Designing for Generation Rent
Dexter Moren Associates look to hospitality as they design resident amenities for a new generation priced out of buying.
02/07/2020
4 min read
A kaleidoscope of colour at Birdies sports and social space
Hidden under the iconic Battersea Power Station train arches, interior architecture studio SHED has created a cocktail bar and playful golf course.
28/05/2020
4 min read
Project Team
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Client
That Social Place
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Interior Designer
Shed Design
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Lighting
Fagerhult
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Furniture Provider
Inside Out Contracts
Birdies is a progressive and visually electric sports social hybrid experience, allowing visitors to immerse themselves in the world of crazy golf between visits to the bar.
Shed has produced a visually engaging and surreal interior, with industrial materials sitting alongside neon, plexiglass and a striking graphic narrative that gives every hole both an identity but also real gameplay meaning.
As players progress through the course they are immersed in playful and bold concepts found throughout the course – a kaleidoscope of colour and optical illusions. Each hole has a specific golf themed pun (intended!) – perfect for those who love sport and a goof pun (if only we knew someone like that!).
Lighting specialist, Fagerhult, worked closely with Shed to create a complementary lighting scheme that enhances the design concept and crazy golf experience. Each hole has its own integrated lighting, and Fagerhult strategically placed narrow beam spotlights to highlight key areas throughout the space, angled to draw focus into the design and layout of the nine-hole course.
The pink neon lighting installation suspended above the bar area draws in prospective players as the pink glow spills out onto the street by illuminating the façade whilst, during the evening, rope lighting and pendants work contribute to the immersive atmosphere of the space.
‘When the client asked us to put the crazy back into crazy golf, we did our upmost to do exactly that. The process of conceptualising and creating the scheme and its vibrant cocktail bar was just as much fun and crazy as the final scheme and experience itself,’ said Dave Dalziel, interior architect and designer at Shed.
Shed’s Guide to Birdies Crazy Golf
Hole 1 – Hole in One
Deceptive optical illusion and repeat pattern of holes within a yellow prismatic field give the smart player the opportunistic chance to gain an early advantage. An extruded metal yellow triangle creates a cavernous stage with three step playing levels. Get it right and you could get a hole in one!
Hole 2 – Sweet Spot
Find your own sweet spot and you can get past this hole in a par 3. With large oversized confectionary, resulting in solid and soft for unexpected ball play. Navigate round the ‘All Sorts’ obstacles, through the icing covered doughnut and dripping ice-cream in a playful candy coloured oversized world.
Hole 3 – Hazard
A golf course wouldn’t be a golf course without crazy hazards. Jump the trough at tee-off, fly through the strip curtain and you’re into a real hazard hole. Large chevron fluro-graphics, twinned with ‘transition flash’ strip lights, means this hole is truly one big hazard. Take a leap toward a hidden hole and hope you don’t hit too many hazards on route.
Hole 4 – Strategy (Velocity)
Strategy and luck! Which route will you take? Hard and long up the ramp and take a gamble on which way down – or play it safe. Inspired by 80’s kinetic games like ‘screwball scramble’ and ‘penny drop,’ this is an amusement arcade style full-sized hole with LED light trails and geometric graphics. Getting the ball up into the magic box at the top of the ramp requires a solid tee-off, then it’s pure luck whether you fall down the gravity track to the peg drop wall or out next to the hole.
Hole 5 – Afraid of the Dark (Lights Out)
A lights out interpretation of the saying when a ball just rims the hole or on an easy missed put shot. A full hole immersive dark box. Watch out for the unknows and unseen in this hole. Differing texture surface finishes, undulating floor levels and ball runs. The question is; are you afraid of the dark?
Hole 6 – Bunker (Dugout)
A classic golf hazard flipped on its head on the 6th. No obstacles per se here. Play from the green grass lined bunkers and boxes through the course. Chip out and clear the obstructive purple sand blocks, play through giant abstract fluro-cacti to find the hole at the end of the final half-pipe bunker run.
Hole 7 – Steps
Multiple unknown and hidden holes running within the Tetris-like extruded block could leave you victorious or crestfallen! The trippy contrast floor pattern deceives the natural clear line of your play. But find the hidden shortcut runs between blocks or up the wedge slop and you could find yourself at the end before you know it. It’s all about the expected and best practice spatial awareness on this hole. On the back return it’s time to ‘step’ up your game!
Hole 8 – Infinity & Beyond
Reality says the shortest, but your eyes tell a different story! With an infinity mirror and repeat transition light warp, this hole just goes on and on and on! It might seem like a simple linear single shot, but you must master the central camber otherwise your shot will fall off either side. Accuracy is what counts here, but don’t let the hypnotic illumination and graphic illusion trick you into thinking otherwise.
Hole 9 – Lucky Number
Complete on an oversized roulette and velodrome-style circle drop. Try your luck to see who wins or buys the round at the bar! You could win it or lose it all in a one-shot opportunity here. Let the lucky roulette-style drop determine your final score. Good or bad, it’s a crazy game that can turn in a single hit! One shot, one lucky opportunity….maybe!
