Project Overview

The Play PodTM originated through a collaboration between two leaders in design thinking and placemaking, Hoyne and Scott Carver. They recognised that Sydney, like any metropolis, has many under-utilised, ugly or unsafe vacant spaces dotted around the city. They asked, “how can these spots be put to better use for the community?”. From this, the Play Pod was born, making its debut at the Sydney Design Festival. Flexible and portable, the Play Pod is so much more than the sum of its sides. Multifaceted and engaging, its modular design can be manipulated for a variety of uses creating new spaces for experiences to unfold. A play area for kids. A space to unwind. A library. A classroom. A cinema. A stage… how you use it is up to you.

Organisation

Hoyne in collaboration with Scott Carver

Project Brief

The Sydney Design Festival is an annual contemporary design festival that aims to make design accessible and engaging to new audiences, tackle design challenges and address the future of design.

This year creatives were asked to respond to the theme ‘Call to Action’. In the context of the festival we saw action as being purpose and movement that is both deliberate and forward-thinking. We also saw that design has a role to play in an ever-changing world and has the potential to solve complex global problems.

Having established this, we recognised that Sydney, like any metropolis, has many under-utilised, ugly or unsafe vacant spaces dotted around the city. This led us to ask ourselves – what is a living space? How can these city spots be better utilised to engage communities?

Project Innovation/Need

With a collective passion for places and great placemaking Hoyne worked in collaboration with Scott Carver Architects to create The Play Pod, a life-sized ‘Rubik’s Cube’ of outdoor activation for all ages to enjoy.

Designed as a solution to activate vacant spaces and act as a magnet for people, the Play Pod is a modular, adaptable structure that can be manipulated to suit the needs of users and easily relocated. And while it’s all fun and games on the surface, this is play with purpose. With the ability to be placed anywhere and support a diversity of activities and activations, the Play Pod is providing a solution to increase the social value of space, by providing a platform for use, day and night.

Over the course of the 10-day design festival a series of activities and events were curated for the Play Pod to activate it at key points throughout the day. These activities were designed to engage a diversity of audiences – children and parents; students; and adults.

Morning sessions were designed for the under fives. The Play Pod opened up to book-lined shelves and an area that invited kids to participate in book swaps, story time and arts and crafts. At lunchtime, it became a platform of inspiration for students, with interactive sessions and talks from academics at UTS and professionals within the design industry. After dark, we pressed play to open up Sydney’s smallest cinema.

Design Challenge

The structure of the Play Pod had to be easy to reconfigure for the different activations. So the design used peg board and elements that could be plugged into the structure to instantly transform the space. The small cube seats were also designed to be multipurpose and could be used as tables, signage or shelves.

The structure itself had to be light and easy to use, so that one or two people could open and close it. It also had to be entirely self contained, and have space to store the different accessories needed for each activation.

Although this was a prototype product it needed to look and feel like a well considered object, not just something temporary. The Pod was covered in a polished cladding that absorbed and reflected the activity of it’s urban location, was durable and looked eye-catching and professional.

Identification of The Play Pod on site was also a major consideration. The Pod was located in an underdeveloped, dark space and needed to be able to establish itself in the landscape, day and night. We printed a fluorescent pink flooring that that rooted the Pod in the surrounding space. At night we needed a quick plug and play solution that didn’t involve a complex lighting system, so we created a simple yet effective light box to attract visitors.

The final challenge was to activate the Pod, as without activation, it is little more than a box.

Sustainability

The Play Pod provided over 350 visitors with free events over the course of the Sydney Design Festival, successfully increased community interaction and engaged a diversity of audiences – children and parents; students; and adults.
The Play Pod has since received a great amount of interest from government bodies and developers, looking for a way to activate spaces in their city or to draw visitors to a new development, precinct or suburb. After the festival Hoyne was approached by UTS, who requested to re-use the Play Pod as part of the library services, utilising it as a Learning Pod to engage students.