TrainingWILDArts

Megaphone built to hear nature

A variation of our WILDArt concept was independently realised by the Estonian Academy of Arts. A group of architecture students from the Estonian Academy of Artsunder the guidance of the interior architect Hannes Praks built giant wooden megaphones to permit hikers to listen to the sounds of nature but they will also double as a sitting and resting area, and can be used as a stage for small events. The author of the idea is one of the students Birgit Õigus, with the rest of her coursemates Mariann Drell, Ardo Hiiuväin, Lennart Lind, Henri Kaarel Luht, Mariette Nõmm, Johanna Sepp, Kertti Soots, Sabine Suuster helping out with the building process.

Please also read: Listening to nature

51% of Estonia is covered with forests. 0€ is the cost of everyman’s right to camp on Forest Centre run trails, spending the night in the forest cabins, or sleeping in a tent within the recreation areas. The megaphone installation provides an excellent opportunity to experience the meeting of contemporary architectural space and wild nature – and it is freely accessible to all.

Estonian semiotician and popular author Valdur Mikita, who has written at length about the ways Estonian culture is intertwined and imbued with forests, says the architectural design helps to notice the richness of sound in forests as well as the silence. “It’s a place to listen, to browse the audible book of nature – there hasn’t really been a place like that in Estonia before.”

It is these Estonian forests which have come under extreme logging pressure  by the Estonian government to satisfy the increase demand by international demand for wood.

Their website provides some great pictures as well as information on the building process, transport and installation.

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