Barrel Game

The future design of an outdoor playing and learning set for children needs to situate itself in the trend of virtual entertainment that continues being the most significant development of the current society. Apart from being physically attractive to children, the Barrel Game, a system of rib tectonic structure, aims to become an opportunity to explore the threshold between two seemingly contradictory worlds—artificial and natural, tangible and intangible.    

Outdoor playing, particularly nature walks, is proven important in children's psychological development. Not long ago, before the smartphone and online streaming entertainment boomed, playing in a park equaled happiness and fun. Yet, influences from video games and stay home order because of the COVID-19 pandemic have shifted the definition of playing among the young generation. Making outdoor playing attractive again becomes the question we as designers should explore. Surrounded by the deciduous trees in Park Sady Zoliborskie, the Barrel Game comprises a geometrically transformed group of ribs, resembling the band around the screen on a smart device. The banded, porous overall geometry softly forms pocket areas for social interaction. The gradually rising structure, relatively low even on its high point, humbly respects the surrounding tree, leaving the context and the installation to coexist peacefully on the horizon. The layer of fine sand on the ground provides the best solution for drainage and offers another textural dimension for children to explore.

Upon entering the set from the high-end side, children will walk into the “screen,” experiencing moments of interest through their physical senses. The gap between the rib provides the visual and physical threshold between the artificial set and the surrounding nature. The design help soften the boundary between the manufactured and nature, reintroducing the beauty of the environment through artificial lenses. Transformed in height and geometry, the shape of ribs gradually become self-standing cards, which form as Domino cards reveal a sense of rationality while directing movement.

The skeleton of steel ribs forms the main tectonic of the design that the language offered possibilities for combining geometry, structure, and surfaces for activities into one coherent system. The idea of utilizing ONE system is to enable the child to observe the different features. The ribs look like lines from one direction and a surface composed of lines from another. When many ribs link together, the individual rib disappears, and one tail-like geometry emerges. This is an echo of Froebel's Gifts, in which open-ended resources were introduced to children for nourishing exploration.

Architecturally, utilizing cut and reinforce strategy, the rib system easily adapts to creating shapes of openings at various height levels. This way, the system further expands its programming compacity and variety in spatial quality, which potentially encourages different set uses.  In addition, the rib system also makes a variation in height easy and possible without introducing another tectonic language. Going through the spaces, children would begin to understand spatial relationships, movement, and speed through their interaction with the set by standing, bending and squeezing the body.

A modular system is a key for adaptation and efficient transportation. The main structure comprises two modular self-stand sections that can be used individually or grouped to form a linked system. Module A is a rib-supported, tubular massing with openings on both ends. Children will remain standing straight position moving through the spaces full of the moment of physical interest. Module B is also rib supported, which the height gradually shifts from habitable to the height of a traffic cone. The space is about expansion and contraction, suggesting various ways of playing and moving.  Each module has docks designed for inserting elements for vertical movement and activities. If not used, the dock frames the openness that becomes the moment of excitement in the set.

Winston Churchill once said, “We shape our buildings, thereafter they shape us.” (Grangaard, 1993) Environmental factors play an essential role in children’s psychological development and communication. The steel rib tectonic in the project is expected to be powder coated in the factory and shipped to the site for installation. The coating protects the system from corrosion and helps identify the set among the group of trees on site. Among all the colors, Yellow is the most joyful color on the color scale, which radiates warmth, joy, enthusiasm, fun, and inspiration; therefore, it is chosen for the main structure. On the other hand, pink is also a psychologically cheerful color that indicates relaxation and warmth. Pink is also spiritually a strong color best for identity moments of excitement within the project.

In general, the Barrel Game system is like a course menu with options that can offer the best adaptability for different sites and scales, and most importantly—game among young generation.