Dulwich Gallery: Reimagining Play

Set within the Gallery’s new sculpture garden, the installation celebrates creativity at every stage: from workshops with local schools to the experience of climbing, sliding, and playing within the finished pavilion.

  • Type Education, Leisure, Objects
  • Location Dulwich Gallery Park
  • Status Commission
  • Size 90sqm
  • Year 2024
Dulwich Gallery: Reimagining Play
Reimagining Play is a proposal for the London Festival of Architecture 2024, developed in partnership with Dulwich Picture Gallery. The project transforms children’s drawings, models, and playful ideas into a real pavilion—a structure that is both artwork and playground.
Dulwich Gallery: Reimagining Play
At the heart of the project is an educational programme for children. Through hands-on workshops, we invited Dulwich school pupils to explore architecture and engineering in accessible, playful ways:

Play priorities – children shared what kinds of play matter most, from hiding and climbing to swinging and sliding.

Shapes and structures – through origami and model-making, they experimented with form, scale, and balance.

Patterns and surfaces – their collages and drawings inspired the pavilion’s skin, ensuring every detail reflects their imagination.

This process introduces children to design thinking, showing how creative ideas evolve into real structures. By engaging directly with architects and engineers, they discover the compromises, adjustments, and teamwork required to bring a project to life.
Dulwich Gallery: Reimagining Play
The pavilion embodies children’s creativity while offering an inclusive, interactive space for the public. Larger-than-life paper models become architectural forms; playful drawings translate into bold patterns.

By placing education and participation at its core, the project becomes more than a sculpture—it is a living classroom, where art, design, and play converge.
Dulwich Gallery: Reimagining Play
The project is led by MOST Architecture, with structural design by Whitby Wood. Together, we combine creativity, technical expertise, and a commitment to sustainability and accessibility.
Dulwich Gallery: Reimagining Play
Impact:

- For children: a first-hand experience of how ideas become architecture.

- For families and visitors: a joyful, climbable sculpture that sparks curiosity and interaction.

- For Dulwich Picture Gallery: a new way of engaging the youngest audiences in its cultural and educational mission.

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