Major cities of the European Union are now “required to produce strategic noise maps in their main cities” to formulate policy to remediate neighbourhoods blighted by sound pollution (typically associated with motorways and nearby industrial activity).
A side effect of unpleasant noise is the elevation of the stress hormone cortisol.
Persistent noise not only affects human health, but also serves as a deterrent—a disincentive to visit or shop in the downtown—given that foul acoustics rebuff and repel pedestrian traffic.
HARMONY OF THE SQUARE serves as a way to achieve a higher level of LEED* building standard (which might soon be expanded to include psychoacoustics** of constructed space); it also demonstrates a contemporary approach to the art of the carillon and the ringing of bells of every sort in urban locations riddled with ‘noise’.
* LEED – Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
** Psychoacoustics is the scientific study of the human perception of sound.
harmonysquare 