Echo: The Physical Manifestation of Sound via Architecture

Memories are such a delicate facet of humanity. They echo of times before that have long since passed, though distorted in many ways each time you think back, trying to conjure singular moments of time. Unfortunately it’s equivalent to locating a single droplet of water in a vast ocean. Not only are you trying to remember the visuals of that memory, but you’re also attempting to remember how it sounds.

Thanks to architecture and design company Orproject, however, just as visual memories are captured with pictures, Project Echo has created soundscapes which capture those memories as well.

Project Echo was exhibited at Design Shanghai and was curated by Degeng Li. Echo represents the physical manifestation of sound in any given area, in which is resonated from architecture that showcases fragments of what once was or still remains, or as Orproject calls, “windows into the world which surrounds us.”

Using digital acoustic analysis techniques, Echo turns the entire exhibition into a interconnected soundscape of Shanghai city. Visually it provides glimpses into what gives the city life, layers upon layers of structures, information, and objects which make up the city as a whole. Could you imagine seeing these exhibited a hundred years from now in future museums, where people will walk around and be given a true glimpse into the atmosphere of what once was? History will become an orchestra of time – sounds, visuals, and all!

Photo Credit: Orproject