Getting Our Urban Play On

Urban Play Designers in Amsterdam

I have my own version of Newton’s Third Law, which states that the amount of sheer hell I experience traveling somewhere is usually equal to the immense satisfaction experienced during my time there [there has to be some justification for spending a third of my life in airports]. This was soundly proven after it took me 14 hours to get from London to Amsterdam this weekend. Yes, 14. A two hour flight delay, then three hours stranded on the runway, an hour back to the terminal after that flight was aborted, two hours on a coach across London after all this caused me to miss the last flight out of London City Airport, then the usual lifetime navigating through Heathrow, and an hour delay on that flight just for good measure. Anyway…

It gives me great pleasure to announce that after two years of development, Urban Play has the green light from the city of Amsterdam, and this weekend sees the first wave of designers, artists and architects arrive in Amsterdam for my briefing, spec’ing out the city, walking the route, and meeting with me, Droog, and others to begin work. And for the proof of Burnham’s Third Law: after the travel hell endured getting here, my time with this immensely talented pool of people has proven to be far beyond expectation.

The photo above shows part of the Urban Play entourage exploring the city. It was always a goal of mine for this to be a decidedly international project, and I was incredibly pleased that the first wave represented that in true style. For those of you who want to play a bit of Where’s Waldo with the photo, the team above is comprised of MVRDV (Netherlands), Martin Ruiz de Azua (Spain), Nothing Design Group (South Korea), Studio Wrap (India), Rebar (USA), EXYZT Architects (France), Autoban (Turkey), Manuel Rapoport (Argentina), Office for Subversive Architecture (Germany | United Kingdom), Jan Konings (Netherlands), Fernando Brizio (Portugal), and Veronika Valk (Estonia).

Drop me a line if you’d like to know more about Urban Play, and watch this space.