Written by: admin Thursday, February 16th, 2012 .
The best playgrounds are always designed by those who know how to channel their childhood imagination. Based on the work by Monstrum that we’ve seen, they are definitely still in touch with their inner child. The playgrounds built by this Danish design team are always fun, but never lacking in sophistication and quality. Their latest project, the Tower Playground in Copenhagen, is no exception.
Blue Whale Playground in Göteburg
Monstrum was founded in 2003 by Ole B. Nielsen and Christian Jensen. Since then, they’ve accumulated a full family of like-minded artists and designers, and have installed their colorful playgrounds in numerous locations throughout Europe. Many of the team members have a background in theater design which plays an important role in Monstrum’s design philosophy. They approach each project as they would a theatrical set and develop a “visual story that creates a space where fantasy thrives” (Monstrum). Just one look at a Monstrum playground and you can immediately tell how important storytelling is to their design process. The playground pictured above, for example, calls to mind one of the world’s most well known narratives, Jonah and the whale, which is also repeated in the children’s classic Pinocchio.
The Tower Playground in Copenhagen’s Fælledparken invites children into a fantasyland where they will feel like giants. The playground is comprised of five towers modeled after real Copenhagen towers: Town Hall Tower, Our Savior’s Church Tower, Round Tower, The Marble Church, and the Exchange Tower. The towers in the playground are connected by slides and bridges, allowing the children to climb and play among the rooftops of a miniature city. They can also scale the walls of some of the towers which have been equipped with climbing holds.
Alongside the Our Savior’s Church tower, there is a silhouette of Copenhagen which the children can climb up. Once they’ve reached the top of the church tower, they can ring the church bells for all the “city” to hear.
The purpose of the playground is to teach children as well as entertain them. The replica towers give them a close up look at some of the city’s most important architecture. It’s a unique opportunity to explore the history of Copenhagen on a manageable scale.
Monstrum collaborated with PlayAlive A/S to incorporate a technological aspect into the playground. PlayAlive A/S specializes in “intelligent playgrounds” and provided Monstrum with electronic play devices such as puzzles for the Round Tower and a microphone system in the Town Hall Tower through which children can address the city. There is also mention of an electronic catch game to be played over the rooftops, but we’ve yet to find details on how exactly that works. Sounds pretty cool though! In fact, everything we’ve seen by Monstrum so far is awesome and we hope to see some of their playgrounds pop up in The States sometime soon.
