COSMIST PLAY FACTORY

by Will Pope

The International Institute of Cosmism is a large international body of artists and scientists who build upon the philosophy set out in the late nineteenth century by the Russian thinker Nikolai Fyodorov. This proposal continues my semester one design for a Cosmist Research and Development Centre and adds to it my new design for a factory for producing Cosmist Play Machines.
Play Machines are sense-stimulating devices by means of which children learn to use their minds creatively. I argue that these creative children will grow up to be the generation that turns the world into the Great Electric Boat (the hypothetical stage of humanity where art and science are one). The Cosmist Play Factory is essentially a giant recycling animal, eating scrap metal and spitting out Play Machines. Metal is poured into the Mouth at one end, the metal is melted down, digested and worked into components in the Belly. The Heart is where the components are made into play machines, from there they go out to the hand, where they are sent out into the world. The overall form and materiality of the Play Factory is meant to reflect the different functions of each of the four main processes it accommodates. The mouth is organic and metallic, a giant metal mouth. It is inspired by basking sharks, Russian fighter jets and the Lords media centre. The belly is bug like and industrial. It is inspired by whales, bugs and the work of Eladio Dieste. The heart is transparent and integral. It is inspired by soap bubbles, magnifying glasses and the Eden project. The hand is expressive and open. It is inspired by rainforest canopies and the City of Arts and Sciences by Santiago Calatrava.