The Benefit Of The Dot
Play house impels kids of all ages to ditch devices for some hands-on fun.
London’s boutique and foodie go-to place Coal Drops Yard is known for fusing Victorian heritage and contemporary architecture in a canal-side setting. In early 2020, it became a lot more colorful with the opening of pattern designer Camille Walala’s life-sized play house made with Legos.
The interactive installation, The House of Dots, resembles a regular two-story house with a living room, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and surely enough, a disco room and an eight-foot slide. Everything in the house from the walls and floors to the rugs and furniture was made of Lego Dots, the Danish toy company’s latest mosaic-tile-like concept. It took 180 children and a group of adult Lego aficionados to put together about two million “building blocks” inside a complex of eight adjoining shipping containers. Visitors were encouraged to get involved by making their own patterns and taking home what they’d designed ahead of the release of Lego Dots in March.
Originally from France, Walala’s vibrant, bold, and optimistic style is found worldwide from London’s street furniture to a luxury hotel in Mauritius and an Arkansas gas station. At a time when children’s play is increasingly hinged on digital screens, collaborative installations like The House of Dots show the benefit of a more hands-on approach when it comes to developing fine motor skills, creativity, mathematical thinking, spatial awareness, and teamwork in kids and adults alike.
Sources: Coal Drops Yard (House of Dots) | Camille Walala | Image: John Phillips/Getty