Sound Vessel

An exploration of the relationship between form and sound, and how a form’s material and design can expose, protect, and accentuate sound

Design: create a sound vessel that can sustain a note/tune/sound on its

own after an initial action by a user.

Aesthetics: made of wood, geometric, symmetrical

Sound: soft noise, melodic/meditative

Prototypes

Clay model

Initial ideation

Visualization

3D printed body

Angle was too steep

Peg steps didn’t produce desired sound

Unpredictable results

Envisioning future material constraints, wood does not lend itself to bending easily

Inspiration from beer and wine barrels for construction

Hexagonal “cone” with ramps

Ramps ensured continuous and correct motion

Iterations for final piece:

Ramp was set at too severe of an angle, ball was moving faster than I wanted

Needed to include sound elements/contrasts, the sound of the

ramp alone was not strong enough

Axonometric projection

Side (blue), Base (yellow), Side width (orange)

Front view

Cap

Cut lines for ramp

Musical "score" (above), Ramp combined length (below)