`Singing Cans' - an experimental wind instrument made with an assembly of drinking cans that can produce sounds in recognizable pitches by interacting with airflows. We describe how field experiments conducted in a fluid flow lab can generate performative resources linkable to parametric design modelling.

Singing Cans: Portfolio

SITE-SPECIFIC URBAN WIND ENVIRONMENTS

We consider the idea in an urban context where the wind flows exhibit various patterns shaped by different building densities.

The urban wind flows are seen as a sound-making system that drives an array of disused drinking cans.

The higher aspect ratio (H/W) can create a stable circulatory vortex between buildings.

SOUND-MAKING CANS

Wind sensing device

We focus on how to get airflow through a hole to produce sounds and follow the principle of the music production of the flute.

Eight cans of the same volume size, filled with different volumes of water inside, were tested separately to produce one note.

Subsequently, we control the rotation of the cans to produce seven pitches or the chord of pitches. Each can be programmed to be on or off for a certain duration to create the melody.

SENSING CURRENT WIND DATA

The application method comes from an anemometer and a wind vane. The process starts with the current wind speed and wind direction as the input data to the Arduino system. The micro-controller activates servo motors to rotate the cans following the angle reading from wind vane direction. We also develop an alternative method: If the wind velocity is not high enough for the cans to produce audible sounds, a speaker will be activated to play pre-recorded sounds instead.

PARAMETRIC MODELLING OF THE FRAME

In order to determine the geometry of a frame design for site-specific installation, we first used CFD wind data for a parametric modelling process. Then, to generate a parametric curve follows the wind direction and speed. Inputting the parameters of the size of cans, we assemble the units on a frame.