Take a peek at the crazy golf installations for Trafalgar Square by some of the world’s top designers.
Next fall, London’s Trafalgar Square will play host to a designer’s dream version of a crazy golf course—if the Kickstarter campaign behind the project succeeds.
An initiative by designer Paul Smith and the London Design Festival, Visionary Crazy Golf will feature work from a long, star-studded list of designers and artists, including the late Zaha Hadid.
“Camille Walala’s Visionary Crazy Golf installation brings the kaleidoscopic colour of her signature designs to a dynamic 3D landscape.”
The project plans to occupy Trafalgar Square for one week in September 2016, turning it into a crazy golf course open for public participation. The London Design Festival has a tradition of using the ultra-busy Trafalgar Square to stage public art interventions, but this is the largest and most ambitious proposal yet.
The designs for this unique mini putt course run a gamut from futuristic to conceptual to silly. Although Zaha Hadid passed away before this project could be realised, her design studio has stated that it plans to continue her practice without her, keeping her legacy alive.
“Zaha Hadid has designed an undulating course with two levels that traces the shadow of Nelson’s Column.”
Hadid’s crazy golf design is just what you would expect from the visionary architect: fiercely contemporary, with organic lines following the shadow of Nelson’s Column.
Also true to form, designer Camille Walala’s contribution will be a riot of colour, pattern, and geometric shapes. Tokyo-based Atelier Bow-Wow has designed a simple yet unique pink and green driving range. UK-based studio HAT Projects, working with engineer and artist Tim Hunkin, is planning a meditation on life and economy with their piece Downfall, a Rube Goldberg kind of set-up in which the successful player causes a glass of whiskey to be poured at the end of play.
“Ordinary Architecture’s Pigeon.”
It’s hard to say if the work by Ordinary Architecture will be a hit with kids or if it will terrify them: the London-based architects have envisioned a larger-than- life, realistic-looking pigeon. The player aims to hit the ball through the pigeon’s mouth—it then travels through the pigeon’s digestive system and comes out the other end.
Mark Wallinger has perhaps drawn inspiration from his 2013 work Labyrinth for his crazy golf contribution: that project was a series of labyrinth designs installed throughout the London Underground, and his crazy golf design also features a maze.
The industrial designer Tom Dixon gets technical with his design featuring a giant funnel, while London-based studio NEON has proposed a conceptual piece which looks like a miniature city.
“Model of Atelier Bow-Wow’s driving range inspired design”
Curator Paul Smith is planning to use the steps of the National Gallery as the canvas for his piece, which will echo the characteristic stripes of his clothing brand with a multi-coloured series of lanes leading up to the Gallery’s door.
Smith and his team are hoping to raise a cool £120, 000 (That’s $173,202 USD) through Kickstarter to make the project a reality. They’re offering a range of rewards to tempt backers—a pledge of £30 snags you a Camille Walala tote bag, while larger donations are rewarded with tours of Mark Wallinger and Zaha Hadid’s studios (£1,000 and £2,000, respectively).
If you’re a Paul Smith fan, he’s offering up limited edition scarves and socks at pledge rates that won’t break the bank. And for those willing to part with £5000, there’s a chance to tee off on a game of crazy golf with the designer himself.
The Kickstarter campaign will end June 6. Visit London Design Festival’s Visionary Crazy Golf in Trafalgar Square for more info.
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