The architecture of play

Abstract

Client dissatisfaction is greatly influenced by events in the collaborative process with the architect that have subsequently not fully catered for the client's requisite needs. This has made many resolve to suffer remedial changes in order to correct issues that were not fully satisfied in the design stage. These intrusions in the architect's domain challenge the viability of the profession and question a client's potential for creating architecture. This dissertation attempts to identify how such intrusions occur despite attempts by the professional to prevent them and therefore proposes that architects utilise the creative potential clients possess, by allowing them to actively and tangibly participate in the creation of their space. By identifying the link and influences of creativity and play in adults and subsequently, the causes for their impoverishment, one is able to relate these characteristics to the ability people have to creatively problem-solve. The objective of this dissertation was therefore to obtain a clear understanding that under the right conditions, the incorporation of play in architecture, if correctly utilised and structured by architects, can allow the users the means to physically and playfully manipulate their environment and in the process discover endless possibilities for current and future circumstances. The illustrated examples together with the practical experiment all reveal the main flaws of flexible environments, as well as unveiling reasons for the failure or potential success of playful architecture in modern times.