Covered Children Playground

For this three weeks project my tutor asked me to design a "Covered Children Playground". I found it interesting because I would love to work in the social area in the future. Designing something for children would be something I would actually enjoy doing.
The challenge was to design the cover as there is few covered playgrounds.
During the first week I talk with my peers and there are the words they think about when it comes to children playground :

I, then, went to different places around London to find inspiration. Unfortunately as I said before I didn't find any covered playground.

Dulwich Park

London Fields

Playground in Westminster

 Playground in Peckham Rye

I couln't find anything relevant after visits around London. At this time I went to an exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts : Sensing Spaces 

"how do spaces make us feel? What does architecture do for our lives?"

In this exhibition you are invited to touch, climb, contemplate, sit and reimagine the world around us. 

I really think that architecture, as much as any other kind of art, can influence people's mood and feelings. I found this exhibition amazing and I found there inspiration for my project. I loved the works of architect Li Xiaodong, he created a big bamboo maze. 

I've also been inspired by the work of playgrounds specialists architects : Erect Architecture
http://www.erectarchitecture.co.uk/
It is a London based practice that mainly designs children playground. Here are some that I found particularly original:

 clapham common

Evelyn Court in Hackney

Kennington Park model

Maze is such a complex structure. It may become a perfect game for children. You can hide, wander, run, look for, imagine, be scared... It influences lots of emotions.

The idea behind a covered playground is that it can be used all around the year. So during every periods, every seasons. 

I gathered the maze idea and the seasons idea and this is what I found. I would design a maze like Li Xiaodong's one with 4 different rooms. Winter, Spring, Summer and autumn. 

Seasons inspiration sheet

The maze and the 4 rooms will be the playground. Then there will be a cover, on top of the maze, made of glass. It will house the winter room. The back will be formed of 3 colorful slides. 

The cover will allow kids to play in the maze in all weathers and as it is transparent, the parents will be standing on it and will look after their children, while chatting together. 

You can access the cover by the winter room, there is a spiral staircase near the ice rink. 

There is also another "cover" in the spring room. It is a little grass shelter, children can rest/hide inside or go to the toilets. 

Here is a photoshop drawing I've done so we can better understand the idea. 

The perfect location for me would be Marseille, my home town. I would like to redevelop my primary school's playground. I used to go there every day after class, except when it was raining. 

It is really old and damaged now I think it really needs some improvement. 

With the covered areas, children will be able to play whenever they want to, 365 days a year. 

Final Sketchup Model : 

Client / Architect Project : Modern cabin in the wood

Alexandra's questionnaire

For this project we were working in pairs, I was given Alexandra's questionnaire with her answers. I chose to use 5 words to create something that she will like. The words were : Winter, Inside, Contemporary, Metal and Urban. I've done lots of researches on architectures and design that can illustrate these words. And then I tried to find something that will gather the 5. With winter and inside I thought about a cosy place, to drink hot chocolate and relax without being cold, looking at the snow falling outside. My idea was to design a cabin in the wood. But as Alexandra really likes contemporary and urban architecture, the cabin must not be in wood, but in concrete or metal and modern lines. 

So the project will be a modern cabin (for holidays) in the wood. 

 

Floor plan details :

I really liked this project because it gave us an idea of how we will work as an architect in the future. We will have clients and they will come to our office with an idea for their house, hospital, library... And we will have to make it real. 

I discovered the project by Olson Kundig Architects. They build a Chicken Point cabin in Seattle Lake. 

The process they used for the windows is absolutely brilliant. 

It was hard because Alexandra has tastes completely opposed to mines (For my questionnaire I chose different answers almost every time) but that is why it was interesting because I had to create something that is not what I do normally, something new. Unfortunately Alexandra was absent every day during the 2 weeks of the project so I couldn't speak a lot with her. I am happy with the final design thought, I loved working with sketch up, it gives you a lot of possibilities to illustrate your idea. 

I chose 'Le lac d'Allos' (Allos' lake) in the Alps (France) because it is a place I've been to many times, it is close to my holiday house, and I found it perfect for a relax and holiday spot. It is a famous location for hiking lovers and skiers. The lake view is stunning, it is surrounded by mountains and wildlife, but it is not really far from small villages, local amenities and lots of ski resorts (Pra Loup, La Foux and Le Seignus d'Allos).

Minimalism and Modernism Project (Catalyst)

During the Christmas holidays we have been given some researches to do on :
Modernism, Minimalism, Abstract, Digital and Conceptual.
I chose to focus on Modernism and Minimalism, which are luckily my favourite art/architecture/design movements.

On the first day after the break we've been to the V&A museum. I've been looking at some modernist and minimalist design. I went to the Architecture department (I found it amazing, with lots of complex and beautiful models) and found out that modernism rhymes with sustainability.
I discovered the BedZED complex in Croydon, London. It gave me the idea to work on a sustainable, simple, prefab house.

 

BedZED model at the V&A architecture department. 

BedZED in real life 

Beddington Zero Energy Development (BedZED) is an environmentally friendly housing development in Hackbridge,London, England. It is in the London Borough of Sutton, about 2 miles (3 km) east of the town of Sutton itself. It was designed by the architect Bill Dunster to support a more sustainable lifestyle. The project was shortlisted for the Stirling Prize in 2003.

                                                                                       The project is designed to use only energy from renewable sources generated on site. The houses face south to take advantage of solar gain, are triple glazed, and have high thermal insulation. Building materials were selected from renewable or recycled sources within 35 miles (56 km) of the site, to minimize the energy required for transportation.

Then I've done some researches on Minimalist painters and found the work of two amazings painters : 

Their paintings really looked like floor plans to me. So I decided to create some on my sketchbook. I selected one collage to be my house's actual floor plan. 

Final researches on Minimalism and Sustainability on sketchbook : 

I decided to build the house in California. I went to Los Angeles two years ago and Palos Verdes is for the moment my all time favourite place, the view is absolutely breath taking. If I had the chance one day to build a house I would choose this location. It is between sea and mountains and perfect for a sustainable house. 

I've been playing around with Sketch up to illustrate my final idea. 

Then to finish the project I've made a model with cardboard, clear plastic and fake grass/trees. It is the first 'real' architecture model I've done and I am pretty happy with the result. It was complicated to make the round part with the bay window so if I would have had more time I would have concentrate more on that, maybe use other materials, easier to twist. 

I had so much pleasure working on this project. It is my favourite of this year so far. I was glad to learn as much as possible on minimalism and sustainable architectures (it is what truly passionates me in this field) and it strengthened me with my idea of the kind of architect I would like to become.