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The Undefined Playground
Designed by BUS Architects, the Undefined playground is a modular, portable, and collapsible playground system that can be dropped into an open/public space, transforming it into a play space.
I really love the considerations towards multi-use, and the considerations towards borrowing equipment. I'm curious to know how hard/heavy it is to maneuver, as well as if there is any more seating that gets pulled out. That would probably be my biggest critique (which is small, at that!). Great ideas here.
Isamu Noguchi
Isamu Noguchi was an american sculptor & landscape architect who challenged the 'traditional' look of a playground, sometimes successfully and othertimes not so much.
Sculpture or Playground?
Every time I see this photo, it strikes my artistic sense and saddens my playful side. Though this is not a fair assessment of Noguchi as a whole (to be honest my opinion of him is torn between love/hate), when I look at this photo above, and even at some other projects, I always have this sense of isolation, simplicity, disappointment and boredom.
I understand that at least one of his goals were to introduce shapes, colors, form to children through interactive sculpture, but in many cases to make the jump and call it a play-ground seems extreme. Piedmont Park, in Atlanta GA, below, is an example of one of those Noguchi playgrounds that I'm not really a fan of. Swing here. Jump here. Climb here. Most of this below just feels prescriptive and like 'equipment', rather than something more.
Piedmont Park, Atlanta, GA, USA (1)
Piedmont Park, Atlanta, GA, USA (1)
Piedmont Park, Atlanta, GA, USA (1)
Piedmont Park, Atlanta, GA, USA (1)
Let's pivot though and look at the Noguchi I DO like! His work at Moerenuma Park, at Sapporo, Hokkadio, Japan is definitely getting closer to my sentiment of successful sculpture-as-playground, mostly because the sculptures are (a) far more complex in design, (b) open-ended in terms of type of movement use (less clear what I am 'supposed' to do on each individual thing) and (c) more inter-generational / multi-age friendly. Plus The larger sculptures feel less like isolated objects in a field and more like encompassed play spaces.
Moerenuma Park, at Sapporo, Hokkadio, Japan (2)
Moerenuma Park, Sapporo, Japan (2)
Moerenuma Park, Sapporo, Japan (2)
Moerenuma Park, Sapporo, Japan, Photos by Marcus Trimble.
Moerenuma Park, Sapporo, Japan