2017
LUDUS
Reappropriating an industrial relic through play
00 / Summary
LUDUS was a proposed interactive installation for the surviving acid container at Stigsborg Brygge. It imagined the industrial relic repurposed as a place for play, where physical effort on two simulated generators would become visible as a competitive light display suspended overhead.
The proposal aimed to give the old structure a new social function without erasing its industrial character.
01 / Site
A site in transition
Stigsborg Brygge was (and still is) undergoing a transformation from industrial harbourfront into a new residential district. We explored the site in its transitory stage in direct collaboration with municipal representatives.
This project focused on an enduring acid silo, as one of the few physical remnants of the area's industrial past. Rather than treating it as an object to preserve at a distance, we wanted to reappropriate the space beneath it.
The container already defines a peculiar architectural space of its own, comprised of an enormous spherical silo supported by a ring of columns; its oxidized steel and bare concrete tell of its industrial past. LUDUS proposed adding activity to that existing enclosure — a reason to enter it, remain there and interact with other people.
The project was an exercise in placemaking, using an existing landmark that had lost its original function.
02 / Intervention
Breaking open the geode
The visual concept developed from the structure itself.
We compared the acid container to a geode; its crude exterior concealing something precious inside. The precious centre being both metaphoric, in the form of industrial and architectural legacy, and more plainly in the form of our crystalline light-game. From a distance the rusted industrial shell would remain largely unchanged. Only by walking underneath it would visitors discover the luminous structure suspended within.
We thought of it as "breaking open the ungainly geode, revealing its crystalline interior.”
The crystal therefore became more than a display. It was conceived as a new interior focal point for the old structure — visually contrasting rust, oxidation and graffiti with light, colour and activity.
03 / Interaction
Work becomes light
The hypothesis: giving the installation ludic properties would encourage visitors to stay and interact. Thus, LUDUS was built around a simple feedback loop: physical effort should produce a visible consequence.
Two participants would pedal mock-generators beneath the container. Their effort would illuminate the crystal in red or blue, or purple with equal contribution. The interaction could become competitive or cooperative, but the underlying principle remained the same: exertion was translated into an immediate change in the environment.
Developing the visual feedback became as important as generating the input itself. An early digital prototype showed that an attractive display was insufficient if participants could not clearly perceive the effect of their actions.
The project summarized in a poster.
04 / Exhibition
Exhibiting an idea
LUDUS was never installed at Stigsborg. At Aalborg University, we exhibited the concept and its constituent interactions.
A scaled model placed miniature bikes and an illuminated crystal beneath a reproduction of the acid container, communicating the intended relationship between architecture and installation. Alongside it, a button-controlled game demonstrated the competitive light interaction, while a hand-cranked generator explored the connection between physical labour, electricity and visual feedback.
The representations could explain the proposal and isolate parts of its interaction, but they could not reproduce the experience of standing beneath the actual industrial structure.
What they did reveal was that the basic game was immediately legible. Visitors competed, cooperated and laughed together, describing it as “nice, simple, and fun.”
The exhibition therefore demonstrated the social potential of the interaction. The experience of turning the acid container itself into a place for play remained a proposal.
05 / Additional media
Gallery
