A range of colours, patterns and forms animate this sports and play area in Tianjin, China, designed by international studio Ballistic Architecture Machine to “rethink the role of parks in dense cities”.
Named Tianjin 4A Sports Park, the project eschews the common idea of a park as an open green space and offers locals in Tianjin a densely packed and multipurpose activity area.
According to Ballistic Architecture Machine (BAM), the design draws on the historic plan of the ancient town of Yixing, which previously occupied the site but was relocated during the construction of China’s Grand Canal.
“We were initially very taken with the site history, which included a temple and small town called Yixing town,” explained the studio’s co-founder Daniel Gass.
“While this historical town was destroyed, BAM utilises the urban plan of the original Yixing as a palimpsest, resurfacing the lost history and giving it back to the community in a contemporary form,” he continued.
“People tend to think of parks and public spaces in terms of green spaces and open lawns, but the reality is that people are in desperate need of quality recreational spaces [that] rethink the role of parks in dense cities and reimagine our relationship with nature.”
Tianjin 4A Sports Park is divided into four quadrants, each with different functions. At its centre is a large plaza marked by a bright yellow tower, which doubles as a steam exhaust for a reservoir of hot water underground.
To the east is the food quadrant, which contains a beer garden and outdoor eating areas. It sits alongside the play quadrant, where curved and contoured playground areas, sandpits and fountains are organised around a bright yellow canopy.
The maze quadrant sits to the west and comprises four different zones – the hedge maze, earth maze, wood maze and water maze. BAM designed these to evoke the winding streets of the ancient Yixing town.
Finally, the sports quadrant features a small bike track and three pitches of various sizes, each of which has been finished with a different bright geometric design.
This bold use of colour and pattern continues throughout Tianjin 4A Sports Park, not only in each quadrant but also in the striped grey and white paved areas between them and a winding red path that leads through the surrounding trees.
“Layering the design further are patterns of trees, plants, street furniture, and lights, playfully marking various activity zones with stripes, colours, and geometric elements,” explains Gass.
“[It is] a thought-provoking play with the boundaries of landscape, architecture, and the contemporary city,” he added.
BAM was founded by Gass, Allison Dailey and Jacob Walker in 2007 with offices in Beijing and New York City.
Other colourful playground spaces in China include a series of converted 1970s warehouses in Beijing by We Architech Anonymous and a “folding landform” in Changzhou by Atelier Scale.
The photography is by Wu Qingshan.
