London Design Festival is set to join the crazy golf craze as it and curator Sir Paul Smith launch a Kickstarter campaign to bring their Visionary Crazy Golf to Trafalgar Square.
If their bid to raise £120,000 is successful, the designer golf course will take over the London landmark from 16–22 September to coincide with the Festival itself.
Among the acclaimed and emerging designers and architects Smith called upon to participate in the Landmark Project are British artist Mark Wallinger, famed designer Tom Dixon and Japanese studio Atelier Bow-Wow, among others. The late Zaha Hadid also designed a golf course of her own – a sinuous course undulating across two levels and elegantly snaking between the Square's lions – which will be overseen by her practice in her memory.
'All of the designers I have invited to take part have been given free reign to be playful, original and have fun,' explains Smith. His own hole will transform the steps of the National Gallery into a riot of coloured stripes, with a turf-topped, neo-classical clubhouse echoing the museum behind.
Equally vivid will be Camille Walala's course, which will bear her trademark tribal pop prints. Other stand out designs include Ordinary Architecture's cross-section of a pigeon, designed to 'digest' golf balls; Atelier Bow-Wow's netted driving range; and Tom Dixon's funnel and pneumatic tube contraption.
As of today (25 April) members of the public are invited to pledge funds through Kickstarter, in turn receiving a 'reward' by one of the designers involved. (Smith, as curator and ambassador of the scheme, has created a line of limited edition accessories including socks and scarves.) And, of course, the opportunity to have a go on what is sure to be the most entertaining golf course of all time come September….
The Visionary Crazy Golf campaign site launches today, 25 April. Pictured: the late Zaha Hadid’s undulating course design
British designer Tom Dixon has conceived an elaborate funnel and pneumatic tube contraption
Ordinary Architecture’s cross-section of a pigeon, designed to ’digest’ golf balls
The key feature of Camille Walala’s course, will be her trademark tribal pop prints
Japanese studio Atelier Bow-Wow intend to go large, with a netted driving range
Mark Nixon’s Neon studio – the firm responsible for 2015’s mesmerising ’Shiver House’ – will doubtless be seeking to harness the fascinating bio-mimicry of their extant work
’All of the designers I have invited to take part have been given free reign to be playful, original and have fun,’ explains Smith, pictured here in Trafalgar Square
INFORMATION
The Visionary Crazy Golf campaign is LIVE on Kickstarter