ATpLay
Project Team: Can Vu Bui and Lane Rick
What if your walk to work was more fun? What if the streets of Atlanta were not just a way to get from here to there, but also a journey of discovery and interaction? What kinds of new experiences might you uncover if the benches and sculptures of city plazas and parks could also be climbed on, slid down, swinged on, and played with? This inquiry is the mission of ATpLay, to be tested with an ensemble of strange and beautiful play objects around Atlanta.
Through the deployment of peculiar play objects in various public spaces, people will be invited to encounter and respond to their environments in new ways. Through design and siting, each play object invites passersby to test new modes of interaction and social engagement, thus evolving a typical public space into a unique one, and making play more approachable, more a part of daily routines.
In many ways, the city is already a lively place, full of playful interactions and unexpected turns. It is a messy, bustling agglomeration of experiences, of people, of commerce and games. But with the demands of daily life, this is not always apparent. By propagating an infrastructure of play objects across the city, we seek to provide a counterpoint to predictable forays through the city and to manifest the excitement and discovery inherent in Atlanta’s multifaceted cityscape.