V-Park

Dalian carries football in its blood. The city's club colors, carried from Shide to Wanda and now to the Dalian Professional team that plays at the neighboring Sports Center, are blue, and the Vanke V-Park playground sits just north of that stadium. Landscape architect PDS draws on a classic football for its abstract geometric vocabulary, translating the city's never-say-die sporting spirit into a children's realm where dynamic low-poly bear sculptures act out the game. An entrance cascade of water and light gives the impression of living energy, leading visitors in; the architecture stands on mirror-like water that dialogues with the bear opposite, composing a rich picture. The courtyard continues the blue palette in mirror-polished stainless steel, while planting beds evolved through many polygon studies into geometric shapes sliced by extended building lines, setting hard polygons against soft greenery. A children's play field must serve many ages: it should allow parents to play alongside rather than merely supervise, and different age bands need different apparatus. The design therefore partitions activity by movement and stillness, equipment, supervision, shade and seating. A monumental yet endearing low-poly climbing bear perches at the entrance as a landmark, its crawling pose and football-derived geometry creating a recognizable contrast with the horizontal lines flanking the gate; on the lawn, a family of low-poly bears strikes footballer poses, including a goalkeeper already in position, as if a match were about to kick off. Rather than remain inert sculpture, the bears double as large climbing structures, and themed benches repeat the football geometry in dialogue with the paving. Using Dalian's sea blue and transformed football elements to compose geometric courts, the designers pack the 12,000-square-meter site with slides, climbing and imaginative play, completed in 2019.