Times Square

Eletronic Garden

An interactive garden meant to initiate a conversation about climate change, energy use, and green urban spaces.

My roles: Ideation, 3D Modelling, Assembling

Date: Spring 2016

Designed and constructed by New York University students, this earth lodge featured speakers and live sensors hidden among the plants that reacted to the visitors' touch. The idea was to “re-nature” Times Square so that the public could contemplate new aspects of nature within our cities.

We invited people to explore soothing living vegetative surfaces and recognize the stark contrast of their hyper-electrified surroundings. The students designed and built an open central sphere for visitors to circulate through so that they could encounter a microcosm of hanging gardens.

Around the sphere there was a greenscape of serpentine living benches for rest, gathering, and contemplation. The whole project, start-to-finish, had to be erected and removed in a 24-hour period. It was a place to re-imagine Times Square’s consumer culture into a truly sumptuous environmental future.

Credits

LEADERS: Mitchell Joachim, Louise Harpman, Peder Anker, Keith Miller.

COLABORATORS: Namira Abdulgani, Kylin Chen, Ella Dagan, Jordan Frand, Michelle Hessel, Renata Kuba, Gal Nissim, Isabel Paez, Tigran Paravyan, Lutfiadi Rahmanto, Leslie Ruckman, Abhishek Singh, Edson Soares, Katie Temrowski, Jed Watson, Yang Zhao, Theo Mandin-Lee, Jordan Marks, Max Mezzomo, Valerie Mu, Shel Orock, Alex Selz, Henry Wang.

STAFF: Karim Ahmed, Jenny Kijowski, Nicholas P Likos, Lillian J Warner, Matthew Tarpley, Shandor Hassan.

Selected projects