FEDERATION BELLS, MELBOURNE

Federation Bells is an installation comprising 39 upturned bells. Located in Birrarung Marr, Melbourne, they were created for celebrations of the centenary of Australia's federation in 2001. They were designed by Anton Hasell and Neil McLachlan in collaboration with Swaney Draper Architects.

To achieve the acoustical tuning of the bells, Behzad Keramati Nigjeh, an aerospace engineer also cooperated in this project. The bell's vibration modes were modelled and optimised using a sophisticated Finite Element software developed by Dr Joe Tomas.

Federation Bells.com.au allows the public to compose music for Melbourne's Federation Bells. Using an intuitive drag 'n' drop timeline,would be composers can create original compositions for the bells and submit them for playing to the curator. During special events the bells are also hooked up to a MIDI keyboard the allow passersby to play the bells in real time .

You can play the bells and compose music for them here.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.