Keats House, London

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of the poet John Keats arriving at Wentworth Place in Hampstead, London, we were asked by The City of London to create sound interventions for three of the rooms in the Museum.

In the Parlour room, you hear Keats quietly working at his desk, writing, thinking, shifting on his chair and making himself tea, as though he’s in the room with you. Upstairs, in the Gallery room, there are the sounds of Keats arriving at the house and the nature on Hampstead Heath. In the basement, Mrs Brawne’s kitchen comes to life with the sounds of chopping, baking, cooking, chatter and the family cat.

We designed and installed the three audio systems, which are all triggered by discreet PIR sensors – if the rooms are empty, the sounds don’t play.

Additionally, we developed concepts for AR viewers on tablets, which would serve as a window back through time, showing the view out onto Hampstead Heath that Keats himself would have seen 200 years ago.