"It's easy to get lost in the sea of glossy architectural renders that flood our feeds daily; projects with nine-figure budgets and materials sourced from another planet. Every so often, though, a project cuts through the noise with such clarity of purpose and ingenuity that it forces you to stop and really look. Hi Ladders High is one of those projects."
"The design commits faithfully to a concept that architectural nerds will recognize from Reyner Banham: the "indeterminate participatory open ended situation." Essentially, the architects provided a kit of parts and a framework, but the final form was left entirely to the children. The core of this kit consists of twenty standard wooden ladders, the kind you'd find in any rural Chinese village."
Hi Ladders High is an architectural intervention in a Hubei village built by left-behind children raised by grandparents while their parents work in distant cities. A nonprofit summer camp provided a kit of parts—twenty standard wooden ladders—and a basic framework, then entrusted the children with design and construction. The ladders function as modular, reconfigurable building blocks that can be leaned, joined, and draped with tablecloths and cardboard to form tunnels, forts, or stages. Over a dozen distinct concepts emerged, including one child who produced fifteen sketches. The resulting pavilion cost roughly a thousand dollars and prioritized agency and creativity.
Read at Yanko Design - Modern Industrial Design News
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