Young children would swing beneath a giant colourful hot-air balloon in this proposal for a sculpture park in Queens by Australian architect Jesse Lockhart-Krause.
Jesse Lockhart-Krause developed the Balloon Swing for the Folly 2015 sculpture competition, organised by The Architectural League.
Related story: Balloon Chair by h220430 seems to float above the ground
The design and style is intended for a clearing in between trees at the Socrates Sculpture Park, located beside the East River in New York’s Lengthy Island City.
“The colourful and flamboyant hot-air balloon, tethered to the ground, supports a simple rope swing, permitting youngsters a distinctive and memorable ride within the protection of the surrounding trees,” stated Lockhart-Krause.
The American oak seat of the swing would be suspended off the ground by two polypropylene ropes attached to the rip-quit nylon canopy.
Controlled using the balloon’s hot air inflation program, the seat would be lowered to permit its user to clamber on and then lifted slightly to clear the ground by altering the temperature of the air.
Installed by a certified skilled, the gas would feed by way of a single of the aluminium posts that supports the balloon’s bracing ring – maintaining it in spot when not heated at night.
A pipe from the post would connect the burner with the gas tanks, stored in a shallow trench within a security enclosure.
Polypropylene ropes tethered to the ground are also proposed to help maintain the balloon stable.
According to the designer, the elements for the installation would be borrowed from New York’s ballooning community and returned right after use.
“The Balloon Swing offers a stunning higher-influence sculpture, as properly as utilitarian swing,” said the architect. “Its colour and associations to play and childhood adding to the park’s identity and sense of spot.”
The winner of the Folly 2015 competitors will be announced at the beginning of March. The recipient will comprehensive a two-month residency in the park’s outside studio while their style is fabricated, ahead of the installation opens to the public in May possibly.
