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
Student Housing | Jan 12, 2024
UC Berkeley uses shipping containers to block protestors of student housing project
The University of California at Berkeley took the drastic step of erecting a wall of shipping containers to keep protestors out of a site of a planned student housing complex. The $312 million project would provide badly needed housing at the site of People’s Park.
Giants 400 | Jan 12, 2024
Top 10 Casino Architecture Firms for 2023
JCJ Architecture, HBG Design, Gensler, and WATG top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest casino architecture and architecture engineering (AE) firms for 2023, as reported in the 2023 Giants 400 Report.
Senior Living Design | Jan 11, 2024
Designing for personal technology is crucial for senior living facilities
Today’s seniors are increasingly tech savvy. It isn’t enough to give senior living residents a pre-determined bundle of technology and assume that they’ll be satisfied.
Giants 400 | Jan 11, 2024
Top 40 Convention Center Architecture Firms for 2023
TVS, Populous, Arcadis North America, Gensler, and EUA top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest convention center and event facility architecture and architecture engineering (AE) firms for 2023, as reported in the 2023 Giants 400 Report.
Architects | Jan 10, 2024
Award-winning civic design firm RossDrulisCusenbery joins DLR Group
DLR Group today announced the acquisition of Sonoma, California based civic and public safety design firm RossDrulisCusenbery (RDC). The addition of RDC adds focused design excellence of new building types to DLR Group’s global Justice+Civic studio.
Museums | Jan 8, 2024
Achieving an ideal visitor experience with the ADROIT approach
Alan Reed, FAIA, LEED AP, shares his strategy for crafting logical, significant visitor experiences: The ADROIT approach.
Designers | Jan 8, 2024
DLR Group adds executive leaders
DLR Group Chief Executive Officer Steven McKay, AIA, RIBA, announced new executive leaders for the 100% employee-owned, globally integrated design firm.
AEC Tech | Jan 8, 2024
What's driving the surge of digital transformation in AEC today?
For centuries, the AEC industry has clung to traditional methods and legacy processes—seated patterns that have bred resistance to change. This has made the adoption of new technologies a slow and hesitant process.
K-12 Schools | Jan 8, 2024
Video: Learn how DLR Group converted two big-box stores into an early education center
Learn how the North Kansas City (Mo.) School District and DLR Group adapted two big-box stores into a 115,000-sf early education center offering services for children with special needs.
Green | Jan 8, 2024
DOE releases RFI on developing national definition for a Zero Emissions Building
The Department of Energy released a Request for Information (RFI) for feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders on a draft national definition for a Zero Emissions Building.