Back in April, we reported on the PLAYscapes Competition hosted by Building Trust International, which sought out creative proposals for underachieving sites. Over the course of the past five months, more than 500 registered entrants submitted designs to a diverse jury, including representatives from Building Trust International, Project for Public Spaces, BMW Guggenheim Lab, Landscape Architects Network, 3Space, Neon Stash, Land8, and academics and professionals from the fields of architecture and landscape design. Well, the wait is over — and the winning entries in the professional and student categories have been announced. The Winning Entry in the Professional Category A multidisciplinary team from the City of Cape Town has been announced as the Professional winner in the design competition that hopes to transform neglected or forgotten parts of cities into interactive playscapes. The design competition asked for a proposal that creates community involvement and turns a neglected space into a place for public interaction and creativity. This year’s Professional winner is Cape Town Gardens Skate Park (see image above). The project team consists of Gerrit Strydom, Lwandile Gcume, and Aline Cremon from the City of Cape Town; Errol van Amsterdam and Marvin Fester from C2C Consulting Engineers; with skate park design by Clive Crofton of Spyda Ramps. The team developed the design through lengthy consultation with local residents, skaters, and the national body, The National Skate Collective.
Winning Professional Design Proposed Site-Plan View
The jury selected the design as the competition winner because of its intelligent re-use of space, transforming an under-used and blighted underpass into a community-led skate park. The jury was also very impressed with the high level of involvement and consultation with local residents and the future users of the park. There were nine honorable mentions in the Professional category, located in sites ranging from Melbourne to London.
The Winning Entry in the Student Category The winning entry from the Student category is “Bring a Pal and have fun” by a team from Lusiada University of Lisbon, Faculty of Architecture and Arts. Student team member Ricardo Morais said, “Initially, we decided to redevelop the space, building furniture equipment made with euro pallets, a material that is structurally sturdy, inexpensive, and easy to find anywhere in the world.”
Winning Student Design
A wide range of submissions made use of sustainable materials and highlighted the need for everyone throughout the world to look at the forgotten parts of their cities and think about adaptive reuse and redevelopment of existing sites. The short-listed designs show a wide range of well-thought-out ideas for sites around the world where potentially problematic areas can become unique places celebrated by all of us. David Cole, founding partner of Building Trust International, said: “The competition was a huge success;, the winning project had an incredible level of thought and community involvement. The potential for this project to become a flagship in regenerating other areas in both Cape Town and other cities is exciting, and we look forward to helping realize the project over the coming months.”
Honorable Mention Professional Category ‘Urban Zipline’ by Evegenia Batmanova, Katerina Sfyra, Giulio Bellizia & Dimitris Sparis, London
The competition sought out fun and exciting new ways to get people to interact with the city on a different level. Regeneration of cities should not just be about increasing value and foot fall, but should capture people’s imaginations, making them want to get involved and experiment with new things. Scott Renwick, Founder/Director of Landscape Architects Network, said: “The winning professional entry met all the criteria. Not only is it creative, but it can be applied NOW, making an instant impact to the local environment and enhancing the social dynamic of the community. Furthermore, this design can be adapted and used throughout multiple sites, making it a strong and appropriate concept to win this competition. “The overall submissions were fantastic. The level of creativity was mind-blowing, which may of played against some entrants in meeting the criteria of the competition. It was a pleasure to judge and see the work of so many talented people trying to make a positive change in this world — the future’s looking bright!”
Content from Building Trust International and adapted by Brett Lezon Enjoy what you’ve read! Support us and pick up one of our awesome T-shirts and hoodies today, Click the link
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