Domo Ludens. Manifestations of Playful Design in Dutch Architecture

Play can take place in numerous manners, and although due academic attention has been paid to play in relation to video games, certain manifestations of play remain underexplored. In this study the focus lies on playful architecture. The main goal is to explore the ways in which architecture becomes a material manifestation of playful design. The research seeks to approach the study of architecture and play through a lens of playful design by providing an answer to the following research question: How does Dutch architecture employ playful design elements in its buildings? The past and present bespoke playful character of Dutch buildings makes them ideal subjects for such analysis. A scrutinous thematic analysis of visual representations of 103 buildings derived from an extensive online architectural database of over 4,000 buildings in the Netherlands, ultimately led to the discovery of four main ways in which Dutch architecture employs playful elements. The notion of playfulness was operationalised by means of indicators that resulted from an scrutinous theoretical framework. Buildings’ observable traits such as colour, form, scale and material, but also those more latent such as vertigo inducing, biomimicry and reinterpreting the familiar, serve as pillars upholding the main themes. These themes amount to play via contrast, play via nudging, play via reference, and lastly, play via subversion. Play via contrast entails playful elements that exist in lieu of some form of disparity either within the building itself, or between it and its surroundings. This can be in terms of playful contrasts of colours, shapes and materials, but also by standing out in relation to its environment via any of those traits. Play via nudging covers those elements that architecture exhibits that are designed with the intention to trigger an effect of some sort in its ‘users’. This can be that it nudges its users pathing, that it is designed with the purpose of inducing vertigo, or that it is manipulable in itself, allowing individuals to interact with it on a material level. Play via reference overarches playful aspects relating to both biomimicry and imitation, where buildings (latently or manifestly) make reference to objects appearing in nature or society. An extension of this, is the phenomenon of architecture receiving colloquial nicknames that often directly relate to that which they are emulating (e.g. The swan in Rotterdam). Lastly, play via subversion covers aspects such as reinterpreting the familiar, and comparably, subverting social norms, stimulating people to rethink what is considered a home, an office or a bridge. This theme also comprises concrete phenomena such as undermining expectations via visual illusion and suspending disbelief through seemingly gravity-defying acts of physical suspension. Finally, a general conclusion is that in line with existing scholarly work, the concept of contrast is found to be central to the concept of playfulness, play manifests materially in the form of architecture in four key manners, though all of them ultimately depend on some form of contrast.