Forms &
studies

A family of instruments shaped to the scale, weather, and social life of each garden.

Scale and setting

One idea,
many forms.

Gardens are carefully tended places that grow and change over long periods. The instruments are conceived in the same spirit: their scale, material, sound, and position develop through the conditions of a particular site.

A small work may occupy a three-foot-square space within an existing path or planting, with vines growing around its structure. Elsewhere, the project may take the form of a twelve-foot pavilion: a shelter, a listening chamber, and a place where people can gather for tea or conversation.

Studies in place

Pavilion studies.

Pavilion and instrument layouts in garden and coastal settings. Placement and proportions will be developed for each site.

Coastal pavilion concept with wind instruments, a stone path, and evergreen trees overlooking the water. — At the coast · an open listening field

Pavilion concept at dusk, framed by tall aeolian harps and a wooded coastal slope. — Pavilion at dusk · coastal setting

Current design studies

Explore the instruments.

Two interactive models open in their own tabs, with room to rotate the instruments, inspect components, and explore their behaviour. These are working studies; dimensions, materials, and simulated sound remain provisional. The poles are conceived at a height of 3 m.

18-string aeolian harp

Wind acts directly on the strings around a formed marine-grade aluminium shell. A diaphragm and resonator carry their vibration into sound. The exterior is specified in matte black; drainage and isolated fittings address coastal exposure. Explore the cutaway, vary the wind, and enable the sound simulation.

Open harp model

Dark wind-driven strumming instrument design study

PULSE + WEAVE

The paired instruments are designed to produce sparse, drifting, koto-like plucked tones, their different gear ratios translating the same wind into distinct rhythms that fall together and apart.

An upper rotor drives a mechanical strumming system within a matte-black, marine-grade aluminium body. Formed resonating panels, corrosion-resistant fittings, and isolated joints support its coastal use. Rotate the paired instruments and inspect the mechanism in cutaway.

Open strumming model

Interactive instrument studies

Additional Studies.

Working models of water, wind, fog and balance. Each opens in its own tab.

Rain · waterShishi-odoshiA rain-fed trough with four tuned cavities, A, C♯, E and F♯, and suikinkutsu jars buried beneath two of them.Open model Fog · balanceFog sōzuA fog fence slowly fills a tipping aluminium sōzu. Each time it tips, a striker sounds a hanging basalt slab: one stroke per fog.Open model Wind · fogFog-tuned pipesFive stopped pipes form a wind vane. Wind sounds them; fog gathered on a rod comb raises the water inside and lifts the chord by a fourth.Open model WindSinging pipesThree ribbed aluminium pipes draw air through a high intake cowl and whistle into brimmed rings, stepping up their harmonics as gusts build.Open model

The Working Field.

Aeolian harp poles

Long strings, tension, spacing, material testing, and prevailing wind are explored together through sculptural and acoustic inquiry.

Aeolian flute poles

Air-column instruments are studied for aperture geometry, threshold, directionality, duration, material resonance, and appearance.

Rain instruments

Rain-guided forms investigate drop size, collection, rhythm, and resonance.

Fog-fed systems

Fog as a slow, local water source for listening instruments, to be tested as the feed for new kinds of audio and visual instruments and experiences.

Vessel studies

Ceramic vessels are developed with artist collaborators through tests of volume, glaze, cavity form, water depth, and listening response. Recycled materials, including aluminium kegs, are being explored for ultra-low-cost versions of the suikinkutsu experience.

Materials and prototypes

Coastal exposure, fabrication methods, corrosion, access, maintenance, and sound are evaluated together before any material is fixed.

One idea,many forms.