TVISONGUR

“Tvisöngur” is a piece of concrete public art that seems to sing in

the mountains of Seyðisfjörður, East Iceland. The sound
sculpture was created by Lukas Kühne, an artist based alternately
in Berlin and Montevideo, with the support of the town’s Skaftell
Centre for Visual Art. The unique installation opened in 2012 and
INTRODUCTION was celebrated with music and a roast. The occasion gave locals
a chance to explore the five interconnected volumes and test out
the acoustics of their carefully domed ceilings. Beautiful and fun,
each room has a unique resonance and way of drawing in the
community.
LOCATION MAP
 THE SINGING CONCRETE

• Tsvisongur is constructed entirely of smooth unpainted concrete at 100mm thick throughout.

• It consists of five interconnected domes - nicknamed "Fa", "La", "Si", "Do" and "Mi" in order of
decreasing size.
• Each dome’s distinct size produces an individual resonant frequency corresponding to a tone in
traditional Icelandic five-part harmony.
• The arched openings act as Helmholtz resonators, as wind blowing in off the cliffs rushes into and across
the openings, the air within the structure resonates.
• Nicknamed the ‘singing concrete’, Tvísöngur was designed for several voices in order to preserve
Iceland’s musical heritage, which was one of the first and now only surviving forms of improvised
polyphonic chants in Europe.
FLOOR
PLAN
SECTION
 • One source and one receiver was positioned at the central vertex of
each of the five domes at 1.5m in height.
• Those within the structure would most likely experience the acoustic
conditions from a standing position therefore a source/receiver height
of 1.5m was most suitable.
• The only exception being dome 'Mi' which, due to its lower ceiling
height, was lowered to 1.2m in order to be a satisfactory distance
SOURCE/RECEIVER from wall
POSITION • For each source, a receiver position was located in each of the
remaining 4 domes.
• A total of 20 impulse responses were therefore rendered (5 sources x
4 receivers).
• The sound played in one dome is resonated and received all other
four domes
Sound propagation