'orbit' kinetic turntable translates sound into motion through flipping wooden tiles

"Lillian Brown's Orbit reimagines the record player as a performative object that makes music visible. What began as her senior thesis at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) evolved into a hybrid that turns listening into an active sensory experience, where rhythm becomes motion. The design centers around a sculptural turntable topped with thirty-nine individual wooden tiles that flip and shift in real time as music plays."

"These movements, in sync with the beat, translate audio frequencies into a tactile visual field that unfolds in a clockwise motion, echoing the rotation of the record itself. Brown describes Orbit as a way to 'make music visible,' transforming familiar listening rituals into performances. Fabricated through a meticulous process, Orbit combines CNC-milled cherry wood, thin stainless steel insets, and 3D printed components."

"Brown collaborated with machinist Jake Harding of Forsyth Metal Works to produce the cherry wood top, which underwent several complex CNC operations. The rich natural figure of the wooden surface contrasts with the steel inlays, while bent stainless steel legs recall mid-century modern record players. Underneath its refined form lies a direct-drive motor and a hidden linear-tracking tonearm, an engineering approach inspired by Miniot's Wheel."

Orbit reimagines the record player as a performative object that makes music visible by translating audio into synchronized, tactile motion. A sculptural turntable carries thirty-nine individual wooden tiles that flip and shift in real time, unfolding clockwise to echo the record's rotation. Fabrication combines CNC-milled cherry wood, thin stainless steel insets, and 3D printed components, with bent stainless legs referencing mid-century players. A direct-drive motor and hidden linear-tracking tonearm enable an inverted record configuration, freeing the kinetic tile system. A custom Grasshopper framework drives the parametric tile motion. The object stands one meter tall and results from four months of development and fabrication.

Read at designboom | architecture & design magazine