LightMeUp
LightMeUp is a futuristic playground that aims to reconnect neighborhoods and bring back play to the streets. Kids are rewarded with a light show in the evening for generating energy through play. This light show is an event for everyone in the neighborhood, with a sustainability theme that teaches children about green energy through play.
Playgrounds used to be a central meeting place in a neighbourhood. These days the playgrounds are often empty. Playing a game on your phone can be more exciting than playing in an outdated playground. But in the end, this could even cause people to be lonely. We think it is time to revise the playgrounds and make them the central meeting place of the neighbourhood again. We also see this as a chance to learn children about sustainability through play.
A playground that informs about and makesuse of green energy and that creates a sense of collaboration and connectivity. Thiswill be done by including play equipment that can generate electricitywhen they are used by children playing. Once a central battery at the playground hasbeen completely filled up, a light show will take place that evening atthat playground. When there will be a light show, a screen on the central batterywill show the time, theme and how many people there are comingaccording to the app. This can also be seen in the LightMeUp app.
The play equipment
The play equipment is naturally at the core of the concept. The concept sticks with the familiar play equipment, but revise them so they generate electricity. The play equipment will contain technologies such as dynamos to turn the movement into directly usable electricity. The equipment will contain smart electronics to take part in the entire system of the concept. By using a bluetooth connection, the play equipment notifies how much energy is being generated.This information can then be used to ‘charge’ an external battery present at the playground. The battery gets notified about how much electricity is generated, which will be 10-fold and charged into the battery by solar panels. When the system is metaphorically fully charged by the children through the use of the equipment, a light and sound show will take place.
The light show
When there is enough energy produced and the battery is filled, there will be a light show at the playground at the end of that day. The show consists of lights and sounds. There will be a projector which will project lights on the ground and in the air. The equipment of the playground also has lights inside, these lights will light up when you play on the equipment and let them move. There will be sounds as an extra effect to the show. The lights and sounds will be different every time, depending on the theme of the show. The themes are about sustainability. One of the goals is to teach the children something about this topic. Before the show there will be some information and facts about the theme in the app. The children can read through it with their parents and get ready to go together to the lights how.
The app
The app for this concept is the essential part that creates connectivity and clarity. The app is the hub for when you are not at a playground. It functions to show a map of the neighbourhood with all its playgrounds, to give an oversight of how many people are playing at each playground, how much of the battery is already filled, where upcoming light shows will take place, and to inform about these lightshows. The app will inform parents and children about wherein the city a light show will take place. This is to motivate people to visit new places (playgrounds). Children can have new places to explore and it could result in tighter connected neighbourhoods.
