Completed December 2019, TETROMINOES is a bespoke 10-month art and play installation located along Shanghai’s renowned metropolitan high street, Yuyuan Road. In a city experiencing severe open space scarcity, the project sets out to maximize the potential and community value of the existing public domain through an urban landscape response for imaginative play, sculpture and urban escape. The site is nestled amongst primary education campuses, a children’s library, as well as mixed-use retail/commercial developments. By generating new experiences and spatial uses for the existing street-corner pocket park, TETROMINOES responds to the needs of a wide demographic within a dense and complex urban setting.
Drawing on the re-popularization of the cult classic 80s video game, a scene is set for a ‘digital to real-life’ bombardment of Tetris blocks falling onto the street-side lawn. The immediately recognizable theme in the form of over-sized 3D pixelated colored blocks presents an alternative to conventional playgrounds. TETROMINOES has become a new community catalyst landmark with local school children and their families, seeking to adopt the street space as an extension to their school’s limited play amenities. The installation further adds new experiential layers to the public domain and sets a vibrant backdrop for on-site restaurants, bus-stop commuters and passers-by.
Other designers involved in the design of landscape: Nompoll (Fabrication)
Project location: Corner of Yuyuan Road and Anxi Road, Changning District, Shanghai, China
Design year: 2019
Year Built: 2019
