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Design

Skyscraper Facade Visualizes The Music People In China Are Downloading

It turns notes into colors, making this a massive synesthetic system.

A new building in China has a real-time responsive LED facade that translates music downloads into dancing colors. This is no passive-aggressive, we know you're downloading music, experiment, though. Designed by Shenzhen-based UNIT Studio, the skyscraper houses new Chinese music download companyA8 Music. Not only does the building celebrate music streaming, but it's a sensory spectacle in which locals get to see sounds in an interactive and hi-tech manner.

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The LEDs on the facade or organized in a system known as the Scriabin keyboard, where notes and tones are assigned a specific color—a methodical explanation of synesthesia. Not dissimilar to the MusicDNA app that assigned colors to various frequencies, A8's building takes things to the next level by visualizing both Internet streaming data and sound waves. It only helps that the building's facade is shaped to emulate sound waves, too.

While we're not sure how the blinking lights don't spiral into a of non-stop mess of color (as we imagine many people are using A8 at once), we'd like to see more architecture that incorporates the senses and cultural data into its design. Well, as long as everyone in the area is listening to good tunes.

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h/t DesignBoom

@zachsokol