Dezeen Magazine

Marco Maycotte designs pleasure garden to become "the Las Vegas of Scandinavia"

Graduate shows 2016: the town of Vejle in Denmark is transformed into a pleasure garden in the spirit of Peter Pan's Neverland in this design by Aarhus School of Architecture graduate Marco Maycotte (+ slideshow).

According to Maycotte, the escape mentality that features in JM Barrie's popular novel could be applied to real life. His proposal is to create a garden where people can escape their everyday stresses.

The Pleasure Garden by Marco Maycotte, a 2016 Aarhus School of Architecture graduate
Maycotte has designed a garden where people can escape their everyday stresses, in the spirit of Peter Pan's Neverland

He chose the fjord-side town of Vejle as the location because, he claimed, it is a place of "ever-present beauty" that many people drive through but never stop off at. He calls his design The Pleasure Garden.

"Much like the overlooked beauty and inspiration around us in our everyday lives, Vejle has the potential to reimagine and enlighten those of us who can no longer see the glitter through the fog of pressures we live amongst," said Maycotte.

The Pleasure Garden by Marco Maycotte, a 2016 Aarhus School of Architecture graduate
The Danish town of Vejle would, in essence, become "the Las Vegas of Scandinavia and Europe"

"Through the experience of The Pleasure Garden, we can relearn how to stop and smell the daffodils – a much-needed awakening amongst a disillusioned people."

The town would, in essence, become "the Las Vegas of Scandinavia and Europe", he added.

The Pleasure Garden by Marco Maycotte, a 2016 Aarhus School of Architecture graduate
The Sloth section of the garden is a forest filled with places to lounge, smoke marijuana and blow soap bubbles

Maycotte developed the proposal for his final-year project in the Aarhus School of Architecture's F16 unit, which looked at the relationship between architecture and resources.

Considering that Denmark is statistically one of the happiest countries on earth, he wanted to question what it is that makes people genuinely happy, and how much of that is dictated by social practices.

To do so, he has divided his Neverland garden into different sections, covering all of the seven deadly sins.

The Pleasure Garden by Marco Maycotte, a 2016 Aarhus School of Architecture graduate
The Lust area is described by Maycotte as a place where "the social walls created in the outside world do not exist"

The Sloth section of the garden is a forest filled with places to lounge, from giant hammocks to floating rubber rings. Here, visitors can relax, smoke marijuana and blow soap bubbles for as long as they choose.

The Lust area is described by Maycotte as a place where "the social walls created in the outside world do not exist". It features wine-filled canals and "naughty hedges", where visitors are encouraged to get close to one other.

The Pleasure Garden by Marco Maycotte, a 2016 Aarhus School of Architecture graduate
Wrath is an area where visitors can create colour landscapes or engage in paint wars

Wrath is an area dedicated to paint, where visitors can work through their emotions by creating colour landscapes, or simply by engaging in paint wars.

Unsurprisingly, the Gluttony area is filled with food, offering a rare opportunity to gorge without judgment.

The Pleasure Garden by Marco Maycotte, a 2016 Aarhus School of Architecture graduate
The Gluttony area is filled with food, offering a rare opportunity to gorge without judgment

The final area brings together Pride, Envy and Vanity. Here, an endless supply of costumes allows visitors to proudly style themselves before walking down a catwalk.

"These cardinal vices are reinterpreted in a way to provide an avenue for discussion, as well as an experience of indulgence, which is frowned upon in western society," explained Maycotte.

The Pleasure Garden by Marco Maycotte, a 2016 Aarhus School of Architecture graduate
The final area brings together Pride, Envy and Vanity. Here, an endless supply of costumes allows visitors to style themselves for a catwalk

"To indulge is an important component of The Pleasure Garden," he continued. "It creates a space to be fully aware of the now – the taste, the smells, the beauty – an outlet for one’s mind to run wild. This, in contrast, helps to raise discussion on how we are currently living our routine-like lives."

"Cut the tether keeping you in the monotony of everyday drudgery and insanity and experience life in all its colour in the pleasure garden of Neverland."

The Pleasure Garden by Marco Maycotte, a 2016 Aarhus School of Architecture graduate
Maycotte wanted to question what it is that makes people genuinely happy, and how much of that is dictated by social practices

Maycotte was selected ahead of all his classmates as the recipient of the CEBRA Prize, awarded each year by architecture studio CEBRA to one standout student from the school.

Other architecture projects from this year's graduates include designs for a "fantastical world" in London railway tunnels, an ecological education facility in a Panama rainforest and a structure based on the eggs of a rare butterfly species.