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
| Jun 18, 2013
Report: HVAC occupancy sensors could slash building energy demand by 18%
Researchers at the DOE's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory conclude that significant energy savings can be achieved by varying ventilation levels based on the number of people in a given space.
| Jun 18, 2013
Turner report: Activity in urban markets driving construction cost increases
Turner Construction Company announced that the Second Quarter 2013 Turner Building Cost Index – which measures costs in the non-residential building construction market in the United States – has increased to a value of 859. This reflects a 1.18% increase from the First Quarter 2013 and 4.00% yearly increase from the Second Quarter 2012.
| Jun 17, 2013
First look: Austin to get first high-rise since 2003
Developer Cousins Properties broke ground on the 29-story Colorado Tower in downtown Austin, Texas, the city's first high-rise building since Cousins' completed the Frost Bank Tower a decade ago.
| Jun 17, 2013
DOE launches database on energy performance of 60,000 buildings
The Energy Department today launched a new Buildings Performance Database, the largest free, publicly available database of residential and commercial building energy performance information.
| Jun 14, 2013
First look: Callebaut's eye-popping Möbius building for Taichung arts center
French design firm Vincent Callebaut Architectures has released renderings of "Swallow's Nest," an entry in a design competition for a new cultural center, fine arts museum, and public library in Taichung City, Taiwan. The building, based on a Möbius ring, swirls around a central "Endless Patio."
| Jun 14, 2013
Purdue, industry partners test light steel framing for seismic safety
A partnership of leading earthquake engineering researchers from top U.S. and Canadian universities and design professionals from the steel industry have begun the final phase of a three-year project to increase the seismic safety of buildings that use lightweight cold-formed steel for their primary beams and columns.
| Jun 13, 2013
7 great places that represent excellence in environmental design
An adaptive reuse to create LEED Platinum offices, a park that honors veterans, and a grand national plaza are among the seven projects named winners of the 2013 Great Places Awards. The Environmental Design and Research Association recognize professional and scholarly excellence in environmental design, with special attention paid to the relationship between physical form and human activity or experience.
| Jun 13, 2013
Richard Smith joins Cannon Design Science + Technology practice
Cannon Design, an internationally ranked architectural, engineering and planning firm, is pleased to announce Richard Smith has joined the firm as a Principal. Smith joins the leadership team for Cannon Design’s Science + Technology (S&T) practice and will focus on developing strategies for immediate and long-term growth.
| Jun 13, 2013
Winfrey hired as Health and S&T studio head for SmithGroupJJR Dallas
SmithGroupJJR, one of the nation’s largest architecture, engineering and planning firms, has hired David Winfrey, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, as leader of its Health and Science & Technology Studio at its Dallas, Texas office.
| Jun 13, 2013
WorkingBuildings acquires Specialty Operations Solutions
The WorkingBuildings Companies, a leading provider of comprehensive Owner-based solutions for the built environment, announces the acquisition of Specialty Operations Solutions (SOS), a national provider of research and laboratory services.
