The Brutalist Playground

Somewhere between a sculpture and an architectural installation, the exhibition at RIBA’s Architecture Gallery invites people of all ages to come and play, the Brutalist way.

Three estates collage. © Assemble and Simon Terrill

Occupying the entire Architecture Gallery at RIBA, the immersive landscape of “The Brutalist Playground” is a new commission by Turner Prize nominated design and architecture collective Assemble and artist Simon Terrill.

It explores the abstract concrete playgrounds that were designed as part of Brutalist housing estates in the mid-twentieth century, but which no longer exist. They became playgrounds unsuitable for play.

**Top**: Three estates collage. © Assemble and Simon Terrill. **Above**: Churchill Gds, 1956, © John Maltby, RIBA Library Photographs Collection

The exhibition draws on features from a number of London estates including Churchill Gardens, Pimlico; the Brunel Estate, Paddington and the Brownfield Estate in Poplar. The playgrounds were often made from concrete, cast into sculptural forms, which presented a distinct move away from previous playground design. They were envisaged as a key aspect of the estate layout and design and as such reflect the preoccupations and social theories of society at that time.

Assemble and Simon Terrill have drawn inspiration from photographs and visual material in the RIBA’s collections, documenting the playgrounds when they were newly built and in use. The exhibition installation will recreate visual elements from the playgrounds in reconstituted foam, creating an interactive, contemporary space where the viewer becomes participant and in this way completes the work. Archive images of the original playgrounds will be projected on the walls.

“The Brutalist Playground” – part of the London Festival of Architecture – will be accompanied by a public programme of talks, debates and film screenings as well as workshops and events for families.