Running a marathon on a treadmill is in reference to skating in a skatepark that mimics real world spots. 99% Invisible is Roman Mars’ radio show about design, distributed on Public Radio. Episode 71, In and Out of LOVE features the familiar theme of skateboarders reinterpreting their environment for their own needs. It’s made with the help of skaters for the non-skating public, but just as your attention starts to wander they get down to focusing on Love Park. You know the story, but listening to a well produced audio version makes it fresh again. A big part of it is the random asides, including audio of the original architect, Edmund Bacon. Definitely worth checking out. You can watch video footage of Edmund’s act of civil disobedience after the jump, but do yourself a favor and listen to In and Out of LOVE first.
[Photos: Mike Blabac] - MC is artsy
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A couple more skateable architecture examples in Japan and Brasil. - Thanks to Rolf and MC for the tips.
Another skateboard stairs concept reaches reality. Though featured on Recyclart, those are clearly all new skateboards, and kind of crappy modern Kryptonics if I’m not mistaken. The metal supports are a custom fabrication.
See skateboard stairs: Part 1 – Part 2
Addendum: I was looking at the Kryptonics web site, and they have a little page bragging about being around the original Burnside skatepark! There are some weird illustration/caption combos in their timeline.
Another set of stairs made from skateboards. This set might actually predate the other set judging by the post date on the original source (which is not responding as I write this.) The steps are located in the Roarockit facility, and made from a custom mold so they are flat on one side.
[Source: Treehugger.] - Thanks to Matthijs for the tip.
Somebody’s house in the Netherlands has skateboards for stairs, as seen on Architectenweb.nl. Nice to look at, probably annoying to walk on. Again, I applaud the gumption of anyone who executes and idea so well, but then sometimes it just isn’t worth it.
- Thanks to Matthijs for the tip
I think it’s German for “rad street plaza.” Probably not. I swear I had this on S&A already but cant’s find it via search, and it’s not tagged so my apologies if this is a repeat. Free t-shirt to whoever finds it elsewhere on this site. There you go, a contest. Innsbruck, Austria is the location, the former site of some Nazi era government buildings and French occupiers (after the war) who erected some sort of monument to Austrian freedom. If that sounds awkward, it’s more than likely because I gleaned it from a less than smooth machine translation of a German language article in Die Presse. One thing that didn’t need much translation:
And the Liberation Monument? It did not take much longer than the lattice doors open and slide the waves gently on his concrete steps to make it to the foreign body as an integral part of public space. At night it is, as the parade ground in front of the cottage, dimly lit. As part of the space to city residents, especially the younger ones, who have discovered a skater’s paradise. Are conflicts among users, it hardly because all feel that something was given to them that they must share: a precision-designed urban spaces outside commercial interests, without a doubt the nicest place in town.
Nicest place in town! Architects are LAAC in cahoots with a bunch of other people. You can read about it on Landzine. Photos by Günter Richard Wett.
- Thanks to Josh Fisher for the tip.
This is the 1001 Nights House by A-cero, Joaquin Torres Architects outside of Madrid, Spain. These guys love tranny. This is the third appearance for A-cero in S&A. Too bad this doesn’t have a run up. Check it out over at Contemporists.
- Thanks to Mark P. for the tip.
Factory Youth Movement is a community center in Merida, Spain with skatepark facilities blending into the landscape architecture. Or from a different vantage point, skateable terrain nestling and nurturing the building it was designed for. Pipets loaded and ready. Petri dish courtesy of Selgas Cano. Factory Youth Movement, I ‘m pretty sure I used to have one of their 10″ extended dance singles.
[Source: Simple Genius - Photos: Arch Daily] - Thanks to Betsy Gordon for the tip.
If you’re a regular reader you know we cover skateable architecture here, even when it’s only marginally so. Many skaters have/had the adolescent fantasy of being rich enough to design your own house and make everything skateable, but nobody has really done it. I imagine if you find yourself in a situation where skateboarding is paying for your custom house, you’d probably want a bit of a break from it. Pierre Andre via Etnies funded a small prototype of a a design by architect Gil Le Bon Delapointe (scroll down). It features furniture from the Skate House Study collection. if it gets built it will certainly trump a certain domicile in Athens, Greece. The protoype was part of the Public Domaine show in Paris, France, the same one with the clever video of board graphics. Check out the action video and interview with the architect after the jump.
- Thanks to Marek for the tip.
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So maybe it wasn’t feasible to make the giant halfpipe shaped roof of the Museum of Surf actually skateable. There’s still the bowl, right? Surely that pool-like structure in the roof is a skateable tribute to the connection between the roots of skateboarding and surfing? Markus Suchanek recently visited it and found otherwise. Check out his photos after the jump. How is that this museum has no web site?
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