Tuning into Nature: Inside the Forest with Oda

What happens when we stop looking at nature and start listening to it? For Climate Week, 1 Hotel Central Park is partnering with Oda to bring the sounds of Costa Rica's Macaw Sanctuary into the heart of New York City through a live, immersive sound installation that creates an unexpected connection between people, place, and the rhythms of the natural world.

Broadcast through Oda's sculptural speakers in the hotel lobby, guests can experience the sanctuary exactly as it exists in real time, from the layered voices of the dawn chorus to the frogs and insects that emerge after dark. No recordings. No playlists. No loops.
Just a living rainforest, unfolding moment by moment.

The installation, Alive As We Are: Sounds of the Rainforest, offers a rare opportunity to connect with a thriving ecosystem thousands of miles away. Once used as grazing land, Costa Rica's Macaw Sanctuary has regenerated into a protected rainforest now home to more than 350 bird species, serving as a powerful reminder that nature can recover when given the opportunity.
For one week during Climate Week, the lobby of 1 Hotel Central Park becomes a window into that ongoing story of regeneration.

We spoke with Oda about the emotional power of listening in real time, the relationship between sound and environmental awareness, and why hearing nature live can inspire a deeper connection to the world around us.

Into the Soundscape with Oda

Oda transforms live sound from protected natural environments into an immersive listening experience. What first inspired you to explore sound as a way of helping people build a deeper connection with the natural world?

It started with live sound experiments. We were interested in broadcasting live performances by artists, but a new type of performance, long, almost like living with the artist for a few days. On one of those occasions, we left the microphones running outside, in a forest, and that was when something shifted for me. There was a quality of attention that came with knowing it was happening right now. A bird calling at this exact moment. That felt like a fundamentally different thing, and I wanted to understand why. I was a witness to what was happening there. If something interesting happened, I was joyful to have been there to listen to it. As days went by, that feeling grew, I started to become familiar with the little living creatures that lived there. I started to feel a real connection with the place.

For guests visiting the installation at 1 Hotel Central Park, what are they actually hearing in real time from the Macaw Sanctuary in Costa Rica and what do you hope they notice or feel as they spend time listening to a living forest unfold throughout the day?

They're hearing an unedited feed from a microphone in the Macaw Sanctuary, a rainforest in Costa Rica that was grazing land thirty years ago and is now home to over 350 bird species. The sound changes with the time of day. Early morning is dense with the dawn chorus: dozens of species calling at once. Midday quiets down. Late afternoon picks up again. At night, the frogs take over. None of it is selected or arranged. What I hope people notice first is that something in them settles. That's the thing that keeps surprising me: people slow down. 

Climate conversations are often driven by data, reports, and headlines. How does experiencing nature through sound create a different kind of relationship with the environmental changes happening around us?

Data tells you something is happening. Sound makes you feel that it's real. There's a place — a specific forest, with specific animals, alive at this moment — and you're in contact with it. That changes the emotional register of the conversation. It's harder to feel abstracted from something you can hear. The Macaw Sanctuary is also a story of regeneration, not just loss. That matters. Most of what people hear in climate coverage is alarm. What they hear through this installation is a forest coming back, and that's a different kind of knowledge. It’s very hard to feel optimism for the state of the natural world, but there is no more optimistic sound than a dawn chorus.

Nature is constantly communicating through rhythms, patterns, and moments of stillness. Through Oda's work, what has surprised you most about listening to these ecosystems over time, and how has it changed the way you experience the world yourself?

Honestly? How much I miss it when it's not playing. I didn't expect that. You think of it as a background thing, ambient, something you're half-aware of. And then the stream goes down and something feels wrong. It was particularly acute this past August when the family were away. I realized that the frogs, birds and insects had become like company, which was very beautiful. I’ve also been surprised at how comical and chatty tropical birds are. You’ll encounter some very funny moments mid-afternoon.

At 1 Hotels, we believe that meaningful change begins with connection. After someone spends time listening to the sounds of the sanctuary, what's one feeling, perspective, or action you hope stays with them long after they leave the installation?

I believe the same. I have observed it in myself. Albeit the contact with the Sanctuary will be often brief for your guests, I hope that it plants a seed. I hope they will remember how their spirit quieted down in the company of the birds. And how important it is to help those that keep our forests alive.

Listen to the Rainforest Live

Curious to hear nature as it unfolds thousands of miles away? Beginning September 21, guests can experience Alive As We Are: Sounds of the Rainforest daily in the lobby of 1 Hotel Central Park. Explore the experience and listen to the living rhythms of Costa Rica’s Macaw Sanctuary.