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Text description provided by the architects. Children from Prague now have one more reason to play outside: among the apartment blocks stands the circular Nami Play Pavilion – an experimental playground full of free elements. Created as one of the installations for the Prague Landscape Festival, its goal is not only to expand play options for local residents but also to spark discussion about the current state of children’s play in the city. ‘Today’s playgrounds are standardized and composed just of colorful, fixed equipment on a rubber surface. We have nothing against swings, but we believe children deserve a bit more, both functionally and aesthetically,’ says Eduard Herrmann, one of the duo behind Nami ñami studio, the creators of the project.
Few Rules and Many Free Elements – Eduard and his wife Klára Koldová have been focusing on the topic of play in the city for a long time, so they decided to make their installation for the festival interactive and complemented it with an informational part (which envelops the entire pavilion). While children play, their adult caregivers have the opportunity to learn more about play, specifically free play. In fact, one of the panels asks adults to refrain from intervening too much in children’s play and avoid giving unsolicited advice and help.
“Free play is based on giving children space to express themselves and make decisions as they see fit. It sounds simple, but unfortunately, today’s children constantly have their parents behind them, always advising them, or directly forbidding or commanding them. How are children supposed to learn to recognize their wishes and needs if they always have to listen to someone?” says Klára. A quality play environment offers enough opportunities to develop various types of play and is not one-sided. Today’s typical playgrounds with a swing and a slide do not offer much for developing children’s creativity, especially when they are all almost identical. The Nami Play Pavilion primarily works with the theory of loose parts – objects that children can manipulate, move, organize, and use to change their immediate surroundings and engage in imaginative play.
The floor of the pavilion is covered with fine sand, which provides fun for even the youngest visitors. For further play, various open-ended elements can be used – materials that do not have a clear purpose, such as colorful fabrics, a collection of stones, large plastic pipes, or ropes. And because the pavilion is also an art installation, it features custom-designed and handmade quirky sand tools made from recycled plastic and a minimalist oversized wooden construction set. The pavilion’s structure is made from spruce wood treated only with natural oils. Its dimensions are based on a concrete circular wall that has stood abandoned on the site for years. Around it are built-in benches, hiding spots, storage spaces, drawing boards, climbing ropes, ladders, and stages, all made of wood in a simple form.
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