play

play is time off. as such it does not belong to the strict system of the city- the ‘rat race’. play is a walk to the flyover to watch the sunset with your best friend, or a card game in the railway compartment, or even an afternoon nap in the park, or on a railway station. play is rest in a city where movement is the norm. play is uselessness in a city where efficiency of use is the norm. play is the questionable in the logical, the odd in the conventional, the empty in the full. in this city it is deviance. in an age of this paranoia regarding safety it is frightening. young man lounging at the corners of the streets- who are they? are their eyes following me? are they going to walk across to me? i guess it is important to separate issues regarding health with those of play. a morning jog is a ritual of health. play it is not. nor, i think, is the squash game in the local club really unless its real purpose is to have a late evening drink post-session with your best friend. children play and they are cute. we give them jungle gyms and swings in gardens- or replicas of airplanes where they pretend to be of age flirting with air hostesses. for the adult- play has to be institutionalized. designed. but how does one do it when deinstitutionalization is its very fundamental nature. is the only answer jungle gyms and slides for adults? making the adult a child again. are amusement parks play forms? and yet the city offers no solutions. the first year project provided many answers and questions regarding this. what is play? who is allowed to play? how does one design play?