luke jerram plans to turn a city street into an urban water slide

luke jerram plans to turn a city street into an urban water slide
all images courtesy of luke jerram

UK-based artist luke jerram is currently developing an architectural intervention on the streets of bristol, which will allow people to navigate the urban center while funneling down a water slide. ‘park and slide’, currently seeking funding on spacehive here, takes the word ‘commuter’ to a new extreme, enabling city dwellers to soar down the streets in an absurdly thrilling way. the giant 90m water slide requires public participation to be activated, like many of jerram’s projects, where the person on the slide becomes the performer, while spectators on either side watch along. a playful response to the urban landscape, the public art asks people to take a fresh look at the potential of their city and the possibilities for transformation. in response to the test trial, jerram said ‘I like the way participants have a look of pleasure and fear in their eyes. they seem to slide in and out of control with their body and forces of gravity. personally, I found the little adrenalin rush you get at the end, quite addictive.’

jerram wants to make this urban water slide a reality

testing the materials

 
sketches indicate the materials and method of use

a diagram showing the street the water slide would occupy