Veljko Dinic - Urban Play

Urban Play - Veljko Dinic -

DIA 2016 / Professor Joris Fach assistant Ignacio Boscolo 2nd advisor Prof. Roger Bundschuh

CONTENT 5

LUXURY by Joris Fach

7

INTRODUCTION TO PLAY

8

NOTION OF LUXURY

14

PLAYFUL IMPULSES IN ADULTS

16

PSYCHOLOGY BEHIND ADULT‘S BEHAVIOUR

24

CRITIQUE OF EVERYDAY LIFE

32

PLAY

47

LOCATION

58

SLAVIJA

70

URBAN PLAY

76

CONCEPT

82

PROGRAMM

89

DRAWINGS

108

REFERENCES

LUXURY

by Joris Fach

Mankind’s chosen few always lived in luxury. More importantly for architecture, luxury has continuously spawned many of its finest beacons we still admire today. Renaissance palaces, grand hotels and many modernist villas are all inconceivable without an unsettling lust for representational extravagance.

However, luxury’s more typical symptoms are blunt excess and exorbitance that all too often result in products of utter tastelessness. Those built exaggerations are not set apart by distinguished aesthetic, but rather mundane parameters: sheer size, stunning views, astronomical building costs, or dozens of superfluous bathrooms.

However tasteless, luxurious edifices are almost always exclusive, providing distinguished classes with a protected environment just for themselves. Security and separation are valued qualities, especially in dense urban environments and have become much more sophisticated than, say, standard gated communities. Finally, luxury sells. Especially in Western cities, luxurious developments generate much higher margins, sell faster and increase in value more rapidly than standard property.

Beyond moral judgments, this studio will calibrate specific definitions of luxury in relation to a self-chosen context. How does contemporary luxury materialize and comply with contemporary urban ways of life? What is the right balance between comfort, convenience, and distinction? Instead of indulging in comprehensive excess, what are more subtle, more focused ways of pronounced luxury? How can we use the relative freedom from reason and economy to architecture’s advantage?

5

INTRODUCTION A man carries elements of play inside himself from the very beginning. More importantly for architecture as a direct feature of civilisational development, “Humanity has advanced, when it has advanced, not because it has been sober, responsible, and cautious, but because it has been playful, rebellious, and immature”-Tom Robbins. As Johan Huizinga would assert, play is older than culture and man was playing before he has become civilized. He went so far to say that play has been playing a central role in developing of human culture.1 In adulthood, however, Play has been repressed. It becomes purposeless in people’s minds.

This phenomenon is especially strong in capitalistic societies of today in which man has more and more responsibilities, both at home and at work. Studies had shown that it is workload and issues related to other “have to do things” that are main causes of stress.

I believe that these playful impulses that remained deep inside adults could be helpful in dealing with challenges imposed by everyday life. This role could be strengthened to lower stress levels, especially in commuter situations that usually just waste their time.

A concept of mine tends to make these responsibilities easier to deal with and to bring more joy and fun into the life, which will inevitably result in more ideas and therefore in better tomorrow, that is the one of the main reasons for our existence.

I see my project as a natural tool for civilisational prosperity that could be established as a strategy for generations to come. Moreover, I see it as a valve from routines of finishing daily errands and escaping to another world, heterotopic, imaginational and perfect one.

Huizinga, Johan. Homo Ludens. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1949

1

7

NOTION OF LUXURY To underline connection between luxury and play as my topic and how had I chosen Play in the realm of luxury, I had at first to define and clarify to myself a contemporary meaning of the notion luxury and to understand how the meaning of luxury was changing through the time.

8

Samuel Johnson

“Every state of society is as luxurious as it can be. Men always take the best they can get”

Elisabeth Jane Howard

“It is not a luxury if you can‘t do without it”

Charles de Montesquieu

“Luxury ruins republics; poverty, monarchies”

Manolo Blahnik

“The greatest luxury is being free”

Charlie Chaplin

“The saddest thing I can imagine is to get used to luxury”

Rem Koolhaas

“Not many architects have the luxury to reject significant things”

9

ORIGINS Latin: luxuria (rankness); luxus (excess, extravagance) Old French: luxurie, luxure Middle English: denoting lechery Archaic: a. Lust ( strong sexual desire) b. lasciviousness (arousing sexual desire, inclined to lustfulness), c. lechery (excessive or offensive sexual desire)

early 14th century mid 14th century late 14th century 17th century 1630 1704 1780 1916

10

sexual intercourse lasciviousness, sinful self- indulgence sensual pleasure lost its pejorative taint habit of indulgence in what is choice or costly that of sumptuous surroundings that of something enjoyable or comfortable beyond life’s necessities in adjective form

LASCIVIOUSNESS

as the earliest meaning of the notion luxury

Gustav Klimt, 1901, The part from Klimt’s „Beethoven Frieze“, wall painting, Secession Building, Vienna, Austria

11

LUXURY TODAY 1 - Something that is expensive and not necessary 2 - An inessential, desirable item which is expensive or difficult to obtain 3 - A pleasure obtained only rarely synonyms: sumptuousness, richness, costliness, grandeur, grandness, splendour, magnificence, lavishness, bliss, blessing, benefit, advantage, ease, satisfaction, indulgence, extravagance, extra, non-essential, refinement, joy, delight... expressions: lap of luxury, bed of roses, milk and honey

Luxury is something unnecessary, hard to get and desirable

12

LUXURY OF PLAY However, in adults’ minds play is purposeless and not profitable activity, which points out its unnecessity. This does not mean it is undesirable! In general, everybody prefers “want to do” activities more than “has to do” activities that are dominant in adulthood. In the same time, it becomes more and more difficult to find empty spaces in organizers full of responsibilities, not alone for playful actions.

Thus, play as self-motivated and stimulated activity is desirable, unnecessary in adults‘ minds and hard to obtain by having a lot of responsibilities as we grow up.

play is

necessity

luxury

13

PLAYFUL IMPULSES IN ADULTS as my area of interest

Besides being homo Faber (man maker), man is primarily homo Ludens (man player). In eponymous book “Homo Ludens�, Johan Huizinga explains playful behavior in adults as inevitable part of civilisational and cultural development. Therefore, my goal is to transform the busiest spaces characteristical for capitalistic societies into enjoyable ones. Even more, the goal is to bring fun in daily routines that are usually only forced activities.

14

wonderland

PSYCHOLOGY BEHIND ADULT‘S BEHAVIOUR „Education, for most people, means trying to lead the child to resemble the typical adult of his society...But for me, education means making creators...You have to make inventors, innovators, not conformists“ - Jean Piaget

Depending on the cultural and historical context, being an adult has had considering different age groups. At first, caused by survival aspect of life, boys and girls were becoming adults at the very young age according to today‘s practice. Then, they were becoming responsibilities of taking care of family much earlier. Today, however, the reason why adults are adults is pretty much the same as before, getting responsibilities. The difference is, today those responsibilities most often come later.

16

when a child becomes an adult?

STEREOTYPE “When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy.’

They told me I did’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.”John Lennon

Behavior of adults come from their obligations and social connections. They do not only have responsibilities of taking care about themselves and their famillies but also about the way they act and communicate with others. Society always sets the norms of behavior for adults. Most people are usualy one person at home and another one in a group of people. Stereotypical behavior of adults are limiting and preventing them of being what they truly are.

In a work-obsessed society, play is often ridiculed unless one is in a creative field. It brings you no money, it is totally purposeless. But play is not just for kids. In fact, our right hemisphere can grow throughout life and play is one of the best ways to grow it! Systems governed by the right hemisphere include self-regulation of various kinds and intersubjective responsiveness (emotional presence with others). These are fundamental to happiness and compassionate morality.

18

I am an adult now!

I have to ignore it!

expected behaviour

GROWING UP “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” - George Bernard Shaw Children’s only problem is parents, they think they are limited by elders. When they grow up they will have all freedom of the world. What a delusion it is!? We understand it to late.

As more we get know the world, more concern we will be. Worry about failure, rejection, not to be ridiculed, loneliness, disappointment, pain, the unknown, losing freedom and much more, just preventing us to be what we are and takes that inner kid that everyone has, from us.

20

age

<2

3-6

7 - 18

worries

-

-

grades

19 - 24

25 - 39

40-63

64<

career

work | family

health | family

grandchildren

21

INDEPENDANCE Once a child, now an adult, it has to take care about himself. Once he leaves a safe nest, he finds himself vulnerable in the space of everyday life. In that space are no parents anymore to pay bills for him, to cook for him, to clean for him, etc.

parental care

independency â&#x20AC;&#x153;freedomâ&#x20AC;?

learning school exploring

play home

imagining park creating

22

responsibility escaping

self responsibility

economic

responsibility for others

health

food

ironing

cleaning

saving

bills

job security

work pressure

family

parents

bureaucracy

food

social politness

acting roles

politics

23

CRITIQUE OF EVERYDAY LIFE “In the realm of necessity, human needs became degraded. They represented the sad necessities of everyday life’. People had to eat, drink, find clothes... and so they had to work. But people whose only reason for working is to keep body and soul together have neither the time nor the inclination for anything else. So they just keep on working, and their lives are spent just staying alive. This, in a nutshell, has been the philosophy of everyday life - and it still is.” 2

24

Lefebvre, Henri. Critique of Everyday Life. London: Verso, 1991

2

daily responsibilities

weight of responsibilities

CYCLE OF DAILY ROUTINES Typical day of a working man in contemporary societies is based on one pattern which is repeating. These routines make their lives less unpredictable. There are no surprises except getting fired. Without any jumps from daily habits and any fellings of life, life itself becomes sensless.

zz

z

27

REASONS OF STRESS Man has to work in order to survive. Also without work man is not fulfilled. But as for everything in this life, a balance should be established. Numerous studies show that work stress is far and away the major source of stress for adults.

1 2 3 4

work juggling work-personal lives lack of job security people issues

3 20%

4 28%

28

2 6%

1 46%

TRANSPORTATION In order to deal with all daily responsibilities you simply have to use transportation, especially in bigger cities. It is inevitable and crucial part in running all things that you have to.

Commuters are the ones who are traveling from home to work and other way around, finishing other errands in between. I am focusing on them because they spend a lot of energy and time by doing daily jobs. This could be exhausting, stressful and ultimately can lead to general dissatisfaction and inactivity.

Energy: It is often fatiguing to travel from one place to another for whole day only because you have to finish the things that are obligatory for your job, house, family, and so forth.

Stress: In bigger cities where transportation is often overcrowded, congested and in bad shape people are more likely to be nervous, angry and unstable - as an example is movie â&#x20AC;&#x153;Falling downâ&#x20AC;? where a man go berserk because of the traffic.

Inactivity: ultimately, after all things done, you have no time for yourself. You are tired to see your friends, let alone to do some sport activities.

Dissatisfaction: low salary, job insecurity, social problems and everything aforementioned cause lethargy, melancholy and unhappiness.

home

work

29

escaping

PLAY â&#x20AC;&#x153;...man only plays when in the full meaning of the word he is a man, and he is only completely a man when he plays.â&#x20AC;? Play is the principal expression of the human spirit.

32

J.C. Friedrich Von Schiller. On the Aesthetic Education of Man. 15th letter.

Plato

Herodotus

“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation”

“If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it”

Robert Altman

“To play it safe is not to play”

Albert Einstein

“Play is the highest form of research”

John Cleese

Stuart Brown

“If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play”

“It’s all around us, yet goes mostly unnoticed or unappreciated until it is missing.”

33

ORIGINS Old English: plegian (exercise) Old English: plega (brisk movement) Middle Dutch: pleien (leap for joy, dance) Archaic: sword play, game, sport Obsolete: sexual intercourse

play has been here since the very beggining

DEFFINITION OF PLAY TODAY engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose amuse oneself by engaging in imaginative pretence take part in a sport represent a character in a theatrical performance or a film perform on a musical instrument synonyms: amuse oneself, entertain oneself, enjoy oneself, have fun, have a good time, relax, rest, be at leisure, occupy oneself, divert oneself, play games, participate in, engage in, be involved in, join in, compete in, pretend to be, give the appearance of, assume/affect the role of, masquerade as, pose as, make out...

35

ADULTS ENGAGING IN CHILDRENâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;S GAMES Even in 16th century, when this painting was painted, people were thinking about having fun next to daily responsibilities. Importance of this painting is seen in changing children with adults and allowing them the freedom of playing.

This painting represents an artistic kind of a list of around 80 differente games. Interesting fact is that almost everybody is playing outside, by which the importance of openness is pointed out. Squares and streets as urbanistic features of meeting the other people, are presented in this painting as playgrounds, which is trully the essence of themselves.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1560, Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s Games, Oil on panel, 118cm x 161cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria

FORMS OF PLAY There is no clear definition of play in adulthood. In order to make it clearer I had to take a look for a second on children and how they play.

Playing on your own or with the others depends on situation, time and the mood. Independent game stimulates your imagination. You play for hours inventing new worlds where you are the main character. Group game is actually a mixture of more independent ones. The imaginations permeate with each other and not necessarily compete.

independent

group

37

TYPES OF PLAY 1 2 3

Body play | movement, active body, sports, physical activities, playing outside Object play | manipulating with physical elements that intrigue us Creative play | playing music, drawing, painting, crafting, freedom of doing stuff

4

Imaginative play | different types of role-play, gives you freedom to imagine your own world.

This type could be recognized in all the other ones. Humans are in the constant state of imagining. Even in everyday life, by doing some small things we could imagine great ones.

As a conclusion, we can assert that play by itself gives us freedom of our imagination, conscious or unconscious will of a mind and exploratory limits of bodies.

1

2

3

38

4

BENEFITS OF PLAY Young children often learn best when they are playing and that principle applies to adults, as well. Play for an adult is critical in their stressful go-go-go lives. Play has been shown to release endorphins, improve brain functionality, and stimulates creativity. And it can even help to keep us young and feel energetic. Studies show that play improves memory and stimulates the growth of the cerebral cortex. Play has also been shown to trigger the secretion of BDNF, a substance essential for the growth of brain cells.

mental According to Mental Health Canada (MHC), engaging in intellectually stimulating activities can lower the risk of developing dementia. Apparently these activities trigger brain stimulation, resulting in an increase of cognitive reserves and possibly the ability to contend with or compensate for changes linked with dementia. Play also takes the mind off stressors, giving the body a chance to restore itself.

physical Physical activity increases energy, strengthens the heart, stimulates endorphins, burns off the hormones, sugars, and fats released in the bloodstream as a result of stress; and improves sleep.

39

EXAMPLES OF PLAYGROUNDS FOR ADULTS The adult does not play as he used to because it is â&#x20AC;&#x153;purposelessâ&#x20AC;? according to aforementioned responsibilities. He is preoccupied by all things that he has to do. He finds play not important in his goals.

The closest to play in adulthood are holidays (beach - reading, sunbathing on a water mattress, swimming, dancing in a restaurant, sightseeing; mountain - snow, skiing, hiking, panoramas, rafting, paragliding, etc.) on annual basis and recreation (jogging, swimming, football, yoga, walking, etc. ) on a daily one. However, even those are done seldom or never.

The way adults play is much more settled, it has some limitations by age, health, individual possibilities, shamefulness, openness, etc.

40

1

The Flederhaus - hammock public house, Vienna, Austria

5

Superkilen - Copenhagen, Denmark

2

Giant ball pool - London, United Kingdom

6

Macombs Dam Park - Bronx, NY, USA

3

Battle Axe Throwing League - Toronto, Canada

7

Go Ape - Berkshire, United Kingdom

4

Mount Mitte - Berlin, Germany

8

Tropical Island - Berlin, Germany

41

THE WAY I DO IT I try to play whenever I can. In order to make my life happier I prefer to involve fun not only between sirious obligations but also in them. Of course, sometimes according to situation this is very hard to obtain and that is one of the reasons why it is a luxury.

lalaaalaa...

WC waking up - streching

on the way to work or University

42

starting day with a song

pen spin

pen nibble

seesaw on a chair

basketball

pushing chair

keys spin

43

whistling

street football

jumping in a bunch of leaves

44

throwing a chestnut

the best fun with friends at swimming pool

hopscotch

street dance with my girlfriend

I see trees of green, red roses too, I see them bloom for me and you And I think to myself what a wonderful world...

bed jumping

ďŹ nishing day with a song

45

LOCATION My greater goal is to make an example of how could we make contemporary life easier with more fun and joy. For the reason of the study I will focus at one specific site which at this point has problems relevant to lethargy caused by responsibilities and daily routines.

To find a perfect location, I was searching for a place with huge problems of work, wages, which lead to stress, dissatisfaction, inactivity, etc.

47

AVERAGE WAGE in European countries Serbia is one of the leading countries by the lowest salaries in Europe. Individuals are overburdened by thoughts of how to feed their families, how to earn money, etc.

250> 250-500 500-700 700-1000 1000-2000 2000-3000 3000<

48

DISSATISFACTION in European countries Therefore, Serbia is convincingly on the top of dissatisfaction ladder in Europe with more than half of dissatisfied grown population.

Serbia Bulgaria Portugal Hungary Cyprus Greece Croatia Estonia Latvia Lithuania Czech Republic Spain Italy Slovakia Slovenia Poland United Kingdom Malta Germany France Romania Ireland Luxemburg Austria Denmark Belgium Norway Iceland Sweden Netherlands Switzerland Finland

100% means everybody is dissatisfied

0

50%

49

INACTIVITY in European countries This dissatisfaction leads to inactive society, where once again Serbia is the least active country after Malta in Europe.

On the question why are they not jogging or working out, the answer that adults give is almost the same every time: â&#x20AC;&#x153;I have no time for such a thingâ&#x20AC;?. This is obviously great luxury for a majority.

Malta Serbia United Kingdom Turkey Cyprus Italy Ireland Portugal Spain Sweden Norway Belgium Romania Finland Denmark Austria Bosnia and Herzegovina France Slovenia Germany Poland Bulgaria Hungary Czech Republic Croatia Lithuania Georgia Slovakia Russian Federation Ukraine Netherlands Estonia Greece

0% means nobody is inactive 100% means everybody is inactive

0

50

20

40

60%

WATCHING TV INDEX in European countries Commong indicator of lazyness and inactivity is TV consumption. Serbia is once again on the top of the world in watching television. After long day at work people do not have so much energy for going out, making new friends or doing sport. Therefore, they find consolation in watching TV.

Saudi Arabia Croatia Romania Lithuania Serbia USA Hungary Portugal Philippines Kuwait UAE New Zealand Poland Greece Azerbaijan Indonesia Peru Ecuador France Germany

min 409 377 340 325 300 300 295 294 288 284 281 270 264 256 253 251 241 240 240 238 per day

Diagram shows spent minutes on TV per day

51

QUALITY OF LIFE in European countries Quality of Life Index (higher is better) is an estimation of overall quality of life by using empirical formula which takes into account purchasing power index, pollution index, house price to income ratio, cost of living index, safety index, health care index, traffic commute time index and climate index.

11.38 - worst

11.38 - worst

288.36 - best

288.36 - best

Belgrade

52

CENTRALISATION As a capital of Serbia, Belgrade has the most responsibilities of all cities. Everything is in Belgrade, good and bad. One-quarter of the total population of Serbia lives in Belgrade. This even tends to be worst, because each year new 50.000 people move to Belgrade with a dream of finding a job.

Serbia = 7.186.862 Belgrade > 2.000.000

>1/4 of population lives in Belgrade

50.000 people each year

53

INNER CITY of Belgrade To focus into Belgrade in order to find a site, I made a question: where do people who are finishing â&#x20AC;&#x153;responsibilitiesâ&#x20AC;? meet at one place in urban space? The biggest number of people works in Belgrade city centre. Three out of four people live in the inner city.

outer city > 500.000 inner city > 1.500.000

3/4 of population lives in inner city

54

COMMUTING of population To make it even worst, one out of four of the total population of Belgrade works in city centre itself. The majority of population pass through it during the day in order to complete all daily errands.

outer city > 611.000 city center > 164.173

1/4 of population works in city center

55

POSSIBLE SITES A method of focusing on a specific site was to mark the most important transportation points in the city center and to evaluate their quality of infrastructure and quantity of vehicles and people going through.

I have chosen Slavija Square because it is a place where people go only because of transportation. Unlike other possible locations, it is used by private transportation as well. It represents the heart of Belgradeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s transport system in general and it is almost inevitable in traveling from one side of the city to the another.

Almost nobody goes there with a goal of being there although it is a place where daily pass around 80.000 vehicles of public transport (buses, trams, trolleybuses not taking in consideration private cars).

It had has been a topic of hundreds of discussions and more than 10 competitions, but still it is left to its own.

roundabout - choosen location public transport hubs main traffic paths

4

5

6

3

2

1

0

56

1km 0

1km

1

Slavija square - choosen location main transport knot in the city

4

„Zeleni venac“ - public transport hub the biggest market in the city

2

Bircaninova street - public transport hub Saint Sava Temple and Clinical Center

5

French street - Public transport hub next to Republic Square - main square in the city

3

Sava‘s Square - public transport hub public transport hub next to the main train station

6

Youth stadium - Public transport hub Students‘ dormitory and the Theological Faculty

57

SLAVIJA HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF SLAVIJA

position of Slavija square

<1880

This place was still a large pool on the eastern outskirts of the city, where the inhabitants of Belgrade were hunting wild ducks and boating on the pond.

1885

City is growing in opposite direction of the watterfront and Slavija starts to shape itsself.

1893

Everything had stardet with well-known Scottish businessman and Nazarene Francis Mackenzie, who bought a great piece of land above the present square and made lots for sale.

59

1900

It had become a meeting and gathering point for pedestrians although it has public transport using horses.

1918

Belgrade was growing toward southeast, therefore Slavija was becoming more and more spatial specifities and characteristics.

In this stage, Slavija is not anymore only meant for pedestrians but for electical trams as well.

1923

60

Main train station that has close relationship with Slavija was built.

1930

Slavija becomes more and more crowded place with both trams and cars that are in the pick of popularity. But still it is integrated type of a public space.

1936

Pedestrians are slowly losing comfort of using the square as a â&#x20AC;&#x17E;squareâ&#x20AC;&#x153;.

1939

The city is densifying, therefore movement through the city is becoming more and more complex with which Slavija gets more responsibilities and functions.

61

1942

1947 -1954

1961

During the WWII, Germans started investing into infrastructure that was of high importance for war vehicles.

After World War II, the new Communist government re-buried the remains of the leading Serbian Socialist Dimitrije Tucović at the central square plateau in 1947 and a bronze bust of Tucović was erected (in communist times the place was named Square of Dimitrije Tucović and after 2000 it went back to its old name “Slavija” (meaning “land of the Slavs”).

Since then, almost nothing has radicaly changed, except a little bit better quality of vehicles in public transportation.

Once upon a time meeting point has become ultimate mashine for channeling of people‘s movement.

62

NOW IT IS ALL ABOUT TRANSPORT No more people meet at Slavija with a goal of staying and have fun there as before. Sometimes a square in the full meaning of it, today a transportation utility. Hot asphalt, full parking lots, hurried, nervous and obviously exhausted people waiting for transport, sounds of sirens, swears, smells of burned fuel are now the main characteristics of this space.

It is now a place where people either wait or just pass by. It is a “black hole” of Belgrade city center; it is a heart of Belgrade’s transportation mobility and at the same time “empty”. Slavija lost its true characteristics of a square. In such an important point for a city, it is a pity not to take advantage of it.

go about your business

IMPORTANT KNOT in the city transportation network

,2

1,

31

22

,2

9

2,3,9,12 78,83

hub - 30,39,42,47,59

64

78,83

3 19,21,22,29 47 1,33 ,4 ,3 8, 9, 59 42 ,7 8 9,10,14

19

33,48

In a lack of underground transportation system, Belgrade is using buses, troleybuses and trams. At Slavija square all of them are present in great number of public lines, let alone cars.

In rush hours it leads to congestions that sometimes can take up to 20min from one to the other side of roundabout.

INTENSITY OF SLAVIJA

07:00 - 09:00 | rush hour

10 - 20

09:00 - 15:00 | work time

2-5

15:00 - 17:00 | rush hour

10 - 20

17:00 - 22:00 | time after work

22:00 - 07:00 | night time

2-5

approximate time needed to make a circle around Slavija

<2min

65

EXISTING GREEN AREAS...

Green areas in cities are maybe the only places where adults go for a relaxation or sport. Belgrade's green parks are mostly reserved for children.

Therefore, my project should be seen in one hand as a natural green continuity of the other parks.

1 2

Andricev venac - park Pioners Park

3 4

Tasmajdan Small Tasmajdan

5 6

Park of Cirilo and Metodije Park Manjez

7

Miticâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hole

8

Milutin Milankovicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s park

9

Saint Sava Temple park Cuburski park

10

0

66

0.5km

...AND THEIR CONDITION

cleanness

urban furniture

outside gym

joggin path

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

67

SIGNIFICANCE OF LOCATION How much is Slavija important to the city, could be seen in its surrounding. The city center is just there, main clinical center, main government buildings, the biggest temple on Balkan, schools and universities are all besieging Slavija square.

old town of city center Education Old Palace

Embassies streets The main Post OfďŹ ce Church of Saint Marko University complex Famous Kalenic Market

President residence

Ministry of Finance Ministry of Defence Yugoslavian Theater

National Bank of Serbia KBC - Area of main clinical center in Serbia University of Medicine Embassies Ministries

Saint Sava Temple National Library of Serbia

highway

68

0

0.5km

CURRENT SITUATION Since Slavija is now by itself only a functional urban tool it has huge space reserved for parkings. It is surrounded by buildings with no great significance of public areas. There is also one modest park that is even not used so much by inhabitants. The only used public spaces at Slavija are sidewalks, either for going from point A to point B or for waiting a bus.

However, it is great paradox that in such an importante position in the city, you have unused spaces. Usually, city center's all over the world are used to the maximum. It is great luxury to have just green areas let alone completely useless spaces.

streets + parkings + buildings

+ park = leftovers

69

URBAN PLAY Adults of today used to play on the streets of Belgrade as they were children. Before such an utilization of Belgrade's infrastructure, public spaces such as streets and squares were used for exactly meeting and interacting.

EXISTING PLAYGROUNDS FOR ADULTS Belgrade offers quite decent amount of places where adults could go and have fun doing sport, recreational or relaxation activities.

type gym football open gym adventure park karting swimming tennis paintball bicycle recreational park ice skating

price

season

20|month 35|hour free 10|hour 60|hour 4|hour 20|hour 15|hour free free 3|hour

w/s w/s s s s w/s w/s w/s s s w

position of Slavija square 72

0

1

3km

73

BUT... ...the problem is this inactivity that rules. Not so many people use Belgrad's offers either because of time, purposelessness, tiredness or money.

87%

13 1/3 do sports in Serbia

74

%

regularly

HOW TO MAKE PEOPLE REALIZE Those existing playgrounds are modest by themselves, therefore people do not even pay attention to them. By placing my project at the most congested roundabout I want to impose this playground and try to intrigue people to think about it.

Usually, you have to show something before people get comfortable to use it. Therefore, my intention is to slowly but surely make people get used to playfulness by imposing one example in front of them, where they can not avoid it. My project is both trying to show the importance and presence of play and at the same time call you to the same.

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CONCEPT As shown before, Slavija is used only for transport. There are no offers for being there and do something, meet or anything else. I believe that Slavija should regain characteristics of a square such as meeting and interacting with other people. Slavija should be a hybrid of two contradictional things, totally functional one on one hand and â&#x20AC;&#x17E;purposelessâ&#x20AC;&#x153; one on the other.

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place to go through and to

CONNECTING â&#x20AC;&#x17E;LOST ISLANDSâ&#x20AC;&#x153; My intention is to take advantage of aforementioned leftover spaces and combine them with the movement that is going on there. Making a kind of a bridge, that leads you to the black hole but does not let you touch the ground. You see everything from the above by entering this vacuum. Two worlds are present. Imagination one and the real one that are in collision.

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IMPOSING STRUCTURE Wall, structure that stands boldly above the street and saying I am here! You can not avoid it.

In the same time it makes us curious about it. We wonder what is behind that wall.

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curiosity

BEHIND BLACK HOLE You travel to the job which is in the city center. Space in front of you is getting more and more chaotic and denser. People around you seem to be busier and in a hurry. While you are going to the crater of the city, you wish you are traveling in the opposite direction?! The city is sucking you in like a vacuum. And all of a sudden, immediately after you reached the border of bustle, the gravity of black hole is taking you behind this â&#x20AC;&#x17E;event horizonâ&#x20AC;&#x153;. Now you can see. Time does not exist in this energy field. You can perceive the everyday life from another perspective.

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PROGRAMM Heterotopian spaces are two opposite, contradictory spaces. In the pick of city bustle, I placed water. The sound of water is relaxing and opposing to the sound of cars and sirens. Therefore, swimming pool is the playground that is perfect for this site! It makes us realize the difference between everyday life and playful one much easier.

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heterotopia

jumping

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swimming

leisurely ďŹ&#x201A;oating

stairs

lockers changing rooms

entrance

showers

sauna

programm diagram

toilets

1 old building 2 column 3 vertical communication 4 swimming poolâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s trough 5 water volume 6 glass beams 7 glass cover 8 diving boards 9 lost island

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leisurely floating

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1 entrance 2 foyer 3 changing room - women 4 changing room - men 5 lockers 6 showers 7 toilets 8 washing feet and hands 9 stairs

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10 sauna 1 11 sauna 2 12 sauna 3 13 bar 14 garden 15 office 16 hall 17 toilets - staff 18 toilets - visitors

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foundation 1:50 102 GSEducationalVersion

bridge 103

you need me 104

playground 105

revelation 106

REFERENCES Books: Huizinga, Johan. Homo Ludens. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1949 Lefebvre, Henri. Critique of Everyday Life. London: Verso, 1991 J.C. Friedrich Von Schiller. On the Aesthetic Education of Man. 15th letter.

Caillois, Roger. Man, Play and Games. First Illinois Paperback, 2001 Essays: Foucault, Michael. Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias - From: Architecture /Mouvement/ Continuité. October, 1984; (“Des Espace Autres,” March 1967) Andreotti, Libero. Architecture and Play - available from: http://portfolio.newschool.edu/ Definitions: Luxiry - available from: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/luxury Play - available from: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/play http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/luxury Images: Figure 1: Gustav Klimt, 1901, The part from Klimt’s „Beethoven Frieze“, wall painting, Secession Building, Vienna, Austria. Available from: http://oatleyacademy.com/ gustav-klimt-drawings/ Figure 2: Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1560, Children‘s Games, Oil on panel, 118cm x 161cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria. Availble from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:Children.jpg Quotes: http://www.brainyquote.com/ https://en.wikiquote.org/

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Statistics: Stress - http:http: //www.stress.org/workplace-stress/ Average wage - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_average_wage Dissatisfaction - 5 http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do Inactivity - http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/jul/18/physical-inactivity-country-laziest Watching TV - http://qz.com/417600/americans-watch-five-hours-of-tv-each-day-but-these-countries-are-even-worse/ Quality of life - http://www.numbeo.com/quality-of-life/rankings_current.jsp Population of Serbia - http://serbia-locations.rs/municipalities-srb/ and http://www.blic.rs/ vesti/beograd/kao-kosnica-u-beograd-se-godisnje-doseli-50000-ljudi/58zelv3 Other helpful Internet sites: Institute of Play - http://www.instituteofplay.org/ 8 Childish Ways To Have Fun As A Boring Adult - http://www.xojane.com/fun/ways-tohave-fun-as-a-boring-adult The Benefits of Play for Adults - http://www.helpguide.org/articles/emotional-health/ benefits-of-play-for-adults.htm Jared Keller. The Psychological Case for Adult Play Time - https://psmag.com/the-psychological-case-for-adult-play-time-701755406fee#.ds4m1vy0w The Importance of Play for Adults - http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2012/11/15/ the-importance-of-play-for-adults/

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Dessau International Architecture School Anhalt University Department 3 Š 2016