Playful cities promote play, leisure, and creativity in their public spaces and architecture. It offers opportunities for gatherings that help develop communities socially and culturally, improving the quality of life and providing essential elements for healthier and more balanced habits. They directly influence citizens' cognitive and emotional development by stimulating creativity and imagination through spaces designed for fun.
Moreover, these places can become tourist attractions and stimulate the local economy. In large parks or ephemeral structures - using different materials, colors, and elements - it is possible to make public spaces less harsh and more welcoming for people of all ages, providing significant benefits for citizens. Below, we have gathered seven projects that adopt playfulness as a principle through different strategies.
Tophane Park Playground / Carve
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Playgrounds: Conquering Public Spaces"In designing this project, we broke away from the regular playground concept which relies on directive activities and limited interactions; instead, we created a multi-functional element that inspires play. Our unconventional approach resulted in a smooth sculptural object, attractive and playful for everyone -kids and adults. (...) The playground is not a fenced-off area where parents are watching from distance, it is for everyone, open to those who are not afraid to get involved!"
One Green Mile / MVRDV
"A hilly paved landscape transforms the 2-dimensional visual features into a 3D spatial experience, accommodating a whole range of different programs and providing a dynamic physical attraction. Visual accent colors in materials and graphics make all aspects of the intervention recognizable as a whole. The space is divided into a series of public “rooms” with diverse functions: lounge, gym, shaded seating area, performance space, and reading room. Planting extends throughout the space. Greenery in the design – featured on a series of screens lining the space, an archway at the entrance, and in retaining walls and planters – promotes biodiversity, while cooling the surrounding spaces and dampening noise pollution."
Barigui Playground / Antonio Abrão Arquitetura
"The rubberized floor design brings comfort and properly structured colors to guide users within the space, delimiting the various options for playing. The dark blue color of the floor directs the flow of children from the entrances to the toys; light blue defines the “breathing” and living areas; and the orange spots highlight the points where the main toys are, such as a winding rope circuit, a forest of logs, geodesy, roundabout, seesaw, and swing."
Oishii Park / td-Atelier
"Many studies were carried out on how to create a field where people can visit, gather, stay, read books, and interact. We investigated the changes in the position of the sunshine and shade in the summertime on the premises, mapped out what we would like to do in the "Oishii Park", and examined how it would look from the elementary school and alleyways (...) As a result of superimposing them, I decided to create a long three-dimensional bench that flows at the west end of the site (it reminds me of the rivers, waterfalls, and mountains of Kumano). Considering that it is a DIY construction, it can be constructed without skilled skills, and at the same time, there is also a process where you can learn carpentry techniques."
Escadinhas Footpaths / Paulo Moreira Architectures
"Small-scale interventions restored the site’s original character, undoing the precarious interventions carried out over the years. The meticulous rehabilitation of the site, which included adding benches in every ‘room’ in the building, has encouraged people to spend time there and transformed it into a place for socializing."
Nanhua Glimmer Park / Atelier Let's + JR Architects
"One of our focuses in this project is to develop an aesthetic and recreational irrigating facility. (...) The mist generating facility is integrated with the lighting system to ensure safety at night. (...) The elements of mist and glimmer resemble the collective memory of the locals – at nights, the mountain mist flows along the ridges, creating radiances around the street lights afar."
Three Pavilions / rotative studio
"The pavilions perform as the first gesture that embodies the municipality’s ambitions to really understand this central square as a place for encounter, a place for the residents. Therefore, we proposed a combination of functions: a public library, an observatory, a collective table with benches, and a small theatre."
