Visitors entering the Maria-Theresien-Platz from either the Ringstrasse or the Museumplatz pass through a "curtain" of live water sounds from the Hainburger Au. These water sounds mask the existing acoustic background of traffic noise. Upon walking further into the Maria-Theresien-Platz visitors hear the sounds of various frogs and insects coming from loudspeakers hidden in the ground level lighting wells.
From the facades of both museums come the calls of many different kinds of birds. These sounds from the two parallel museum facades echo across the wide space of the Maria-Theresien-Platz, becoming themselves transformed by the acoustics of the architectural context.
Loudspeakers placed within the rotundas of both museums play the sound of birds which echo inside the resonant acoustics of these vast interior spaces. Microphones are placed within each of these rotundas and transmit the resonant acoustics of these interior spaces to loudspeakers mounted on the museum facades at ground level, on each side of the entrance, so that visitors approaching each museum can hear the reverberating intonations of the museum buildings.
Bill Fontana |
