Glowb Cubby Challenge
2017 Winner - Kids Under Cover Cubby House Challenge
As a part of the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show for 2017, Playce was invited to participate in a cubby challenge for the charity Kids Under Cover, the work of which involves providing temporary housing units to help prevent youth homelessness.
Each of the five studios involved designed and built a cubby to be auctioned off with all proceeds going towards Kids Under Cover. We teamed up with Ben Gilbert from Agency of Sculpture to design and build our cubby, called the Glowb.
Project Details
After numerous creative sessions in the office, a loose design emerged, based on the initial ideas of a spherical space concept, of a giant globe/meteor/planet which would allow for tactile play, quiet refuge for kids of all ages and also to become a sculptural element once it’s use a ‘cubby’ was outgrown.
We completed several construction sessions at the artists workshop, learning skills including steel bending, polishing, and tack welding. As we built the design changed on site with input from everyone which was a fantastic, valuable experience to be a part of.
The result of this process is the Glowb. A tactile, climbing, sculptural sphere, built from elemental materials of stainless steel, brushed copper and stone. The interior filled with sand and steel sheets beaten to create a meteoric pattern. Coloured orbs inlaid in the steel sheets to reflect colour and shadows on the hollow drum-like interior.
The cubbies were auctioned off, with the Glowb breaking the record to raise $25,000 AUD for Kids Under Cover charity. It is now installed in a community arts park so it can be enjoyed by the public.
