I recently had the exciting chance to chat with Hasnaa Moahmed of Tonkin Liu, one of the brilliant minds behind Burnley’s iconic Singing Ringing Tree 🎵
An iconic sculpture celebrated around the world and a lasting pride of Lancashire, it was amazing to talk with Husna and dive deeper into the extraordinary musical creation perched on the Pennine hills 🎶
The Singing Ringing Tree is a striking example of human creativity inspired by nature . I asked Hasnaa, “What was it about trees that made you want to shape your sculpture after one?”
Hasnaa: “I guess the most iconic thing on a hill is a tree. You often look across and think, ‘Oh, there’s a little dot on the horizon.’ 🌳
It’s the simplest, most minimal point on that land. A leaning tree also hints that the wind is always there.”
How long did the project take from conception to completion?
Hasnaa: “That’s an interesting question. We won the competition and got the project off to a strong start, but then things went quiet for quite a while.
It was completed on the 7th of December 2006, but we actually started working on it much earlier, maybe around early 2005.
There was a moment we almost gave up since it felt so quiet. I came to accept that it might just be ‘paper architecture’ for a time.”
We win quite a lot of competitions which don’t quite go anywhere. But they’re still worth doing as a way of testing your ability to develop an idea.
It’s important to keep practicing.
The opening ceremony looked incredible . I asked Hasnaa, “It seems like some prominent people attended—can you remember who was there?”
Hasnaa: “Tony Wilson, I think the mayor, and a few fellow architects were there.
When you’re standing on site, no matter how many times you’ve seen the drawings or visited the workshop, the moment the wind hits you—you really feel the raw power of it 🌬️.”
I recently saw that a YouTube video of the sculpture has amassed over 5 million views. How does it feel to see your creation garner such a positive reception?
Hasnaa: “It’s great because, in a way, people often shy away from projects that are too bold. But even though this was a small project, it made a huge impact.
It’s just good architectural design.
If you create something without deep thought, it won’t last long or leave a mark. This piece had careful refinement, which gave it its enduring impact.
It even made the long list for the Stirling Prize, the top honour in architecture.
Many architects loved it, but some challenged it too, joking, ‘This isn’t architecture; it doesn’t even have a toilet!’ 😄”
There’s a rumour that the tree’s name was partly inspired by the German children’s fantasy film The Singing Ringing Tree. I asked Hasnaa, “Is that true? I just watched a clip online—it was pretty bizarre!”
Hasnaa: “That’s right, we adopted that name. Lots of people recognize it. It’s a bit spooky though 😄”
In 2017, a second Singing Ringing Tree was built near Austin, Texas. I asked Hasnaa, “Did you take part in creating this one?”
Hasnaa: “We’ve had over 20 inquiries from around the world asking, ‘Can we have one of those?’
Two were actually built—one in Saudi Arabia and one in Texas.
The Saudi version is bright stainless steel, very shiny, and right in the middle of a city. We haven’t heard much about it since the details aren’t widely available.
I think for the Saudi one we made it slightly larger at their request, which meant getting another engineer to re-detail and resize everything.
For the Texas version, we decided we preferred the smaller size, so it stayed true to the original design.”
Do you think we could see more Singing Ringing Trees in the future?
Hasnaa: “I hope so! We keep getting inquiries constantly 🌍.
The latest two came from a vineyard in France and a wonderful team of architects in Uruguay.
They seem linked to some politicians who really love the project. They’re still working on it, but you never know what might happen next.”
Hasnaa: “We’ve had interest from Argentina, Uruguay, France…so many places. It’s fascinating how it captures people’s imagination 🌟.
We even had an Australian PhD student travel all this way to see it. He visited the studio, and we gave him a long session explaining how it works—then he went to the site, and it didn’t make a sound!
He was pretty disappointed, and we just told him, ‘You’ll have to go back!’ 😄”
He must’ve been really unlucky to visit on a quiet day. Every time I go up there, the wind is always blowing . It was probably one of those rare sunny days in Burnley!
Hasnaa: “Exactly! Those rare windless days 🌤️.”
I think what makes the sculpture so special is that it’s powered by the weather, giving you a unique experience every time you visit 🎶.
Hasnaa: “We’re so used to switching things on and off. But why?
Why should every experience be the same? You should enjoy the wind and embrace how it changes your experience each time 🌿.
You can’t just turn nature on, right?”
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