Urban euphoria
Description
Successful cities provide public open spaces that encourage spontaneous, social interactions to connect various individuals. Without such gathering spaces, cities risk developing a culture of independent, specialized individuals rather than a culture of codependent, associative identities. As the population and the activities of cities continue to grow, recreational spaces also become important in providing spaces for physical and mental recuperation. Conventional play spaces in cities today provide generic playground equipments targeted toward specific activities or user groups, neglecting the needs of the wider population. By understanding the elements of play and the relationship between humans and their urban environment, places of recuperation can be introduced into typologies of everyday routines. Most cities define growth in quantitative measures of population, production, wealth, unemployment, etc., giving less attention to the enjoyable qualities of urban living. By prioritizing elements of play throughout recreational spaces, cities can provide places of relief from busy movements and seek to encourage people to interact with their surroundings. With focus on the working population, architectural intervention in the public and private spaces of a typical office tower seeks to integrate places of recuperation into the daily lives of office workers. While the public spaces can provide multi-functional play components for physical movements, private spaces may provide opportunities for creative discoveries or relaxation. Through investigations in the creative, ludic nature of play, overlooked urban spaces can be transformed into engaging places of renewal and influence one's recreational experience throughout the city.