Barbican Blocks is a dynamic sensory experience for under 5's designed by Co-DB Play for the Barbican Centre.
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Co-DB Play and the Barbican Centre collaborated to create the Barbican Blocks, a set of play components which act as a tool to open up their iconic foyer spaces to a wider audience of under 5’s and their families.
Barbican Blocks is a stack of textured blocks made from easily recognisable everyday materials put together in unusual and unexpected ways. They unpack to create a immersive play landscape, filling any space they inhabit. When stacked up they become a sculptural free-standing cube waiting to be unpacked again. |
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The Blocks are all hand crafted at our workshop in East London. Co-DB Play add new blocks and materials intermittently to expand the sensory possibilities. The design of new blocks are always led by observation and conversations with staff and families interacting with Barbican Blocks. By using a wide range of textures and materials Co-DB Play allows children using the blocks to increase their understanding of the world and their ability to navigate it as they grow older.
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Barbican Blocks empower children and their carers to explore the built environment using their body and their senses. By moving the blocks and placing them carefully children make large scale architectural changes to the space they are in
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At the heart of the project lies the importance of child-led play and the co-design of space. With this interactive kit the Barbican’s youngest visitor become inventive explorers, curating their own experience while discovering and investigating the wider architecture of the Barbican.
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