The London Design Festival launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for one of the craziest mini-golf courses ever made.
The plan is to turn London’s Trafalgar Square into a colorful course this September. Notable designers, including Tom Dixon, Mark Wallinger, and the late Zaha Hadid, each get to create a hole of their own.
Eight holes have been designed for the mini-golf (known in the UK as "crazy golf") course, and they all feature much more than a windmill and a turf incline. Dixon’s hole integrates pneumatic tubes; players must navigate Wallinger’s circular maze; and Hadid designed a curvy, dual-level hole that traces the shadow of the square’s Nelson’s Column. The entries are bright, creative, and, to many putt-putt golfers across the universe, at least a quadruple bogey.
Paul Smith is the project’s visionary. The architect has held other events at Trafalgar Square over the years, including life-size chess and a robot show. Smith’s hole calls for a set of 10 multicolored stairways. The other designers who took part in the project are Camille Walala, Atelier Bow-Wow, HAT Projects, NEON, and Ordinary Architecture, the latter of which envisioned a hole where a player hits their ball into a large pigeon and watches it roll through its digestive tracks.
The project’s goal is to amuse both adults and children, and teach the public about the future of design.
The course “will attract a wide, public audience, and inspire the next generation of creatives,” as its Kickstarter puts it. “Thousands will be able to play the course, and millions more will watch and enjoy this experience, both in the square and through media.”
A little more than $5,000 has been raised thus far. There are still 42 days left to reach the $172,862 goal.
Related Stories
| Nov 14, 2014
Bjarke Ingels unveils master plan for Smithsonian's south mall campus
The centerpiece of the proposed plan is the revitalization of the iconic Smithsonian castle.
| Nov 14, 2014
Haskell acquires FreemanWhite, strengthens healthcare design-build business
The combination expands Haskell’s geographic presence by adding FreemanWhite’s offices in Chicago, Charlotte, Nashville, and San Diego. FreemanWhite will retain its name and brand.
| Nov 14, 2014
What college students want in their living spaces
In a recent workshop with 62 college students, architects from Little explored the changing habits and preferences of today's students, and how those changes affect their living spaces.
| Nov 14, 2014
JetBlue opens Gensler-designed International Concourse at JFK
The 175,000-sf extension includes the conversion of three existing gates to international swing gates, and the addition of three new international swing gates.
Sponsored | | Nov 12, 2014
Eye-popping façade highlights renovation, addition at Chaffin Junior High School
The new distinctive main entrance accentuates the public face of the school with an aluminum tube “baguette” system.
| Nov 12, 2014
Collaboration as competitive advantage
A collaborative planning and design process may seem like a common-sense goal, but the concept can be a challenge to achieve in the fragmented AEC industry. SPONSORED BLOG
Sponsored | | Nov 12, 2014
Williams Scotsman plugs into the jobsite
Many of our customers conduct important business from their temporary modular jobsite office and most require access to technology to get their job done effectively and efficiently. SPONSORED CONTENT
| Nov 12, 2014
Chesapeake Bay Foundation completes uber-green Brock Environmental Center, targets Living Building certification
More than a decade after opening its groundbreaking Philip Merrill Environmental Center, the group is back at it with a structure designed to be net-zero water, net-zero energy, and net-zero waste.
| Nov 12, 2014
Refocusing the shifted line
A recent trend in the practice of architecture that I’ve been noticing is the blurring of responsibility between design and construction coordination. I’m not sure why this trend began, but the subject is worth exploring, writes FXFOWLE's Mark Nusbaum.
| Nov 12, 2014
Designs by three finalists for new Beethoven concert hall unveiled
David Chipperfield and Valentiny are among the finalists for a new concert hall being built to commemorate Beethoven’s 250th birthday in his hometown of Bonn, Germany.
