An installation by MAD Architects & Bruno Zamborlin
In “City of Plants,” natural, human, and artificial intelligence merge into a single living ecosystem of sound and light. Real plants, real data, and real people co-create a continuous ambient composition, where every gesture and every fluctuation in the environment subtly reshapes the space.
Inside this miniature city, environmental sensors capture the plants’ conditions—humidity, temperature, and light—and translate their inner rhythms into evolving musical drones. These slow, breathing soundscapes form the base layer of the installation, mirroring the plants’ hidden life. At the same time, LEDs embedded in the structure pulse and shift in color and intensity according to the plants’ biofeedback, making their presence visible and tangible.
Human visitors become part of this ecosystem. As you walk through the space, sensors pick up the vibrations of your footsteps and transform them, through custom algorithms, into musical tones that harmonize with the plant-generated drones. Each step also triggers visual pulses in the LED system, so your movement becomes both sound and light—woven into the same fabric as the plants’ signals rather than disrupting them.
“City of Plants” is a proposal for a shared intelligence: plants, humans, and AI linked through a common language of vibrations, data, and perception. It invites you to listen differently, to move more consciously, and to consider how your presence can align with the subtle pace of the living world around you.