Play: Sliding to Catch a Train


Last year I wrote a post about playfulness inspired by an installation at the Odenplan train station in Stockholm.
Seven moths later I have found another delightful example of playfulness in a railway station. Volkswagen have set up a slide at Berlin’s U-Bahn station at Alexanderplatz.
Just like the Odenplan piano the Alexanderplatz slide elicits the playfulness in travellers. I like the response of non-sliders to sliders!
This is the 1 minute 42 second video:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4o0ZVeixYU]
Photo Credit
Same Place, Same People

2 COMMENTS

  1. Thank you Keith. I often think one of the joys of having children is the opportunity for adults to rediscover play. It’s unfortunate that, in some cases, kids are needed to legitimise play in adults. I think we miss significant opportunities to exercise creativity by not encouraging more adults to engage in non-structured play. What is interesting about this video is the decision to place the slide in a train station. My enduring memory of living in London is the sombre, detached atmosphere in the London tubes. There was a resemblance between the faces on people on the tubes, with the faces on the workers in Fritz Lang’s ‘Metropolis’. Places like these need to create opportunities for people to engage in the ‘playfulness’ exihibited in the video.
    Many thanks!

    • Tim, it is interesting how play has impacts on different periods in our lives. I like your reference to Fritz Lang.
      I wonder if these play spaces are a great way of exploring individual’s willingness to accept and manage risk.
      As ever, thanks for calling by
      Keith

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