Rest and Play
Dulwich Picture Gallery’s new ArtPlay pavilion, designed by Carmody Groarke and HoLD collective, was inspired by the gallery’s architecture and collections (image: Luca Piffaretti).
Inside Dulwich Picture Gallery’s new ArtPlay pavilion, a child is sitting on the floor cocooned in soft toys shaped like tree branches, while another sways on a swing, her feet reaching up towards murals of golden-edged clouds. Large oval windows look out over croissant-shaped hills designed by landscape artist Kim Wilkie and a psychedelic tongue-shaped slide by artist Harold Offeh, acting as a portal between two wonderlands.
The pavilion, designed by architects Carmody Groarke, sits within a newly created sculpture park that is intended to open up Dulwich Picture Gallery’s gardens to neighbouring communities. “We are so fortunate to be a gallery located within three acres of green space,” says Jennifer Scott, director of the gallery. “But they were underutilised.” After testing two temporary pavilions – one subtle structure made of mirrors and translucent screens by architecture practice IF_DO, and a flamboyant, multicoloured castle created by designer Yinka Ilori and architecture practice Pricegore – the gallery decided to invest in a permanent design. “We learned that what draws people here is the idea of something new and exciting within a space that feels familiar,” Scott says, explaining that the design is inspired by Dulwich Picture Gallery’s architecture and collections.
The pavilion features large oval windows to connect visitors to the landscape, and an oversized canopy that offers shelter for people to sit outside and enjoy the gardens (image: Luca Piffaretti).
Designed by architect Sir John Soane in the 19th century, Dulwich Picture Gallery is celebrated as the world’s first purpose-built art gallery. Featuring celebrated details such as roof lanterns that diffuse natural light without the need for windows, the building continues to act as something of a blueprint for the design of many contemporary museums and galleries. While Carmody Groarke’s design picks up on several of Soane’s design details – its central skylight references the gallery’s roof lanterns, for example, and its stepped wooden facade is a nod to Soane’s intricate exterior brickwork – the pavilion intentionally connects its visitors with the outside world. “We felt that this building should be a bit of a counterpoint to Soane’s windowless building,” Groarke says, gesturing to the oversized windows on each wall which frame the gardens like fishbowls. “It should extend its welcome beyond its interior to the exterior, and use the wider park as a room to experience.” An oversized canopy also bridges these two realms, hanging over the windows like a wide-brimmed hat to provide shade for people sitting inside and outside the building. “I’m going to spin the canopies as an all weather amenity,” Groarke says, gesturing to the dry enclaves the canopies create in spite of the rainfall outside. “The garden landscape art can be experienced in all weathers.”
HoLD art collective designed a slide decorated with golden sunbeams as a reference to Jacob’s Dream, an 18th-century painting in the gallery’s collections (image: Luca Piffaretti).
Artists Sarah Marsh and Stephanie Jefferies, cofounders of HoLD art collective, also infused the interiors with details from the gallery’s paintings that depict the natural world. “We thought the elements of weather are something all children have experienced, no matter their background,” Jefferies says, explaining that the pair created an interactive playground that invites children to step inside the gallery’s landscapes. A wooden slide decorated with golden sunbeams, for instance, references the glowing sky in Jacob’s Dream, an 18th-century painting by Arent de Gelder that depicts angels descending a ladder down to earth. Here at the pavilion, however, children wearing star-shaped hats are sliding down from the heavens, while a baby crawls to the edge of a miniature bridge inspired by the paintings of Giovanni Antonio Canal and looks across it with wonder. “As you can see, there’s no text anywhere,” Marsh says, explaining that the pair have worked with many different audiences, including asylum seekers, SEN children, people with dementia, and those experiencing grief and loss. “We found that this common language of objects and senses was beneficial to everyone.”
HoLD art collective’s interiors offer spaces for relaxation as well as play (image: Luca Piffaretti).
While the pavilion offers adventures such as crawling through the archways that lead underneath the slide like foxholes, or swaying on a swing next to a wind machine, children are also invited to enjoy moments of calm. Throughout the space, there are soft toys weighted with beads to hang comfortingly on the body, and a vibrating wall inspired by Jacob van Ruisdael’s painting of a rushing waterfall even offers visitors a massage. On a wider scale, Dulwich Picture Gallery has also understood this need for balance; while its collection of historical paintings offers opportunities for investigation and study, its pavilion and gardens enable adventure and relaxation. “Play is not just wild,” Marsh says, describing the need to cater for different moods and experiences. “Play always needs to be combined with rest.”