red dunes playtopia in china embraces undulating landscape for children's activities

Natural and Organic: Red Dunes Playtopia

Red Dunes Playtopia in Guanggang New Town in China is a project that embraces the natural topography to create an undulating landscape for children’s activities. Taking cues from mountain nests and jungle treehouses, the architectural design by XISUI Design incorporates rippling hills made of concrete that provide ample space for children to freely run, jump, and roll, encouraging exploration and relaxation.

The Red Dunes project combines advanced design techniques, including parameterized design, drainage optimization simulation, and structural form-finding algorithms, to seamlessly integrate the outdoor space with its natural surroundings. The resulting layout creates a vibrant space that welcomes people of all ages to engage in outdoor play and exploration, fostering a sense of joy and adventure.

all images by Hu Yihao, XISUI Design

Integrating Children’s Activities with Nature

The architecture by XISUI Design (see more here) mimics the natural topography of caves, inviting children to freely navigate the playground, with climbing spaces and sheltered areas below. Referring to the load transfer mechanism of natural arches, the design allows for wide spans and thin structural elements. By blending harmoniously with its setting, Red Dunes creates a visually cohesive artificial structure, minimizes the need for columns, and maximizes spatial efficiency.

Using digital generation techniques, the landscape has been shaped to match the complexity and slope of the terrain, resulting in distinct zones catering to different age groups. The integration of children’s activity facilities with the natural environment results in a harmonious and unified space. Careful calculations and simulations have been employed to create a comprehensive natural drainage system that effectively handles rainwater flow, even with undulating terrain. This approach eliminates the need for visible drains, allowing rainwater to naturally soak into green spaces and designated outlets.

integrating a variety of functional children’s activity installations into the terrain

According to the team, concrete, known for its formability, cost-effectiveness, and practicality, plays a crucial role in green architecture and the evolution of organic structures. In this project, the concrete shell structure integrates wide spans and ultra-thin thicknesses, resulting in this intricate cave-like spaces. Through calculations and modeling analysis, material efficiency has been optimized, resulting in approximately two-thirds less raw material consumption for the same span compared to conventional beam-column structures.

its intricate form beckons users to embrace outdoor play and exploration