The Hood

Extreme heatwaves and heavy rain storms are already happening with increasing regularity worldwide because of manmade climate change. Global warming over the last century means heat extremes that previously only occurred once every 1,000 days are happening four to five times more often. One in five extreme rain events experienced globally are a result of the 0.85C global rise in temperature since the Industrial Revolution, as power plants, factories and cars continue to pump out greenhouse gas emissions. The number of extreme weather events are predicted to increase into the future. Hood transposes us from the present day to a moment in the 22nd Century when climatic diversity will have increased by twenty percent.

The Hood was created in collaboration with artist Michael Pinsky whose work is known for challenging the status quo on climate change, urban design and societal wellbeing.

The pergola functions as a lookout and meeting point for people to observe the weather. Within this shelter the visitor’s acoustic experience of the current weather conditions will be subtly exaggerated. When it rains a little, the sound of rain will pound the roof of the structure; when it rains a lot, the visitor will experience rolling thunder in the distance; when there is a breeze, strong winds will ripple through the tree tops and as the temperature starts to rise, the listener hears crickets and Mediterranean birds. These sounds blend with the real sounds already present in the environment to create a convincing sonic environment. Speakers disperse across the internal frame of the structure to create a three-dimensional soundscape. The weather conditions are exaggerated to the extent that the visitor’s visual and aural experiences will not be able to distinguish between the real and augmented sounds.

The pergola takes data from local weather stations to activate prerecorded weather sounds, so the sonic response to the current weather conditions will be localized to structure. As soon as a few raindrops hit the shelter the sound samples change accordingly.