A playful design for a toy library and outdoor playground has secured recognition in this year’s Architects’ Journal (AJ) awards, for BA Architecture graduate Jessica Zhan.
Jessica, who graduated this year, was highly commended for her project Let’s Play: Leith Civic Centre and Social Housing.
The design centred around the concept of “play” as a vehicle for learning, creative practice and memory-making. It combined an upgraded space for Leith Toy Hospital, a toy library, storytelling centre and outdoor playground with social housing above.
The toy library and playground’s upcycled equipment grants children of all backgrounds equal access to self-directed play. Play is also reflected in the building’s structure - loadbearing masonry created a frame onto which bio-based and reclaimed ‘dressings’ could be placed. Residents would have agency to dress their homes, allowing the building to transform as needs change.
The judges praised the project for its “uniform playful approach”. They thought the project demonstrated “a real rigour and understanding in terms of whole-life carbon, material choices and circular economy”.
Jessica said: “It was a surreal moment when I found out about the AJ Award Highly Commended. Above the rigour and intensity I try to put into my work, I always aspire to design and create from the heart, so it gives me joy when other people can recognise that.
“Since it was my final design project at ESALA, I think I also meant it as sort of a love letter to the people and stories I’ve encountered throughout my degree - I wanted to pour in everything I was so graciously taught. I’m now back in China and working on a local design project! After a formal education, I’m welcoming the contrast of grassroots (and much less glamorous) projects that expose me to sides of architecture I haven’t yet explored in university.”
Congratulations also to ESALA tutors Kieran Hawkins, Nicky Thomson, and Darren Park.
View Jessica Zhan's portfolio on the 2024 Graduate Show website
