A Sound Garden

A Sound Garden is a wind-powered sound sculpture located on the NOAA campus beside Lake Washington in Seattle. The installation consists of twelve steel towers, each fitted with organ pipes and weather vanes that turn with the breeze to produce musical notes.

Douglas Hollis created the work in the early 1980s for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration grounds. The piece took shape during a period when regional artists explored wind and natural forces as creative materials.

The installation gained additional recognition as the inspiration for the name of the Seattle rock band Soundgarden in the 1980s.

Access to the campus requires showing identification at the entrance gate. Calm days bring little or no sound, while active winds trigger a broader range of tones.

A well-known Seattle rock band adopted the name of this installation in the late 1980s. Each tower produces its own sequence of notes depending on wind direction and speed, so no two listening moments are ever the same.

Location: Washington

Inception: 1983

GPS coordinates: 47.68530,-122.25000

Latest update: December 5, 2025 22:29