In 2017 I was presented with the opportunity to build my first life-size maze and bring it to Burning Man. Budgets and footprints were limited, but I did not want to compromise for an aesthetically presentable yet intellectually pitiful maze that could be solved within one minute. So I instead sought to build the most complex, challenging maze that I could for the least amount of money in the smallest amount of space. I chose to adapt a step-over-sequence logic maze design by maze master Andrea Gilbert, which became my first ever maze at Burning Man 2017.
In 2019, after beginning grad school for my Masters in Architecture, I returned to Burning Man with a desire to adapt the same maze design into a more complex, 3D structure. This 3D extrusion presented the puzzle in a series of colored fabric "doors" supported by a 2x2 wooden structure. This provided a far more immersive and disorienting experience that increased the challenge of the maze while transforming the entire perception of the experience.
2022 saw the first return of the maze after the pandemic. Three years away from the dust, three years away from the 30-70mph winds that blaze through our monolithic array of cantilevered wood and fabric. Since the 2019 iteration, the materials of this maze were reused twice; first in my 2020 Thesis installation, and second in the form of a stair railing when no one was looking and some of the 2x2s mysteriously disappeared under the hands of a hired handyman. Due to the immense complexities of drilling footings into the unforgiving playa surface, we forego such an endeavor and re-used the knee braces that I had engineered for my Thesis installation. The altered design proved successful as it stood up to some of the strongest wind in Burning Man history, but I would still prefer to use footings again in our next endeavor. Regardless, the maze was yet again highly popular and praised by those Burners who appreciate a more stimulating interactive experience. Perhaps we will bring this design again, or perhaps it is finally time that I design a more complex maze structure of my own layout. Time an imagination will tell.
