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Garden Novella
Garden Novella
Detroit, MI, United States
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Garden Novella
Detroit, MI, United States
Firm
STATUS
Built
YEAR
2021
SIZE
0 sqft - 1000 sqft
BUDGET
$10K - 50K
Garden Novella merges new media technology with hand-crafted objects to create a social platform that connects to local businesses and community activists. Audio recordings of stories told by folks of Southwest Detroit provide a soundscape choreography in an immersive garden of stories, plants, and lights.
Six gateways are organized in an overlapping pattern, creating a landscape of themes that arose during the storytelling process. Each gateway is themed: Introductions, Sense of Community, Immigration, Places in Southwest, Passions, and Hope for the Future of Southwest. Sonar motion sensors activate lights and speakers, encouraging passersby to walk through the garden. Sitting or standing under one gateway gives hierarchy through sound volume to the individual narrative shared in that gateway. This experience is complemented by quieter stories being played in nearby gateways, highlighting the intersection around common topics within each gateway. For instance, you may hear a Vietnam war veteran share how he is working to improve race relations in the community, while the nearby gateway is playing a story in Spanish.
Suspended plants evoke the sense of uprootedness and transplanted - and just as many immigrants in Southwest have had to plant new roots in a new ecology where they help one another thrive. The light-filled vessels express the Mexican vernacular of luminaria lanterns, honoring the sense of belonging that these immigrant families should feel.
These light-filled vessels are part of a geometric family of vessels - lights, planters, and storage benches - all cast in custom rubber molds. The LED light vessels were casted using urethane resin; the planters were casted using lightweight rockite; the storage benches were casted with artisan concrete using a pressing technique.
Mirrors clad the underside of the canopy, reflecting the image of yourself as you hear someone else’s story, someone whose story may be much different than yours, as a reminder that even in our differences we are united.
Six gateways are organized in an overlapping pattern, creating a landscape of themes that arose during the storytelling process. Each gateway is themed: Introductions, Sense of Community, Immigration, Places in Southwest, Passions, and Hope for the Future of Southwest. Sonar motion sensors activate lights and speakers, encouraging passersby to walk through the garden. Sitting or standing under one gateway gives hierarchy through sound volume to the individual narrative shared in that gateway. This experience is complemented by quieter stories being played in nearby gateways, highlighting the intersection around common topics within each gateway. For instance, you may hear a Vietnam war veteran share how he is working to improve race relations in the community, while the nearby gateway is playing a story in Spanish.
Suspended plants evoke the sense of uprootedness and transplanted - and just as many immigrants in Southwest have had to plant new roots in a new ecology where they help one another thrive. The light-filled vessels express the Mexican vernacular of luminaria lanterns, honoring the sense of belonging that these immigrant families should feel.
These light-filled vessels are part of a geometric family of vessels - lights, planters, and storage benches - all cast in custom rubber molds. The LED light vessels were casted using urethane resin; the planters were casted using lightweight rockite; the storage benches were casted with artisan concrete using a pressing technique.
Mirrors clad the underside of the canopy, reflecting the image of yourself as you hear someone else’s story, someone whose story may be much different than yours, as a reminder that even in our differences we are united.
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