Rope Reef by Pedro Giaculli
- Designer
-
Pedro Giaculli
- Education
- Master
- Subject area
- Industrial Design
- Focus area
- Design for Play
- Year
- 2024
- Education project type
- Course
These modules can be connected via arched portals, offering pathways of varying complexity and creating endless configuration possibilities to suit different spaces, budgets, and developmental needs.Children interact with the system by breaking through the elastic barriers, navigating a maze-like structure that encourages both explorative and competitive play. The design prioritizes interesting choices, as players weigh options like choosing easier versus more challenging paths, or exploring interior routes versus venturing outside to re-enter elsewhere. These choices heighten classic games like tag, hide-and-seek,and capture the flag, transforming Rope Reef into an imaginative landscape for dynamic play. Drawing from Sobel’s insights into middle childhood, the system provides children with a thrilling sense of hiddenness while allowingparents visual reassurance. As children move deeper into the modules, overlapping ropes create mesmerizing optical effects that blur the boundary between the outside world and their retreat, encouraging deeper engagement and risk-taking.With infinite configurations, Rope Reef can adapt to a variety of settings. Layouts can be optimized for competitive play, exploratoryadventures, or scaled down for younger children or more constrained environments.
