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Advanced Studio IV: D E S I G N the FUTURE of PLAY: A Play THEATRE of RE-NEWABLE ENERGY
"I do not know anything which will contribute more to the strength and morality of that generation of boys and girls compelled to remain part of urban populations in this country than the institution in their cities of playgrounds, where their hours of leisure can be occupied by rational and healthful exercise…. Hard, earnest and joyous play improves health develops the muscles, expands the lungs, and teaches the moral lessons of attention, self-restraint, courage, and patient effort." - President William H. Taft: 1909
People expend staggering amounts of energy walking, running, riding bicycles. For the sake of vanity or health, some people lift weights, run on treadmills and ride bicycles that don't go anywhere. In playgrounds children run around, climb, jump and move pieces of equipment like swings, see-saws and merry-go-rounds.
What if we could harness all this energy?.., What if we could eliminate the carbon economy simply by using sources of energy that are abundant all around us?
Figure 1: children playing spinning a turn wheel which will provide enough energy to pump water to there school and provide electricity for light
What is the future of Play?
This studio project will be the avatar for re-inventing the role of play in architecture. It will look critically at play constructions and spaces for children of all abilities. Renewable energy is all around us and more specifically with in the realm of the future of play topologies, not just in developing countries but in our local community. We will be building and researching full scale prototypes which engage children in inventive play, harnessing energy, and universal accessibility
This semester we are designing and constructing an enormous playground at Stuyvesant Town in lower Manhattan to be completed by the end of June.
The playground (codename Rubber LOL) is an alien all-rubber environment open to exploration through hidden spaces, courses, items and interactive features. As such, the playground provides a basis for children of all ages to invent their own games and playing style in a system that responds to their movement and connects them to one other. The groundscape and structure act together to promote healthy, open-ended connections and competition with one’s self and other children. Electricity generators are incorporated throughout the structure along with a time + energy stopwatch so that children learn about energy while racing one another in their own invented courses to see who can make the most of their movement.
Among the thousands of rubber “donuts” that they will run into and climb on are special donuts that, when hit, emit sound or light, audibly connect with someone on the other end, spray mist on that child or in a random location, or measure running speed, etc. In this way, children are provided even more incentive to explore very corner of this “world” in order to learn its secrets and create additional games that incorporate newly found features.
In addition to powering the interactive features, the stored energy created by movement is released at night as the entire structure lights up between each donut, turning it into a social space for older users. As sustainable energy issues take on ever-increasing importance, Rubber LOL aims to educate the next generation on the potential power each of us has to affect our surroundings while providing new and unparalleled experiences of fun and exercise.
http://stuyplay.blogspot.com