Nova Jiang's Moving Planter Maze

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By John Baichtal
Posted 2012/09/10 @ 6:33 pm
Category Art & Design

Landscape Abbreviated is a kinetic maze consisting of modular elements with rotating planters, which form a garden that is simultaneously a machine. I am interested in the way that simple interventions can make the experience of space dynamic and unpredictable. The planters are controlled by a software program that continuously generates new maze patterns based on mathematical rules; they rotate to form shifting pathways that encourage visitors to change direction and viewpoints as they move through the space.

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BY John Baichtal

My interests include writing, electronics, RPGs, comics, scifi, hackers & hackerspaces, 3D printing, building sets, & toys.

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4 Responses to Nova Jiang’s Moving Planter Maze

trkemp on September 10th, 2012 at 7:47 pm said:

I like the concept of a self-modifying maze, but I don’t get the “garden” aspect of it. Also, having the arms balanced on servos seems pretty flimsy. I’d be afraid that with people walking through while the arms swing that it wouldn’t last for a whole afternoon

As an alternative design, how about using motorized roller blinds to make walls? It’s true it wouldn’t be a “garden”, but you could potentially have multiple blinds for the each position that are decorated differently to allow the computer to change the look of the maze. Creative computer controlled lighting could also add to the variation of appearance. It would have a very different look, but I think you could do a lot with it. I could see making it interactive. It could be a fun a Halloween garage project.

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Phillip Thorne on September 11th, 2012 at 6:33 am said:

From the description, I imagined a traditional hedge maze (or at least “green wall” planters), but with each wall segment on a circular turntable, and the turntables in a square grid. Geometrically it’s equivalent to Nova Jiang’s work, but heavy-duty (hence, expensive) and capable of blocking sightlines. (Come to think of it, you’d probably need a mix of straight-line and right-angle segments to implement the traditional paths of a maze — straight-line segments alone would leave gaps when adjacent turntables had opposing orientations.)

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Anton Christopher McInerney on September 11th, 2012 at 6:41 am said:

Stimulating work of genius it has many adaptive uses for new infrastructure

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DIYolo on September 11th, 2012 at 1:22 pm said:

i like the concept, but i really hope that the music in the video is just background music because it seriously creeps me out. especially if i have to go through that to get to the kitchen at night

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