The ''Wave Organ'' is a sculpture located in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. It was constructed on the shore of

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

in May 1986 by the

Exploratorium The Exploratorium is a museum of science, technology, and arts in San Francisco, California. Characterized as "a mad scientist's penny arcade, a scientific funhouse, and an experimental laboratory all rolled into one", the participatory natur ...

, and more specifically, by installation artist and the Exploratorium artist-in-residence Peter Richards, who conceived and designed the organ, working with

stonemason Stonemasonry or stonecraft is the creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone as the primary material. It is one of the oldest activities and professions in human history. Many of the long-lasting, ancient shelters, temples, mo ...

George Gonzales.

About

The ''Wave Organ'' is located at the end of a spit of land extending from the

Golden Gate Yacht Club The Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) is a San Francisco, California, U.S. based yacht club founded in 1939. History In 1939 the first members built a clubhouse on a barge in the San Francisco Marina. After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake severel ...

. There is a panoramic view of the city across the narrow channel into the St. Francis and Golden Gate yacht clubs, bounded on the left by the

Fort Mason Fort Mason, in San Francisco, California originated as a coastal defense site during the American Civil War. The nucleus of the property was owned by John C. Frémont and disputes over compensation by the United States continued into 1968. In 188 ...

piers and to the right by a towering eucalyptus grove bordering

Crissy Field Crissy Field is a public recreation area on the northern shore of the San Francisco Peninsula in California, United States, located just east of the Golden Gate Bridge. It includes restored tidal marsh and beaches. Crissy Field is a former Un ...

. The park and trail to it are wheelchair accessible, with the trailhead at the

Marina Green The Marina Green in San Francisco, California, is a expanse of grass between Fort Mason and the Presidio. It is adjacent to San Francisco Bay, and this location provides good views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Angel Island, Alcatraz Island, and p ...

park. Through a series of pipes, the ''Wave Organ'' interacts with the waves of the bay and conveys their sound to listeners at several different stations. The effects produced vary depending on the level of the

tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravity, gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide t ...

but include rumbles, gurgles, sloshes, hisses, and other more typical wave sounds. The structure incorporates stone platforms and benches where visitors may sit near the mouths of pipes, listening. The stone pieces used in its construction were salvaged from the demolition of the

Laurel Hill Cemetery Laurel Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery in the East Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia. Founded in 1836, it was the second major rural cemetery in the United States after Mount Auburn Cemetery in Boston, Massachusetts. The cemetery is ...

in San Francisco. The ''Wave Organ'' includes 25 PVC organ pipes and is dedicated to

Frank Oppenheimer Frank Friedman Oppenheimer (August 14, 1912 – February 3, 1985) was an American particle physicist, cattle rancher, professor of physics at the University of Colorado, and the founder of the Exploratorium in San Francisco. A younger brother ...

. Oppenheimer was the founding director of the Exploratorium, led the fundraising efforts for the ''Wave Organ'', and died seven months before construction started.

References

External links

* Map: *
BlooSee Infopoint

''Wave Organ'' on The Traveling Twins
{{authority control 1986 establishments in California 1986 sculptures Coastal construction Hydraulophones Landmarks in San Francisco Organs (music) Outdoor sculptures in San Francisco Sound sculptures Stone sculptures in California

About

See also

References

External links