British architect Thomas Wing-Evans has designed an interactive sound pavilion for the State Library of New South Wales that turns its collection of paintings into music.

The acoustic sculpture, dubbed 80Hz, has been built in collaboration with the Dx Lab in Sydney. It features a curved black timber frame that’s been clad with matt anodised aluminium singles that reverberate sound inside the pavilion.

Wing-Evans teamed up with Studio Sonar Sound to develop a software programme that translates the visual data from the paintings – including colour, tone, face detection, age, origins and subject – into sound waves and compositions.

Visitors can activate the pavilion by choosing a painting from a translucent film reel inside the structure and turning a hand-crank to listen to the image’s soundscape. The cladding is audio-reactive and glows when the music is played, turning the shelter into a beacon at night.

80Hz is in situ until the end of the month, before it embarks on a tour of regional New South Wales.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A little teaser of what’s to come (turn sound on) … 80Hz takes paintings and translates them into music inside a reverberating pavilion. ? by @mikedaly

A post shared by Thomas Wing-Evans (@wingevans) on Oct 23, 2018 at 11:27pm PDT

Read next: 10 buildings with extraordinary acoustics