politecnico di torino's 'hutong playground' for the beijing design week

as a result of the collaboration between politecnico di torino and EPFL of lausanne, the ‘hutong playground’ project was part of the beijing design week 2017 — the leading international platform for design in china. within this framework, the installation is a reflection on the theme ‘making neighborhood’ proposed to the institutions invited by baitasi remade.

‘hutong playground’ is a result of the collaboration betweeen politecnico di torino and EPFL of lausanne
image © samuele pellecchia_prospektphoto

the project aimed to reactivate the historic fabric of baitasi neighborhood through micro-urban interventions, as a potential answer to the district’s most critical challenge: its physical and social disconnection from the surrounding city and, consequently, its rapid depopulation and loss of community identity. each of the ten participants selected in the area was asked to turn one of the traditional courtyards into the exhibition ground.

participants were asked to turn the courtyard into the exhibition ground
image © enrica perrot

‘hutong playground’ creates a new aggregation point for neighborhood residents, transforming traditional court space into a different place, where gameplay becomes the most important element. the inner courtyard assigned to polito, enclosed by four buildings, is filled by a conceptual volume defined by the blue color covering each surface. placed in an apparent casual way — indifferently in between inside and outside of the buildings — it is intended to be a playground that welcomes in the intimate dimension of a private house some elements commonly owned by the public space: ping pong, gymnastic tools, chinese chess, hopscotch.

‘hutong playground’ creates a new aggregation point for neighborhood residents
image © samuele pellecchia_prospektphoto

the project intends to drag a fragment of urban vitality within the domestic sphere, scrapping and questioning the border between public and private, shared and intimate spaces. interacting actively with the installation, the visitor is led to think about aggregation dynamics and ‘community making’ in this portion of the city.

the project scraps and questions the border between public and private
image © samuele pellecchia_prospektphoto

image © enrica perrot

image © samuele pellecchia_prospektphoto

project info:

project team: politecnico di torino – michele bonino (coordinator), alberto bologna, silvia lanteri, marta mancini, maria paola repellino
collaborators: enrica perrot, lidia preti, florence graezer bideau (epfl), deng huishu (tsinghua university)
photography: samuele pellecchia (prospekt), enrica perrot, silvia lanteri
promoter: bjdw – baitasi remade
location: courtyard #56, baitasi, beijing
year of project/construction: 2017

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: maria erman | designboom