1

I discussed this with incomers to Berlin who were coming from many different places around the world. Everybody says that it's a quiet city compared with the one they were in before - certainly in my case; London. Another close friend; New York City. So it was obviously interesting to ask the question: Why is Berlin quieter? What makes it quieter? So I asked that question to about 40 people and got answers, which were many and varied. So varied, in fact, that I couldn't make a coherent summary of it. Instead I made a list.

2

The sound garden is one of the connection points between the main street and the harbour. Under the rail line in the underpass, we developed a bench that can produce sounds, and we developed different sound environments for it. It showed us how you can work with sounds that invite people into a space. Now, we can see that people go there only to experience this. But of course, you shouldn't do it just because of the sound. When you plan it, you should do it because of how it enhances or supports other aspects of the space.

3

Sound is very direct in terms of how it works, as one of our senses. It's very interesting to work with that directness.