Play

During the 20th century, access to free time was democratised in many places across Europe. As welfare states matured, the five-day workweek became increasingly commonplace across the continent. This propelled the construction of myriads of places where people could spend their newly acquired free time. From the mid-20th century, thousands of urban projects were realised across Europe that sought to provide collective spaces where post-war societies could ‘play’. These included cultural centres, swimming pools, playgrounds, theatres, libraries, etc.

During this course, we will examine historical approaches to ‘play’ in the city, and consider how ‘play’ could be used as a vehicle to address urban challenges. Our site is on Antwerp’s Left Bank, an area of the city that was developed during the second half of the 20th century and that is today promoted by the city of Antwerp as an area for leisure and ‘play’.

Students will design a space or structure that offers a place for ‘play’. Emphasis in the design will be placed not only on spatial organisation and material expression, but also on user engagement. The final design will be presented in the form of a short story graphic novel that shows a day in the life of the newly design ‘play’ space (through the 3 protagonists).

Group presentations of the assigned readings: 10%

Will be assessed on:

• Capacity to synthetize the argument of the text

• Structure and clarity of the slides

• Clarity and conciseness of the oral presentation

Group presentations and submission of analysis of the reference projects: 20%

Will be assessed on:

• Depth of the understanding/analysis of the assigned reference projects

• Graphic quality of the produced drawings

• Clarity and conciseness of the oral presentation

Final design (explained/explored through a graphic novel short story): 60%

Will be assessed on:

• The critical position that is formulated regarding the brief

• The urban and architectural merits of the project

• The conceptual and aesthetic quality of graphic novel

• The consistency and coherence of the narrative (short story) elaborated within the graphic novel

Repair and retake

The design project is awarded a grade that is a whole or half number between 1.0 and 10.0. Students pass the course with a 6.0 or higher. With a grade below 6.0: students who presented assessable work during the course are allowed to do a repair to change the grade into a ‘pass’. The repair is unsupervised and needs to be completed within 2 weeks after the end of the course. When the repair is unsuccessful, the student needs to follow the entire course again.