Hwaseong, South Korea
As a pavilion for children’s play, UNITEDLAB Associates’ aim is to awaken the children’s senses and create new play spaces for them to play together, to provide an installation work that children can play with their body in the outdoor exhibition spaces provided by the client.
The team designed a playing art with fresh, vibrant colors: pink and white.
Cloud Forests Pavilion for Children’s Play was recently awarded with a 2020 American Architecture Award from The Chicago Athenaeum and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
The Cloud Forests is an $4,000 installation that caters to people of different generations so that all ages can appreciate its design; adults living around enjoy it as an art object, and children play with it.
This site area is located in the outdoor exhibition space surrounded by concrete walls with openings.
The installation is mainly composed of three materials: pink flexible height bars, white balloons, and aluminum wires.
First, the pink flexible bars are planted into the ground, varying in levels of density.
The super-dense areas allow only small children to fit through and play in.
Whereas, the less dense areas are wide enough for parents to walk through and supervise their children.
Next, the specially designed white balloons are placed on top of the pink flexible bars.
These balloons are not directly connected to the bars, but each one moves independently.
Between the balloon and the bar, there is a layer of wire so that the balloons do not fall onto the floor, but the movement of children and the touching of the bar will be transmitted to the balloon, causing it to move.
Parents can walk around while children can run. Thanks to the pole’s varying density, the installation provides children with a circulation path for a run, walk, or stand.
There are spaces for play as well as social gatherings, even in a small place.
The museum building was being abandoned by the developer during construction.
The client bought it and changed it into a local museum.
Thus, they wanted the museum and their events to engage the neighborhood around actively.
The practice installed a medium between an art and a facility with a very low budget. It was necessary to maintain the installation condition for six months regardless of seasonal weather changes and museum closure days.
For example, on emergency days like windy days, the museum staff needed to manage this outdoor artwork and picked up the balls rolling around in the neighborhood.
Every week the design team visited the site and inspected it by doing amending wires, injecting air in the balloons, or fixing any broken part.
Children sometimes considered this work was supposed to be broken.
This play facility aims to portray a metaphorical aspect and functions as an interactive installation that appeals to children and adds another dimension of art to the collections in the museum.
Project: Cloud Forests Pavilion for Children’s Play
Architects: UNITEDLAB Associates
Client: Space of Design and Architecture
General Contractor: UNITEDLAB Associates
Photographers: Pace Studio, UNITEDLAB Associates