Previously discussed here at D.U.S. was the concept of designing spaces with trees equipped with walkable robotic technologies, or Solar Seeking Botanical Augmentation, drastically transforming the dynamicity of such a space. Dezeen pointed us to a project which possesses the beginning qualities of the conception.
NL Architects created a "Moving Forest" by placing 100 trees in 100 shopping carts for the Urban Play event in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The idea was based on a children's book in which a forest moves at night so people trapped in it can never escape!
I need to track down this book, an interesting concept to teach children, that the forest is a scary, alive place which could potentially hold you captive for life. Nevertheless, the architects envisioned the mobile trees individually finding their way through the urban fabric, wheeled about by the homeless or late night bar hoppers, who in my experience are inherently attracted to rogue shopping carts.
Although yet to be robotic, and I stress YET, and provided the trees are able to survive and flourish within the confinements of a shopping cart (which their sure to not), the mobility of the trees does create an entirely new process of human interaction with spaces. The perfect reading spot, created by a tree blocking the summer afternoon sun could be there one day and gone the next, or altered throughout the day to ensure ultimate spatial comfort.
In this manner, depending how the idea becomes manifested, the designers become more programmers and the visitors become the designers, modifying their surroundings for pleasure, boredom, or necessity.
{All Images via: Dezeen}
Related: Solar Seeking Botanical Augmentation