The city's magnetic rhythm

A metal shipping container sits in an abandoned industrial site. Inside the container, which is empty and cloaked with quilted fabric, unseen speakers immerse the visitor in the sounds of our thronging metropolis, our Pacific Rim city. There’s the booming, screeching, clanking, and shunting of a busy railway yard; the walkie-talkie shouts of port workers directing cargo; the clamour of traffic, the saxophonic threads of stories and conversations, and the calls of a Chinatown vendor. Also entwined in the urban soundscape is a shifting symphony of electronic bells and chimes—eerie and celebratory.