archive: Public Furniture for Play
Posted on Wednesday, November 16 @ 00:09:37 CET by julian |
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A park bench dappled in sun is perfect for eating a falafel or reading the paper, but not for playing with a handheld console. In recognition of this, and similar facts, folk at the Royal College of Art in London have built an exhibition around an interesting premise: Is it possible to design a public outdoor furniture specifically for playing handheld games?
Say they:
The cocoon-like nature of the furniture is related to the experience of playing games on the PSP. Initial inspiration came from observing group play at a barbecue: when still light in the early evening, a group of players put their coats over their heads to create shade and see the PSP's screen better. Despite not being able to see each other at all, they continued to happily taunt, insult and otherwise interact with each other as is the norm throughout the course of a game. Later on, we observed people huddled together during play, adopting statue-like poses and postures – some sitting, some standing, some leaning – largely unaware of the party going on around them.
Project page here, via WMMNA.
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