ENGAGING SPACES

I have been looking at ideas and ways to design space within parks to engage people. Playgrounds is an obvious one for children, but I am also finding other examples that invite people.. The examples I found for spaces which successfully invite peoples attention all had something in common. There was an interesting element about these spaces, each of these parks or spaces created an experience out of the ordinary, changing the everyday context that the environment might otherwise be experienced in. This promise of a different experience is drawing people to the place and appealing to them to interact with the space. Some examples of successful spaces involve an unexpected scale, others unexpected forms. In the example shown in the lecture, the New York Highline park, the ordinary context is changed.. the park exists on an old railway. It is risen above the city and the park is enjoyed from a very different perspective than ordinary.

INTERACTIVE LANDSCAPE

The last few days I have been giving more and more consideration to how to design a park for people to interact with it. I have also revisited the functions that I came up with to help focus my direction. Of these functions, the one that stands out the most as having specific requirements is the lectures, or question and answer sessions. This is because for such a space to be successful, the relationship between the person giving the lecture and the audience is a very important one. I have been looking into theatre requirements and qualities best for different types of audio, and some important considerations for an outdoor space are:

• Tiered seating for audience sight lines
• Acoustic protection

The tiered seating requirement has given me a direction to investigate further as I have also been looking into designing with variations in land level and land form to create interesting spaces that would engage participation of people. One of my considerations was creating a piece of architecture that people could climb over and around so that it becomes part of the interactive landscape as well as the building.

This has led me to the development of a landscaped seating space that can be used as more than simply seats. It also becomes an interesting space to walk around, exercise around, play around for children, and interact with. I would like to keep the changes in the landscape as natural looking as possibel and am considering digging out underneath the landscape to house a building. 

PARKS AND PLAYGROUNDS

With a clear direction of utilising parks to distribute the parliament and with the idea of appealing to youth, I have started an investigation into parks and playgrounds with the aim of finding an appropriate architectural solution.

 During this investigation I found many interesting approaches to designing a space that invites participation from young people.

SOME EXAMPLES..

 

CARLTON PLAYGROUND, MELBOURNE 2000

Taylor Cullity Lethlean with Mary Jeavons Landscape Architects

NOGUCHI UN PLAYGROUND,  NEW YORK, PROPOSAL, 1952

Isamu Noguchi

 Image from aqua-velvet.com

CHILDREN’S PLAYGROUND, TAKINO HILLSIDE PARK, JAPAN, 2000

VAN CAMPENVAAT PLAYGROUND, HOLLAND,

Carve

 

SCULPTURAL PLAYGROUND, GERMANY 2011

Annabau

 

Having thought about these approaches and the brief at hand, I am very keen to consider further if there might be a way to design a solution that incorporates a playful approach or a way to invite interaction from young people...