The Brutalist Playground comes to S1 Artspace at Park Hill

The Brutalist Playground was originally commissioned by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 2015 and has been reimagined for the Brutalist icon that is the Park Hill estate in Sheffield. It features a newly commissioned addition based on the estates original playgrounds built by architects Jack Lynn and Ivor Smith between 1957-61. The exhibition investigates the materiality and visual language of post-war landscapes through an immersive, climbable and conceptual landscape.

The exhibition is supported by Arts Council England, a Yorkshire Festival Community Commission, Urban Splash, The Elephant Trust, Sheffield School of Architecture and The Sheffield Town Trust.

Marie Bak Mortensen, Head of Exhibitions, RIBA; ‘The Brutalist Playground was received enthusiastically by audiences and critics when it opened in London and was enjoyed by over 24,000 visitors of all ages. Its tour to Aberdeen and Sheffield is part of RIBA’s commitment to share its collections and public events programme on architecture and design with audiences around the UK. We are delighted that even more people will be able to play on and experience Assemble and Simon Terrill’s inspirational installation.”

Mark Latham, Regeneration Director Urban Splash; “Urban Splash is delighted to be supporting The Brutalist Playground exhibition at S1 Artspace, Park Hill. There can be few places more suited to hosting this amazing interpretation of post-war playground designs. The original Park Hill was peppered with these modernist sculptural play spaces for children and it’s been fantastic to work with Assemble, Simon Terrill and S1 Artspace to bring a new version and exciting new commission to Sheffield.”

The Brutalist Playground takes its cue from the abstract play spaces that were designed into many post-war housing estates. Championed by architects and urban planners, these playgrounds were supposed to offer a safe and considered place for children’s play, while giving free reign to the imagination and actively moving away from the toy-land whimsy found in conventional playground design.

Constructed from wood, brick and mostly concrete, these playgrounds were integrated into the surrounding landscape through their materials and form, often reflecting architectural preoccupations of the time. However, by the early 1970s, these designs were falling out of favour, receiving criticism from the architectural community and child welfare campaigners. As a result many playgrounds have been lost or redeveloped, deemed unsuitable for play. A lesser-known aspect of the history of social housing, there is little material evidence of these spaces today, yet photographs, drawings and written descriptions can be found in archives and libraries. Consigned to the archive, they stand as a curious footnote in the wider narrative of post-war reconstruction.

The Brutalist Playground seeks to establish a contemporary narrative for these objects and ideas. It shifts the focus away from the much debated post-war residential buildings, largely remembered for their social and structural failures, to the equally important playgrounds found at the feet of these structures, allowing for renewed understanding of the architects’ original designs and intentions.

For this project, architectural collective Assemble and artist Simon Terrill have used archival materials, drawings and photographs from RIBA’s Collections to create an interactive installation that raises questions over design for play, from both a historic and contemporary perspective, with a focus on the element of risk. Large-scale fragments of four distinct Brutalist playgrounds from Churchill Gardens, London, Seamount Court Aberdeen, Brownfield Estate, London and Park Hill, Sheffield, have been recreated in 1:1 scale for the exhibition offering an opportunity for audiences of all ages to immerse themselves in a surreal landscape of post-war play.

Throughout the exhibition, S1 Artspace will present a varied public programme of talks, workshops and events in conjunction with the exhibition, from parkour workshops, toddler play sessions, academic talks and film screenings.
The exhibition is a main feature of the Year of Making Sheffield 2016 programme.