covering a range of several octaves. Some of the pipes are primarily structural and aesthetic elements, while others have been cut across their width enabling the sound. The harmonic and singing qualities of the tree were produced by tuning the pipes according to their length by adding holes to the underside of each.

Today marks the 5th anniversary of its official opening to the public, so here it is: