playLAND by LIKEarchitects, Portugal

Portuguese studio, LIKEarchitects designs projects filled with joy to stimulate the imagination of young and old alike. As part of the creative event titled O Mundo ao Contrário in Paredes de Coura, in the north of Portugal, it has created playLAND, an installation made from lifebuoys.



A lifebuoy is a lifebuoy is a lifebuoy - or is it? Well, no, actually, if there are lots inflatable lifebuoys in bright colours like green, orange and pink then it takes you to a festival dedicated to playing and to kids, away from the beach and it becomes the basic module for a very special kind of playground: playLAND, installation created by LIKEarchitects or the 2014 edition of “O Mundo ao Contrário” (the world upside down).
This annual festival turns the town of Paredes de Coura in the north of Portugal into a huge creative playground for a week.





With their experimental and innovative approach the design team from LIKEarchitects have removed the context of the inflatable lifebuoy - colourful, light, easy to handle - and turned it into the basic element to create three different settings for children: a kind of stage for shows, a silo-shaped tower they can enter and a tunnel pavilion to explore. 





Indeed, the great thing about playLAND is the unusual use of such a common object as a lifebuoy. It's also an invitation to rethink other items coded by routine, opening the door to the infinite solutions suggested by our imaginations. 



Kids already think outside the box, this encourages them to keep it up!

Christiane Bürklein

Architecture: LIKEarchitects
Design team: Diogo Aguiar, Teresa Otto, João Jesus and João Salgueiro, Daniel Mudrak
Location: Paredes de Coura, Portugal
Date: July 2014
Client: O Mundo ao Contrário | Paredes de Coura City Hall
Photography: Dinis Sottomayor Photography ©