Heart Swing
- a rotational swing
Amman
[ About ]
Set in Amman, Jordan, right on the country's heart, 7hills Skatepark is a 650 sq. meter concrete skatepark that provides an open, democratic environment for everyone in the city of Amman struggling with social barriers.
In the heart of 7hills, Amman based multidisciplinary dance company, Studio 8, propose a rotational swing that visualizes the left ventricle of the human heart.
Prior to this proposal, Studio 8 has created a performance, a series of workshops with a similar rotational swing on a rooftop, and an art gallery in Amman. Reference video is shared as follows.
[ Project proposal ]
Project Name: Heart Swing
About: Heart swing is a rotational swing as an outdoor sports and fitness playground equipment for children and young people.
Project Description:
Research shows fitness activities in an outdoor environment not only increases the physical health of children and young people, but also improves their development and self-confidence. As artists, we have been working on developing new, fun and innovative fitness playground equipment. The heart swing is a kinetic sculpture that is inspired by art and geometry. It is also an outdoor fitness equipment durably built and designed, great for children and teens. The heart swing benefits its users by teaching them body awareness, helping with motor skills and coordination. While the swing increased the development of the spatial awareness of its users, it also encourages team work, cooperation, and trust and support one another. Finally, the heart swing is an easy, fun equipment that encourages children and young people to try something new, to using different senses, to create new games with it usually involving two or more people, and to learn while playing.
Target Group:
The heart swing is designed for age range of early years to adults. It has 12 edges that act as both hand-holds and something to lean against while riding.
The swing can be made to rotate by pushing or pulling on its edges, either by running around the outside, or by pulling and re-grabbing as it rotates, from a not moving status. Users should hold on tightly with both hands while swinging, and when finished swinging, slow down the rotation swing or stop the swing before getting off.
The swing will not exceed a rotation speed of 10.8 kilometers per hour (3 meters per second).
The swing is able to accommodate 1-6 children or young people. The maximum weight limit for the swing is 500 kg.
There is no specific limit to the number of people play with the swing, such as running around the outside, or experience it inside of sculpture while standing on the ground. Users are encouraged to learn to share, to learn to take turn between riding and spinning.
Suggested Activities:
The swing gives a dynamic play taking on a traditional playground roundabout, providing for children and young people to experience the sensation of spinning in safety. A user can play on their own, or with friends.
Expected Results:
1. We expect the heart swing to constantly attract users as a unique and innovative designed playground equipment.
2. We expect the heart swing to create positive experiences and becomes an inspiring equipment to play with users creating their own games.
3. We expect the heart swing to encourage designers and artists to contribute to add values to conventional playground design to create more innovative playground equipment for local rapidly growing children and youth community.
