Playground Roquetes

The Roquetes portable playground is a project that proposes adding a dynamic dimension to public spaces in the neighbourhood of Roquetes by creating play equipment that, due to the diversity of interactions that it sparks, can create playful situations or be used for other purposes.

The project, developed by Raons Públiques and Makea Tu Vida, grew out of a proposal by the Pla de Barris (Neighbourhood Plan) for Les Roquetes that, in turn, channels the demands of the Commission for Family and Leisure, part of the Roquetes Community Plan, which works towards using the power of play to transform how the neighbourhood’s plazas and streets are used.

The following phases were developed by Makea Tu Vida:

a) Co-designing the project and defining the actions
b) Collectively designing and constructing the play equipment

The main objective of the project is to provide tools to make public spaces in the neighbourhood more dynamic, creating spaces for connection and community among families of different cultures, with special attention paid to those who do not participate in the community network’s leisure spaces. In practice, this translates to a piece of play equipment that can be used by different neighbourhood entities for activities in public space.

The design of the play equipment is based on the structure of the Tetrakaidecahedral, a mobile game structure developed by Victor Papanek between 1973 and 1975.

The building process for the equipment was developed in a workshop with young people from the Camp de Treball (Working Camp) put on by the Fundació Pare Manel. In collaboration with the public service of digital manufacturing Ateneu de Fabricació Ciutat Meridiana, we used a CNC mill to cut hexagonal pieces from MDF boards to form the structures. Over the course of five days, we worked intensively to build various units, manufacturing the connecting metal pieces and finishing the hexagonal pieces ourselves.