Sea Organ
Marble steps on Zadar's waterfront that turn wave motion into sound through hidden pipes.
The Sea Organ occupies roughly seventy metres of the western tip of Zadar's peninsula, where the waterfront was rebuilt after wartime damage and the loss of the old steps. Designed by the architect Nikola Basic and opened in April 2005, it looks like a broad flight of white marble stairs running down into the Adriatic. Beneath them lies a system of thirty-five polyethylene pipes of varying length and diameter, grouped into seven sections and tuned to a diatonic arrangement.
Waves and the swell from passing ferries push air through the pipes, which escapes through slits cut in the top step and produces a shifting, chordal drone that never repeats. The work was awarded the European Prize for Urban Public Space in 2006. A short walk along the promenade brings visitors to Basic's companion piece, the Greeting to the Sun, a circular array of photovoltaic glass plates set into the pavement that lights up after dark; both have become fixtures of the evening passeggiata.
Highlights
- Thirty-five tuned pipes hidden beneath broad marble steps
- Music generated entirely by waves and passing ferry wash
- European Prize for Urban Public Space, 2006
- Companion light installation, the Greeting to the Sun, a few steps away
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