London Design Festival 2016: a Kickstarter campaign has launched to bring a crazy golf course designed by architects and designers including Tom Dixon, Paul Smith and the late Zaha Hadid to Trafalgar Square in London (+ slideshow).
The organisers of the London Design Festival (LDF) are behind the crowdfunding campaign, which aims to raise £120,000 to realise the Visionary Crazy Golf during the annual design event. If achieved, this figure will be matched by sponsorship.
Artist Mark Wallinger, printmaker Camille Walala, and architecture studios Atelier Bow-Wow, HAT with Tim Hunkin, NEON and Ordinary Architecture have all designed sections of the course – alongside designers Dixon and Smith, and architect Hadid.
"We expect Visionary Crazy Golf to be one of the most popular festival landmark projects to date," said LDF director Ben Evans.
"We're sure it will attract a varied audience, from design aficionados to small children, attracted by the invention, playfulness and creativity of the course."
The section of the course designed by Paul Smith will transform the Trafalgar Square steps into a series of brightly coloured cascading lanes with a Neo-classical clubhouse, while Zaha Hadid – who died suddenly last month – applied her characteristic undulating forms to a two-tiered range planned between the square's lion statues.
Zaha Hadid Architects, which recently announced it would carry on the practice without its figurehead, described the project as a tribute to her legacy.
"On 31 March, Zaha Hadid sadly passed away. Amongst many other architectural initiatives, she was involved in the design of this crazy golf hole – which so evidently reflects the organic forms for which she became so well known," said the firm.
"The practice will continue, and we would like to complete this project as a memorial to her. Zaha taught us to work with curiosity, integrity, passion and determination, everyone at ZHA is committed to continuing this legacy."
Ordinary Architecture, led by former FAT architect Charles Holland and Elly Ward, has designed a hole modelled on a cross section of one of the square's famous pigeons, where the golf ball travels through the bird's digestive system.
Tom Dixon's contribution is a giant funnel-shaped hole, while Turner Prize-winner Mark Wallinger – who previously created a sculpture for the empty fourth plinth in the square – has devised a twisting maze.
Atelier Bow-Wow's design involves a bright green driving range, and HAT's proposal is for construction hoist that drops balls down a track, rewarding the most successful shots with a glass of whiskey.
If the fundraising campaign is successful, the "fun, free and futuristic" crazy golf course will be installed in the square between 16 and 22 September 2016 for the London Design Festival.
The installation would also overlap with the first edition of the London Design Biennale at Somerset House, which will be directed by former Icon editor Christopher Turner.
Members of the public who pledge between £5 and £5,000 towards the Kickstarter fund will receive limited-edition items by the artists and designers involved.
Rewards range from tote bags by Camille Walala to a round of golf with Paul Smith.