Overview

Smartify developed the Cutty Sark Soundscape, an experience that transports visitors 150 years back in time to hear what the ship might have sounded like while sailing across the world in a variety of wind conditions.

Visitors use their own devices to listen to content as they explore

The brief

The Royal Museums of Greenwich were looking to develop a new approach for experiencing the famous Cutty Sark ship. The goal was to create a guide that brought together elements of mindfulness and ASMR, rather than a traditional narrative audio tour.

The solution

Visitors can choose to experience the ship in near-gale conditions, listen to the tea chests being loaded in Lower Hold and localised sound effects, ranging from various animal noises to the ringing of a ship’s bell. Delivered with Beacon technology, the Soundscape plays automatically as visitors walk around the ship. Accompanying these ambient sounds, the soundscape features specially composed music by Sonic Collaborations (Colin Riley and Nic Pendlebury).

Each visitor’s version of the soundscape will be unique depending on their journey through the ship, the time taken to linger (or not) in each space, and personal curiosity to experiment with different weather conditions.

The results

The Cutty Sark Soundscape offers visitors a unique opportunity to experience, rather than be told, how it would have felt to sail the seas on board this ship. Launched in September 2024, the experience was showcased at MuseumNext in December 2024.