The wind harp in South San Francisco is something that I'll always remember in that it was always a noticeable part of the skyline when growing up. It's story of how it came to be wasn't really that exciting, in that the real estate company that created the industrial park it resides in just wanted to have a nice centerpiece for their business complex and hired architect Aristides Demetrios to create one.
What they got was one of the world’s largest aeolian harps that was completed in 1967, and is constructed from steel from Bethlehem Steel. The designer stated that the shape of the structure was meant to “take advantage of the viewer’s motion…constantly changing, presenting a series of graceful ellipses and a shifting light pattern.” The noise can be difficult to describe, but I would say it gives off an almost enjoyably unsettling hum that you need to be fairly close to it to hear, kind of reminding me of those scenes with the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey. For an instrument meant to be so large, it is also surprisingly quiet on most days unless the wind is really going, and in those instances, you can then hear it almost across the valley.
The place itself has limited parking, but it's a nice place to enjoy the scenery and has certainly been cleaned up considerably since the time I was a kid.
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