Dutch designer Maartje Dros created a play space for both children and dogs for design biennale ExperimentaDesign2008 in Amsterdam.
City Dog Adventure is a reaction against the way many urban areas are “becoming no-go areas for dogs” and proposes a new type of urban space that can be enjoyed by “dogs and their owners, as well as toddlers and skaters”.
The project was commissioned by Dutch design collective Droog.
Photos are by Rachel Sender.
Here’s some info from Dros:
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Maartje Dros presents for DROOG at ExperimentaDesign2008
City Dog Adventure; play space for the city dog
This project will result in dog play and training experiments, and will introduce a new urban playscape especially for dogs. Join us and discover how playgrounds and dog fields can be the same thing.
More and more, playgrounds and sports pitches are getting fenced in, becoming no-go areas for dogs. Dog clubs are banished to the fringes of the city, and the worlds of children and dogs are strictly separated by gates and prohibition signs.
City Dog Adventures seeks to down these fences and will explore how the city’s play spaces can be shared by dogs and their owners, as well as toddlers and skaters.
The fences are transformed into new play elements for dog lovers and their best friends. At evenings and during weekends, accompanied by Amsterdam’s Cynologists (dog experts) Club, we will look for room for a new underdog.
As a part of design biennale ExperimentaDesign, from 18 September until 2 November, several exhibitions and workshops take place in the city of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Part of this is the Sunday Adventure Club, where DROOG asked five young designers to think about implementing a new program on several empty lots or places where there’s not much to do.
At one of these spots Maartje Dros designed an object for dogs, skaters and children, where the coming months several workshops will take place.
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Posted by Marcus Fairs
October 7th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
finally something that makes me smile!
October 7th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
sweet!!
October 7th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
excellent!
I wish all cities could have spaces like this.
October 7th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Woof!!!
October 7th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
What a kid-friendly design. Just look how one of them trips over one of theese steel rods and crashes a head. It’s so much fun.
October 7th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
@Bart
You are so right! Lets put some foam on all of those bars, safety mat underneath, and a void of childhood fun right at the end. Just the kind of compromise this world needs more of, sacrifice of enjoyment for protection from some bumps and bruises.
October 7th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
i roff it!
October 7th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
(bow) wow
October 7th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
wouldn´t like to play in the same place all the dogs in the city play in…
October 7th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Get back to when we were all kids ppl. We wud all love it!
October 7th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
What a great idea.
October 8th, 2008 at 12:12 am
Do I see one dog eating another one, in the fifth photo?? Poor thing
October 8th, 2008 at 2:13 am
I don’t see this being particularly challenging to neither dogs nor children - just about every kids park has a much better “jungle jim” to get their bruises at (I agree with the comment against being over-protective - safe world = boring world). And as for dogs in a city - just about every street provides the same or better crawling/sitting/jumping opportunities for dogs to explore. This thing is in the same vein as dog’s haidressers and dog fashion shops. Where is the poop scoop btw?
October 8th, 2008 at 9:25 am
yup!
the trick in dog-eat-dog is to swallow the head first so that it can’t bite you anymore! (watch your tongue)
The legs will still kick for a while, but once you gulped down the tail it on rattles on a few more seconds in the belly…
second tip, try to devour a dog that is smaller in size then you or use the magic perspective trick!
October 8th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
wooooooowwww… I hear the dogs and kids playing till the dawn… Woooowww
October 8th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Looks like fun
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQdOqmjcKRY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZGTe9RdNZs
October 8th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Hey guys,
If anyone takes their dog to Dog City Adventure this weekend for Dogs Rule Day, please upload your pics.
OX
http://www.new.facebook.com/pages/Dogs-Rule-Day/24547553682
October 10th, 2008 at 3:55 am
Not a great idea? The thing is: we are doing and making something with these creatures in mind. Good idea.
October 14th, 2008 at 5:46 am
Let them run free - wild animals are great, pets are for people with god complex.
October 16th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
nice idea!