The last post discussed how Croatia has an abundance of limestone among it's many islands and rocky coastline. Most of the architecture in Croatia is made from this white stone and has a clear stereotomic character. The Sea Organ, designed by Croatian architect Nikola Bašić, is made from traditional materials, but is far from traditional architecture. What makes this project special is less about its aesthetic craft and much more about the craft of turning the stone into a musical instrument.

Formally, the sea organ is a set of terraces that step down from the Riva sea wall to the water. In fact, this is the only place along this waterfront where people can easily access the water. The overall visual presence of this project is almost nil, but the audible presence is quite striking yet calming. The sound is like a whale barbershop quartet singing a love song to the sea. Dozens of people sit at these steps all day long and just listen to the song that the organ plays while they look out over the water and the islands beyond.

Often times architectural beauty is all about space, form, light, texture, color, and material and what kind of mark or statement the architect can make with these elements. But this project is beautiful, not just because of the sound it produces, but because it creates a strong sense of place despite it's minimal use of these typical elements. It is also only dealing with the ground plane and is intended to reinforce the landscape--the water, the mountains, and the sky.

I love this project for many reasons, the first of which is that I'm very curious about what is hidden beneath the steps and how the sound is actually produced by the movement of water. In general, I love aleatoric sounds in places, even music that has recordings of cities can paint a picture of a place sometimes better than a photo can. I think one of the reasons why the sound is so compelling to listen to is that it comes from a perennial, never-ending source of energy--the constant ebb and flow of the ocean.

The other component of this waterfront bonanza is the