Design for Public Spaces: The Wobble Maze
Background
Developed under the guidance of Sigi Moeslinger and Masamichi Udagawa of Antenna Design, the Wobble Maze is the product of a five-week sprint to design a public intervention on the School of Visual Arts campus.
Accommodating up to 4 players, the Wobble Maze creates an opportunity to connect with fellow students and members of the SVA community, while exercising physical coordination and strategy skills. The goal of “get the ball in the hole” is made more challenging (and rewarding!) as the Wobble Maze is suspended on springs, creating an unstable surface that has to be manipulated in cooperation with other players.
Come and wobble with us!
Vital Statistics
1.14.25 - 2.21.25
Scope:
Concept Development, Structure Design and Build, Copywriting
Team Members:
Ben Hone
Qian (Jessie) Wang
Shiyu (Lynn) Zhang
How might we create an intervention that encourages cooperative play between members of the SVA community at large?
As graduate students, we knew we wanted our installation to provide opportunities to blow of steam, engage in play, and connect with fellow members of the SVA community.
Aesthetics
We chose a recognizable game that required no instructions, making participation easy and approachable: get the ball into the center hole. The structure uses eye-catching, high-contrast color to grab the attention of passersby. The maze itself takes the shape of the SVA logo, participating in the long-held practice of reinterpreting the SVA logo by students, faculty and alumni.
Structure Design
To achieve the game objective, players must tilt the floor of the maze by pushing down on the edges, causing the ball to roll. The maze is intentionally too large to manipulate on your own, forcing an interested player to find someone else to play with!
Dowels run from the maze floor to the base inside of springs, acting like pistons and allowing the maze to be pushed down and rebound back with little friction.
Next Steps
While we see the Wobble Maze living comfortably in a common space inside an SVA building, the next iteration of this design would explore making a more durable, weather proof structure that's suitable to the outdoors.
Aside from materials explorations, our developing list of design updates includes:
1. Modifying the edge of the maze board to make handling more accessible to all players;
2. Fully containing the maze with a top cover of plexiglass to prevent debris falling in, and the ball from being taken out;
3. A pinball-style mechanism that returns the ball into play to prevent theft;
4. Updating the base structure with a central cut out to prevent garbage accumulation;
5. Exploring different sizes to accommodate more players.
Thank you for reading through! If you have any feedback, I'd love to hear it.