Cabinet of Infinity

Interactive urban pavilion · Toronto, Canada, 2023

MAB Student Award Winner

Official MAB Award Page Award Ceremony

Context

An interactive pavilion developed in the MediaArchitecture program at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar to present the collections of the Museen im Schloss Friedenstein Gotha — and to draw visitors into the museum through a joyful, immersive urban experience.

The design combines baroque architectural references with contemporary media technology across four art categories: sculptures, paintings, patterns, and objects. Motion-triggered lighting and imagery respond to visitors; a standby mode invites curiosity when the pavilion is empty.

My Role

My contribution focused on the pavilion’s spatial experience, visitor interaction, and technical prototyping:

  • Developing the core experiential concept
  • Designing how visitors move through and interact with the space
  • Creating sensor-based interactions that respond to visitor presence and movement
  • Building the interactive digital prototype
  • Prototyping and testing the system using TouchDesigner and Arduino

Technical Details

Form Finding: Six minimal surface equations via Grasshopper; four modules selected for aesthetics and function.

Tools: TouchDesigner, Blender, Rhino, Grasshopper, Arduino Uno, Photoshop.

Project Documents

Reports (open in new tab)
Main Project Report TouchDesigner Report Physical Computing Report

Project Images

Cabinet of Infinity — photo 1 Cabinet of Infinity — photo 2 Cabinet of Infinity — photo 3 Cabinet of Infinity — photo 4 Cabinet of Infinity — photo 5 Cabinet of Infinity — photo 6

Design Process and Final Result Videos

Judges' Critique

"I really love this project and I think you really thought from the view point of the user from the first point of view, when you talked about providing visitors with the joyful and interactive experience. But where I think it was really successful that it went beyond this challenge that you set up for yourself and addresses a number of touchpoints of a successful urban intervention and then using digital technology to bring the experience to even another level. ... I think it is really successful... Then there is an experience both communicating outwardly to the city but also inwardly to the person that is fully immersed in each of the pavilions... It checked all of the boxes! We were in the jury very enthralled with this project."

Cheryl Catterall (Creative Director, Moment Factory) — MAB Award Jury

Project Poster

Project Poster