LUDIC REFUGE

by Adelina Gutu

The proposal celebrates the condition of play and artificially created objects and situations that signal play. The project challenges the notion of static and conventional space. The building becomes the ‘Game’ thus it is open, flexible, and malleable to allow players to appropriate, act and interact, make and become part of the form itself.
The design project proposes a re-appropriation of an existing building located within the City of London. The proposal encompasses the refurbishment and extension of the existing structure in order to accommodate the new programme. The proposal will offer an intrepid re-imagined version of itself aided by the addition of kinetic elements such as rotating stairs, sliding walls and corridors that require user interaction in order to function.
The play of events unravels within struggle between excessive order and compulsive chaos while still providing a coherent and functional space for the production house. ‘Players’ and spectators are given to opportunity to experience a new reality and the carefully orchestrated sequence of events throughout the building.