After its design won the international Horto Contest last year, St Horto – a dynamic roof top garden – was finally realised at this year’s Maker Faire in Rome. The garden was created by OFL Architecture and Federico Giacomarra in collaboration with a number of design studios interacting with the realms of architecture, nature and music.
The architectural landscape of harp-like structures was constructed on the roof of the Palazzo delle Esposizioni exhibition hall. The garden consists of cultivation areas, sonic harps, seating and an interactive lighting system which alternates within 31 carefully-crafted wooden flower beds.
Creating a musical composition in real time, St. Horto combines sonic, interactive and educational elements. The music emitted depends on environmental variables such as wind speed, humidity and people’s voices. The sonic harps are fitted with touch sensors as are the vegetables in the plant boxes, allowing visitors to manipulate the sounds by touch.
St Horto’s educational value lies in its technological system that allows the plants to be monitored in real time and managed by ‘social’ irrigation via Twitter and Paraimpu – a website which acts as a social tool to allow people to connect, use, share and compose things, services and devices online.
Photos and video AnotherStudio
