Tower is an interactive sound art installation, exhibited at the Volunteer Park Water Tower in Seattle, WA on September 15th, 2024. The water tower contains a spectacular double-helix steel staircase that naturally amplifies footsteps throughout the building. Upon reaching the upper observation deck, visitors are immersed in a mature tree canopy replete with the sounds of crows and songbirds. The labored breathing of other stair climbers is punctuated by a steady interval of airplanes landing at SeaTac Airport, whose flight path lies directly above this tower. This complex layering of site-specific acoustic phenomena became the starting point for a musical intervention.
Live digital audio processing of five microphone inputs produces song-like murmurs that transmute footsteps, birdsong, and human voices. The site-specific and situational performance responds to the actions of observers and provides a new way of listening to architectural space. By exploring the intersections between sound, architecture, and music, Tower suggests how spatial applications of sound can provide enriching soundscapes for our lives. Tower is a re-examination of the role of acoustics in architecture. By blurring the disciplinary line between musician and architect, perhaps we can create the rupture necessary to charter a new role for architecture in the soundscape.