Sonic Vista Restored and Retuned
13 06.25 Sonic Vista Deutschherrnbrücke Frankfurt Sound Installation since 2011
In June 2025, the Sonic Vista installation underwent restoration and acoustic retuning. Werner Lorke and his team replaced one of the iconic red “Sphere” loudspeakers and carefully recalibrated the sound. The work remains permanently installed on the Deutschherrnbrücke in Frankfurt, where it has been continuously audible and accessible for 14 years.
Sonic Vista by O+A – Soundart at the Grüngürtel
Sonic Vista is a permanent installation on Frankfurt’s Deutschherrnbrücke—a railway bridge over the Main—designed to let listeners experience the city as a living sound organism. Urban sound sources are subtly transformed in real time using “tuning tubes” that enhance harmonic patterns the human brain perceives as rhythm and music. This invites observers to tune their ears and eyes to the city’s sonic fabric, forming a new mental map of its vibrations. It’s an act of decoding—hearing our urban culture as a complex, resonant whole for the first time.
The opportunity to realize this vision came with the 20th anniversary of Frankfurt’s green belt, supported by Deutsche Bahn, the City of Frankfurt, and the European Central Bank. To mark the location—where the green belt’s north and south sections converge with a postcard view of the city—two bright, red and blue, spherical loudspeakers serve as both visual icons and sonic beacons. As people approach, they discover a gentle, harmoniously altered sound field—Frankfurt’s real-time city symphony.