The majority of garden structures ask something of you: sit still and take pleasure in the shade. A pergola is a pergola, a gazebo is a gazebo, and neither one especially cares what the afternoon light is doing. Michael Jantzen’s Interactive Garden Pavilion runs on a different facility completely, one where the resident has as much say over the structure as the designer did.
Constructed from sustainably grown stained wood and painted an uniform forest green, the pavilion rests on an octagonal support frame fitted with 30 slatted hinged panels across its walls and roofing. Each panel rotates separately, sliding and turning along the frame before locking into position. Open them broad on a hot afternoon, and the interior breathes. Angle them down against the glare, and the space dims considerably.
Designer: Jantzen
That last point is where the design earns its name. A lot of adjustable outside structures use a single variable, generally an awning or a retractable canopy, within an otherwise set kind.
Here, the whole skin of the building is the variable. The wall panels, roofing system panels, and ground-level platform extensions can all be rearranged, which means the structure can look substantially different from one afternoon to the next.< img src ="// www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%201280%20960%22%3E%3C/svg%3E"data-src="https://www.yankodesign.com/images/design_news/2026/03/michael-jantzens-garden-retreat-has-30-panels-to-rearrange-by-hand/the-interactive-garden-pavilion-04.jpg"alt= ""width ="1280" height="960"/ > Pull the panels shut on 3 sides, and the structure becomes a genuinely personal enclosure. Splay them open
, and the interior links completely to the garden around it. In one arrangement, it reads as a thick closed form. In another, the structure opens up completely, and the slatted structure becomes almost sculptural versus the yard. Inside, two benches with adjustable back-rests run the length of the interior, dealing with each other. The seating is constructed into the frame, which keeps the floor plan clean and leaves space to recline completely. When the overhead panels are partially open, sunlight goes into in sharp parallel bands that move throughout the benches as the day moves, a quality that
is either meditative or disruptive depending upon what you came in for. The building reasoning is likewise especially practical. The pavilion is a premade modular system, so the parts can be scaled before assembly or joined with extra systems to form a bigger cluster. No foundation is required in most setups.
Given its size and type, a building authorization is not likely to be required in numerous jurisdictions, which eliminates among the more tedious barriers between an interesting design and an actual garden. Jantzen has spent decades proposing architecture that responds dynamically to its residents, much of it staying on paper. This pavilion is among the cases where the idea got developed, and the outcome holds up at close quarters. The slatted wood is truthful about what it is, the green paint ties the structure to the garden without attempting to disappear into it, and the hinge system does exactly what it promises.
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