Guggenheim
Designing and producing the audio tour of Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim Museum for people who are blind or have low vision, voiced by well-known New Yorkers, we discover new ways to explore architecture and listen to buildings.
Sometimes you get lucky, very lucky, and the Guggenheim commissions you to produce an audio tour of its iconic Frank Lloyd Wright-designed UNESCO World Heritage site, which sits -almost hovers as if poised to rise into the air - on the east side of Fifth Avenue in New York City.
For many, the rising ribbon of Wright's most unusual museum is a familiar part of the New York landscape, and like Utzon's Sydney Opera House, it is a graphic placeholder in the collective unconsciousness of how we think of New York. But how do you translate this visual metaphor and physical structure for those who are blind or have low vision? This was our task and became a revelation for us and an insight into how audio can be a counterpoint to the overwhelming consumption of architecture through the image.
Each of the 10 audio tracks describes a different aspect of the museum– the aromas drifting from the hot dog stands outside, the thick paint coating every surface of the building’s interior, and the murmuring of the lobby fountain as it reverberates against the walls. The amalgamation of these details invites listeners of all abilities to experience the space without seeing it. Voices included in the series are Maggie Gyllenhaal, Bobby Cannavale, and Marilee Talkington, amongst others.
Client
Guggenheim
Project
Mind's Eye
Services
Concept Development - Creative Direction - Naming - Production - Interviews - Sound Design - Post Production - Distribution Strategy
Voices
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Bobby Cannavale, Marilee Talkington, Jeremy Pope, Chantel Wright, BD Wong, Azuri Jenkins
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Our Process
Speaking about the phenomenology of buildings
Opportunity
To bring to life and into the mind’s eye one of the world's most beloved architectural masterpieces. The Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City is designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Insight
As we began to understand and engage with the formal verbal description methodology used to help people who are blind or low vision, it became evident that our reliance on the visual attributes of architecture obscured the deeper experience of the physical engagement with buildings and space. From that moment, we knew the audience for the work was much larger and heterogeneous. We perceived a lacuna in the engagement with buildings.
Outcome
An award-nominated and beloved audio series that offers a new mode of engagement with buildings, architecture, and place.
