Critic: Lise Ann Couture
The Nomadic Machine imagines the typical high-rise building pixelated into a collection of self-similar spaces, differentiated only by those objects contained within. Scaling up the carrying capacity of Thyssenkrupp’s rope-free MULTI elevator system, the Nomadic Machine transports these modular rooms along a series of maglev tracks, utilizing exchangers to facilitate biaxial movement. Rather than inhabitants navigating the building, the building rearranges itself around the inhabitant. Given multiple users, desires inevitably conflict, producing unintended or even inconvenient arrangements of spaces, forcing new modes of engagement between occupants and their environment.
