topographic playground Thinking back to the greatest of pleasures as a kid I remember running over land, whether it was a forest, a beach or just a plain field. Any obstacle, a fallen tree trunk, a pool of water or a big rock was a perfect excuse to put one’s athleticism to the test. With that in mind, I imagined a playground made of earth, of earth moved to create all kinds of topographical conditions: a mound to climb, a slope to slide over, a crater to hide in, a plateau to look over. Any difference in the topography could become an opportunity to jump, climb, slide, hide, sit, overlook. Play is in the movement through the field, in the attempt to conquer territory. The topographical Playground is organized on a grid of nine sections. Each section contains a particular topographical condition: a hill, a plateau, a trench, a crater, a dune, a cave and so on and on. One could rearrange the grid in any order, creating different trajectories and challenges. The playground becomes a landscape; the landscape becomes a playing field. The drawings for this playground are organised in strips with particular topographical conditions in sections, so one can create a unique film of territorial challenges. Within each module, elements of play can be integrated. For example, a hill could be equipped with a slide to go down from it or have a tunnel to cross it from above or from below. A lake could have skipping stones to cross it or a trampoline to fly over it. The game board could also work with density: how much of an element is condensed and how the lack of density – the void – becomes an opportunity for discovery, for gathering. Imagine yourself in a deep forest and the relief one gets when finally finding an opening. Or the opposite, the pleasure of hiding behind a density of obstacles that make you hard to find.
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on site review 44 : play ©
Ivan Hernandez Quintela
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