Octopus Kingdom by 100architects

Octopus Kingdom is a new example of eye-catching urban playscape designed by 100architects on the rooftop of Gateaway One, a newly built shopping mall in Nanshan District, Shenzhen, China...

From the architect: It is a hyper-stimulating urban toy for Nanshan District and for all the visitors of the mall, a colorful intervention that acts as an urban attractor, calling the attention by standing out from its urban surrounding environment.

The playscape resembles a small village of sand castles on the seaside, and a gigantic Octopus emerging from the sea and approaching curiously the shore of this paradisiac beach, mesmerized by those colorful sand castles.

The 7-meters-high Octopus head, arises as the main IP play object visible from all the surrounding buildings, while its 8 wavy & meandering tentacles are playful courses of challenging activities and obstacles at the ground level, helping children to develop their physical abilities and cognitive skills while learning through play.

The 9 colorful sand castles on the beach create a “Play Route” which children can travel crossing from castle to castle, discovering new play opportunities in each of them.

The colorful floor, solved with EPDM to absorb impacts while playing, renders a beach, by using different shades of yellow to represent the sand, and different shades of blue to represent the sea.

Besides the main Octopus and the sand castles, the playscape is equipped with several sitting features, like the amphitheater for gathering, or stools & tables under a group of marine canopies for adults to rest while kids have fun.

The decorative lighting strategy seeking to achieve an impressive night effect, highlights the most recognizable profiles of the project, that is all the edges of the Octopus head, the edges of the sand castles and the edges of the amphitheater. Sparkling dots of light are embedded into the floor for a magical environmental effect, while custom-made algae-shaped lamps are implemented in the perimeter for a holistic and immersive marine experience.

Architect: 100 Architects
Client: Shenzhen Merchants Real Estate
Location: Shenzhen, China
Year: 2021
Size: 750 sqm
Design Team: Marcial Jesús, Javier González, Mónica Páez, Lara Broglio, Ponyo Zhao, Keith Gong, Cosima Jiang, Hayley Huang, Jango Zhang & Yuntong Liu
Project Management Team: Jenny Fan, Nicholas Lv & Eva Jiang
Videography: Lalo Lopez
Photography: Rex Zou

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