CONTEXT
Magnuson Park is situated on the shore of Lake Washington south of Seattle centre at 7400 Sand Point Way N.E. It was originally called Carkeek Park and was given to the City by the Carkeek family in 1900. Later the land was transferred to King County and used as a naval airport until 1975. When the activity decreased the navy gave the area to the city of Seattle and the area got the name Maguson Park. In 1999 all former navy lands had been transferred to the city of Seattle.

The sound garden, owned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is situated at the north shore of the lake. The Sound Garden was created in 1982 and is still cranking out music. In 1982, NOAA encouraged artists to create works demanding little maintenance that would stand up well to vandalism and work well with the elements in the park. $250,000 was committed to the project. Six artists were chosen. Among these were Dough Hollis. His Sound Garden has received most attention and has today a sort of a landmark status in Seattle. The art project has been criticized of lacking in communication between the artists and the landscape architects.

DESIGN
Magnuson Park is large and rough and consists mostly of open grass areas and you can still see some remains of the airstrips. The view over Lake Washington is stunning and one has access to the water everywhere. It is well visited by the Seattlers and especially by the dog owners. A special off-leach area is created in the park. Well-maintained trails lead you to important nodes in the park. The Sound Garden consists of 12 silver towers, each holding a vertical organ pipe topped by a wind vane. As the wind blows, each vane turns and pushes its pipe, producing deeply resonant sound.

EVALUATION
Magnuson Park works the way it is supposed to. It has kept its roughness and the refined parts have not been overdone. We would like to call this a wonderful example of a well working post-modern park. Due to the actions of September 11th 2001 the area around NOAA is fenced and the Sound Garden is closed for visitors. We could not access the sound garden and view the sculptures closely. From far away the sound of the organs is subtle and tempting and it is not till after a while you realize where the bizarre sounds comes from. The ·music· adds another dimension to the whole area and works well with the rest of the impression of the roughness of the park. The organs are stable and the shape of the sculpture works from the distance as well. We love it.