Höweler + Yoon Architecture installs a glow-in-the-dark swing set in Boston
These glowing circular swings have been installed by Höweler + Yoon Architecture to brighten up a patch of Boston parkland and to encourage children to play outside the confines of the playground (+ movie).
![Swing Time by Höweler + Yoon Architecture](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Swing-Time-by-Howeler-and-Yoon-Architecture_dezeen_468_4.jpg)
The Boston-based studio was commissioned by the city's Convention Centre to create the centrepiece of a new temporary park set in an industrial area of the city.
Named the Lawn on D, the park is part of a redevelopment scheme aimed to attract technological companies to the area.
![Swing Time by Höweler + Yoon Architecture](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Swing-Time-by-Howeler-and-Yoon-Architecture_dezeen_468_16.jpg)
Höweler + Yoon Architecture came up with Swing Time, a set of 20 illuminated swings suspended from steel scaffolding that create an interactive installation on the green.
![Swing Time by Höweler + Yoon Architecture](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Swing-Time-by-Howeler-and-Yoon-Architecture_dezeen_468_1.jpg)
"We feel that play should not be limited to kids, nor to playgrounds. We had the idea of a playscape in the city that engages people of all ages in active play," Eric Höweler, co-founder of Höweler + Yoon Architecture, told Dezeen.
![Swing Time by Höweler + Yoon Architecture](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Swing-Time-by-Howeler-and-Yoon-Architecture_dezeen_468_9.jpg)
"[It is] a defamiliarised playground – kind of like the tyre swing from your back yard, but this time with a twist," he added.
![Swing Time by Höweler + Yoon Architecture](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Swing-Time-by-Howeler-and-Yoon-Architecture_dezeen_468_0.jpg)
The translucent plastic hoops contain LED lights that respond to activity. A microcontroller and accelerometer in each swing chart levels of motion and inclination to inform the colour changes.
![Swing Time by Höweler + Yoon Architecture](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Swing-Time-by-Howeler-and-Yoon-Architecture_dezeen_468_3.jpg)
"The basic principle of responsiveness tends to encourage people to interact with the piece and with each other," Höweler said.
![Swing Time by Höweler + Yoon Architecture](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Swing-Time-by-Howeler-and-Yoon-Architecture_dezeen_468_6.jpg)
Immobile swings glow white, while blue indicates the swing is in use and a range of violet tones radiate depending on swinging intensity.
![Swing Time by Höweler + Yoon Architecture](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Swing-Time-by-Howeler-and-Yoon-Architecture_dezeen_468_13.jpg)
The installation opened to the public two weeks ago and will remain in place for the next 18 months.
![Swing Time by Höweler + Yoon Architecture](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Swing-Time-by-Howeler-and-Yoon-Architecture_dezeen_468_15.jpg)
"We've had an overwhelming response. The swings were super crowded on opening night and we've had requests for further installations from all around the country and internationally," the designer said.
![Swing Time by Höweler + Yoon Architecture](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Swing-Time-by-Howeler-and-Yoon-Architecture_dezeen_468_8.jpg)
Höweler co-founded Höweler + Yoon Architecture alongside fellow architect Meejin Yoon. In 2012 the studio won the Audi Urban Future Award for their conceptual project BosWash, which imagined with a hybrid of individual and public transport.
Photography is by John Horner Photography.