Gigantic Wooden Megaphones Installed in a Forest

In Design by Anja, June 29, 2017

Estonia megaphone installation nature sounds

Photography © Tõnu Tunnel

These megaphones were placed in a forest in Estonia to amplify the sounds of nature.

The project started a year ago with a workshop deep in the woods of South Estonia, with Estonian Art Academy interior architecture students trying to define the concept of a forest library with Valdur Mikita. Of all the proposals, the installation of three wooden megaphones was selected.

Photography © Tõnu Tunnel

Student Birgit Õigus, came up with the idea of megaphones to help people “hear the forest.” Working with her classmates and the Estonian Academy of Arts, the interior architecture students built and installed three gigantic wooden megaphones, which were then installed not far from the Latvian border.

The megaphones create a unique surround sound effect

According to interior architect Hannes Praks, who leads the Interior Architecture Department of the school that initiated the installation project, the three-metre diameter megaphones will operate as a “bandstand” for the forest around the installation, amplifying the sounds of nature.

Photography © Tõnu Tunnel

The three megaphones will be places at such a distance and a suitable angle that the centre of the installation should create a unique surround sound effect.

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 for foreigners as well as local travellers.

Photography © Tõnu Tunnel

The installation will also have other purposes, as it will 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.