Multiple people sent me a link to this story in The New York Times about an architect who, unbeknownst to his clients, incorporated an elaborate puzzle hunt into the very fabric of the apartment he remodelled for them. In the course of solving the hunt, the family had to crack codes, unmount decorative door knockers which became a crank used to open secret compartments, utilize a rod from the bed and a leather strap from another room decoration in a scytale cipher... the list goes on. Read the story, and be sure to go through the slide show to see some of the amazing custom-built components.
Coolest. Thing. Ever.
I despair of ever being so fortunate as to have someone create something so elaborate, delightful, intricate and unexpected for me-- embedded in the very home itself!-- but I am now absolutely inspired to do this for my future children. The idea of remodeling a room specifically to create a hidden adventure-- revealing everyday items they've been surrounded by for months-- years?-- to actually be quite extraordinary-- is positively enchanting.
The fact that stuff like this-- and people who create it-- exist in our world makes me happy.
Posted by Peter at June 12, 2008 9:39 AMHow in the world that guy waited a year to reveal the secret is beyond me.
His "pro bono" work for this client will probably ensure him work for the rest of his career, but it will never again have the same nearly unimaginable surprise attached to it.
Dude, that was awesome. And you are right, now that I have the idea for doing something like that for my kids when I remodel their rooms (which is on the roadmap to be done in about 5 years) I can't get it out of my mind.
Posted by: Lou on June 13, 2008 10:21 AMI've been working on something like this for a client for the past few months. He is building two luxurious homes that will come with built-in treasure hunts for the homebuyers to solve, and I get to design the treasure hunts! It's really fun working on a project like this, and especially working with a client who is basically NUTS, but in a very good way. We want it to be somewhat "Wizard of Oz"-ish in the sense that the homebuyers will not know who wrote the clues, who is sending them to them, or who is giving them hints, so just in case they ever come across this blog, I'm posting semi-anonymously. Some of those reading this will have no trouble figuring out who I am :-)
Posted by: Serendipity on June 17, 2008 2:12 PM