We play You play. Giancarlo Mazzanti develops Architectural Toy Series inspired by Bogota Forest of Hope

Giancarlo Mazzanti and his architecture firm El Equipo de Mazzanti, has developed a line of toys inspired by their playful Bosque de la Esperanza sports center on the outskirts of Bogotá, Colombia. The first edition of the “We Play You Play” toy series inspired by the firm’s architectural project, the Bosque de la Esperanza toy set embodies Mazzanti’s ethos of “using the playful as a design tool.”

We play You play. Giancarlo Mazzanti. Courtesy of El Equipo Mazzanti

The Mazzanti team has a special interest in the research of play and its use as a design tool to engage and trigger social behaviors within communities impacted by their designs. Forest of Hope / Bosque de la Esperanza is a sports center located in the municipality of Soacha near Bogotá (Colombia) designed in 2011.

The sports center has a total area of 1,744 m² of which 700 m² are covered by a structure that “evokes a group of trees as a symbol of unity, nature and hope”. The space is a meeting place where the community practices sports and participates in educational or recreational activities creating bonds of cooperation among the inhabitants.

The Bosque de la Esperanza / Forest of Hope is a project made of modules, able to grow and adapt to different situations. Each of the modules is a polyhedron of 12 faces, that is to say, a dodecahedron. The materials used are expanded mesh, round metal tube and translucent tiles

The Bosque de la Esperanza set therefore contains 16 modular pieces and 30 connectors, made of 100% recyclable polypropylene and magnets on all side, as well as 20 polypropylene connectors, 10 metal connectors, two cotton bags for storage, and a multilingual brochure. The Mazzanti Team uses the playful as a design tool, with complex geometries igniting a cognitive element, and creative challenge.

"We believe that the value of architecture lies not only in it but in what it produces. We are interested in producing actions, changes, and relationships; This will allow us to develop open forms, patterns or organizations that act in the construction of social actions."

The series is set to be presented for the first time at the Spielwarenmesse 2019 toy fair in Nuremberg, Germany.

Bosque de la Esperanza / Forest of Hope by Giancarlo Mazzanti. Courtesy of El Equipo Mazzanti

We play You playBosque de la Esperanza / Forest of Hope by Giancarlo Mazzanti. Courtesy of El Equipo Mazzanti. Giancarlo Mazzanti. Courtesy of El Equipo Mazzanti

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Giancarlo Mazzanti

Giancarlo Mazzanti (1963, Barranquill, Colombia) is the director of El Equipo de Mazzanti. He studied Architecture at University of Javeriana in Bogotá, 1987, with PhD in History and Theory in Architecture and Industrial Design, 1991, at University of Florence, Italy.

He has been professor at University of Javeriana, Andes and Tadeo Lozano in Bogotá. He has participated as speaker at University of Princeton, Pratt, Yale, Berkeley, Venize, Monterrey, Buenos Aires, Católica del Perú among others.

He has been awarded as winner of the XX Bienal Colombiana de Arquitectura in the public spaces category in 2006, in the Bienal Iberoamericana in the Best Architecture Building category in 2008 and in the Bienal Panamericana de Arquitectura in the architecture design category in 2008.