Whisper: A Harpley Pathside Billboard

In contrast to the city centre of Melbourne, Harpley Estate is an ancient place of mystery, vast and empty, giving people a sense of tranquility. All of it, its ponds, creeks, grass, trees and each tiny pebbles together tell the story of the nature and the Aboriginal culture that nurtured here. On this two-hundred-metre boarding, how to make the passersby feel the sentiments of the surrounding area was my primary concern for this design project. When I was at the site, some quiet sounds grabbed my attention—most of which we seldom notice in our daily lives; and they were whispers which we cannot even describe the feelings that evoked when listening to. To communicate with nature in this way is a lifestyle that the Aboriginals value and love.

Therefore, I decided to record these sounds and visualize them. I recorded around ten pieces of sounds, each about two minutes long. They include the sounds of the breeze, grass, soil, trees and plants, rain, birds, smoke, fur, and etc. After a few alterations, I extracted each sound wave and took the wavelength as the radius to visualize the sound as a pattern. Then, I designed colors for each piece of sound in relation to its represented item. On the two-hundred-metre boarding around the Harpley area, these patterns of whispers are put together to recount the story of a place of feelings and mystery.

When pedestrians walk by, they will look at these circular symbols as well as listening to the sounds that they represent—this is a dual experience of both the visual and auditory. Form, color, whispers and time—this work shows Harpley’s past, its present and its future.

This project is located in Harpley Estate, Victoria, and was completed in the spring of 2019 as part of my studies at the School of Architecture at RMIT University. The project was guided by Dr. Jan van Schaik.