Divercity Architects Trac

Project: Amusement arcade
Location: Greece
Project Status: Competition entry
Collaborators: Katerina Kourkoula, Aoife Considine, Eleni Meladaki, Christina Stafylaki, architects
Alkisti Skarlatou, lighting designer

Architectural competition upon invitation, 1st prize 2011

A design proposal for Gold’s new amusement arcades in Greece, where the space is based on the relationship between the player/user and the slot machines.

The screen plays a key role in this relationship - a 'landscape' of colours and sounds in constant movement and rearrangement. The rotation of the elements, the instant pause and the rearrangement on a comprehensible grid describes a repetitive ritual. The button makes a promise that the player cannot resist.

The grid of the screen is slightly distorted and applied to the ceiling. It defines a new geometry that organises the space below. The slot machines are placed into the grid following the guidelines of the roof's geometry and the player/user can freely navigate themselves among them. The other functional areas, the entrance, the bar and the manager's office are also defined and shaped by the same guidelines.

The repetitive diamond-like shape 'fills' the grid on the ceiling. The height of this prototype varies to three different sizes to create a better fluxuation through the space. In every unit is a light source. The 'diamonds' also merge to create larger single units - a key element for the definition of space and which indicate the position of the 'carousels'.