Carma Masson

In 2020, the Coronavirus outbreak left many of us having to spend extended periods of time at home in lockdown, restricting the opportunity to socialise and play in ways that we are used to. Brought to you by three Manchester design studios: Playground, Ben Clark Design and Barney Ibbotson Illustration; PLAYHOUSE was a competition to encourage creatives from all backgrounds to design something to enable people to play at home during lockdown. We hoped that the project would provide a great opportunity to support and promote creatives during a difficult period, while bringing some much-needed light-relief through play. We saw designs from a range of age groups and backgrounds including both professional, students and amateur architects, interior designers, product designers, graphic designers and artists. 80 of the best submissions were showcased on our social media pages. The competition was free and open to creatives from all disciplines both in the UK and abroad. The brief was shared across platforms worldwide, and we received 142 entries in total from 40 different countries.

‘70 per cent of the world’s population will be living in urban areas by the middle of this century’ (Klanten and Hubner, 2010:2). As cities continue to get more populated, more and more strain will be put on cities to provide adequate facilities for their citizens, including those for play. Cities today are no longer playful: Modernism and Capitalism have together managed to destroy both the playful city itself and the playful attitude people once had ‘many persons feel that cities are no longer any good or any fun’ (Friedberg and Berkeley 1970:12). If we define playful as full of play, our cities are seen to provide very few opportunities to play. Those it does provide are restricted to certain ages of people, times, places and typologies; little is done to understand peoples play needs and changing wants. The city does not understand play. We believe that if the city understood play and its importance to the both the human and the city, it would aim to create a more playful city – a city ultimately more enjoyable for all.