Franklin Square
Part 1: Space Bodies and Rules
This project is about play and how rules dictate the way that bodies move withing a space. Because it is merely a study, it is site-less and its scale is determined by each student. Thanks to an initial formal study, an overall form for a playscape is developed. Rules should be used to explain four different games that can happen within the space without interfering with each other.
Ball Throw (2 players)
- One player stands inside of the structure, at a spot that is open to the sky
- Another player stands outside of the structure with three balls available
- The goal is to throw the ball from above the structure and make sure that it reaches the player that is inside.
- The outside player wins if at least one of the three balls reaches the inside player
Hide-and-seek (3+ players)
- One player is designated as “it” and the home base is the grey area at the top of the structure.
- “it” counts until 10 with their eyes closed while everyone else hides inside the structure.
- After counting, “it” has to find all the players and bring them back to the home base
- A player that has been sent to the home base can still be saved if another player from outside touches them
Race (2-4 players)
- Each player gets assigned a color
- The goal is to reach the grey area of the structure before everyone else
- Each player can only jump or climb on the surfaces with the assigned colors
- Any player that touches a color that was not assigned or the ground is automatically disqualified
- The first player to reach the grey area wins
Tag (3+ players)
- One player is designated as ‘”it” and has to touch another player in order to make them “it”
- Everyone else has to run from “it” and must remain in contact with the structure
- At the end of the game, the last person to get tagged looses and leaves the game.
Part 2: Pavilion Square
Franklin Square Park is without any doubt, the least attractive of the five original squares of Philadelphia. The goal for this studio was to identify potential reasons why Franklin Square Park is left out, and propose a design solution to revive the park based on the analysis of an existing space that deals with the same issues.
One issue noticed at Franklin Square Park is the fact that it had three point of interest that are attracted enough people without connecting them. However, one of the most important characteristics of a good public space is creating interactions between individuals. A good example of this idea is the City Garden in Saint Louis, Missouri, that
was able to achieve its goal of attracting different people and generate interactions through a series of meandering and connected spaces. This core idea helped propose a new geometry for Franklin Square Park, creating connected pavilions that would attract people from the surrounding neighborhoods.
