Ahead of the Curve

Mark McMenamin -- Interior Design, 11/1/2007 12:00:00 AM

Imagine a vertical garden growing up one side of the Rudolph Schindler house that now belongs to the MAK Center for Art + Architecture in Los Angeles. Among the renderings and models on display in "Figuration in Contemporary Design" at the Art Institute of Chicago, Fake Plastic Trees by the firm Patterns demonstrates how a network of PVC tubes circulates water and nutrients to aerial vegetation. December 13–June 8; 312-443-3600; artic.edu/aic.