Designers are paid to be creative, not practical, and sometimes the products they conceptualize are absurd flights of fancy. Which is great, cause it sparks the imagination and can lead to real innovation. When it comes to sports gear, though, form doesn’t always follow function, as you can see in this subdued but wildly clever new climbing wall, Nova.

Nova was designed by a group called Lunar Europe to be a modernist, hip solution to the affluent climber who wants indoor training without sacrificing the chrome and concrete aesthetic of their internal decor (which means the market for this is somewhere between zero and 10). It’s made of textured panels that when pieced together form a vertical playground. Routes are marked by illumination from within, rather than tagging your hold with colored duct tape, and you control the hidden lights to display the route using a smartphone app. All good, right? Except that the entire wall is made essentially of finger cracks, all of which are the same depth. There are no protruding holds, no dime ledges, no crimpers, no nothing except the sleek cold surface of modern design.

Any design-savvy climbers available? There might be an opportunity for you…