The Symphonic House

When most people look at an office building or a house, they see a collection of rooms. But when David Hanawalt, a northern Michigan architect who honed his style in Paris, New York, and San Francisco, looks at a building, he sees solutions. He sees them as a built ideas. We asked him about the avant-garde: “The avant-garde is looking into what new kinds of roles can be created," he says. "What new kinds of creative pathways can be created by individuals.” One such individual creating a new pathway is William Close. The Malibu-based artist literally uses the earth and architecture as his instrument. Together, Hanawalt and Close created the Symphonic House, a container of vibrations on a far flung northern Lake Michigan beach. The house is set up with a series of musical experiences that are all based around strings. The architecture becomes the structure and bridge for giant stringed instruments. By playing them, Close transforms the building into a gigantic harp that reverberates with the magical music of the earth itself.

Learn more about the Symphonic House HERE. Check out David Hanawalt HERE and William Close HERE. 

Production: Just a Guy Named Pete / Director: Pete Erickson / Director of Photography: Henry B. Joy / Editing: FishSoup Films / Music: William Close