Serious Fun: Architecture Beyond Form and Function

Bold color, dynamic light and playful material strategies transform everyday buildings, elevating architecture beyond shelter or form.

Serra Utkum Ikiz

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Color and light shape how we feel and how we connect with the spaces around us. A place without light can feel unsafe at night, while the same spot can feel warm and welcoming in daylight. Colors bring identity, energy and emotion, while light changes their effect throughout the day, making architecture alive and ever-changing.

Playful design is what elevates architecture above shelter or form. Playfulness gives us the chance to think outside of the box, to learn alternative ways of engaging with our environment and to experience joy in unexpected settings.

In recent years, playful architecture has become increasingly important: the use of bold color often gives way to experimental forms and dynamic lighting. The winning projects from the 13th A+Awards reflect this approach, showing how playful use of color and light can transform a range of typologies, from installations to public art to housing.

Boulder Park: The First 3D Concrete-Printed Playground

by XISUI Design, Jinan, China

Jury Winner & Popular Choice Winner, Architecture + Joy, 13th Architizer A+Awards

Covering 139,930 square feet (13,000 square meters), the park combines natural boulder forms with playful structures for children and families. The 3D printing process gives the concrete surfaces a layered, rock-like texture, blending with the landscape. The playground includes climbing caves, water play areas and forest gardens, where slides, swings and tunnels are hidden among stone-like forms. Light and shadow move across the textured surfaces, highlighting curves and openings. Water features add reflections and sound, turning play into an exploration of nature.

Zhangbei Mirage

by Puri Lighting Design, Zhangjiakou, China

Popular Choice Winner, Architecture + Light, 13th Architizer A+Awards

The structure is made of solid concrete wrapped in a steel framework. At night, carefully placed lights transform the building into a glowing lantern. Using different beam angles and wattages, uplights highlight the steel frame and create depth between shadow and brightness. The lighting design uses pure white 4000K light, giving the building a clean, calm feeling. From a distance, the structure appears light and transparent, as if floating in the field. The balance of strong form and soft light makes the building feel both monumental and delicate.

Buji Residences

By Ballistic Architecture Machine (BAM), Shenzhen, China

Popular Choice Winner, Architecture + Color, 13th Architizer A+Awards

Ballistic Architecture Machine (BAM) designed Buji Residences in Shenzhen as a lively urban housing project full of color and play. The landscape mixes bold playground structures, patterned paths, and calm gardens. At the center is the “Playscraper” — a tall climbing structure that acts as both playground and landmark.

In the second phase, a bright magenta corridor leads residents to the pool, adding vibrancy to the daily journey. Community spaces like Dance Moon Plaza glow with disco balls and purple lights, turning evenings into festive gatherings. In contrast, quiet gardens offer peace, with moon gates, themed plantings and shaded retreats.

House on Lake Como

by J.MAYER.H, Como, Italy

Jury Winner, Architecture + Color, 13th Architizer A+Awards

J.MAYER.H renovated an 18th-century villa on Lake Como, carefully blending history with modern design. The house opens directly to the water, offering wide views of the lake. Inside, each room is painted in a single glossy color: light shades for rooms facing the lake to reflect sunlight and water patterns, and darker tones for inward-facing rooms, creating cool retreats. The shiny paint highlights irregular textures, preserving the sense of age.

Special objects such as marble bathrooms, unique lighting, and painted ceilings by artist Matthieu Cossé add contemporary touches within the historic shell. Outside, the garden was redesigned with a stone-lined pool, new dock and artworks.

Dancing Stone Forest

by WAG Architects 犬摇建筑, Harbin, China

Jury Winner, Pop-Ups and Temporary, 13th Architizer A+Awards

WAG Architects’ Dancing Stone Forest uses simple form and material to connect people with nature, showing how softness and strength can coexist in harmony. Inspired by prehistoric stone circles such as Stonehenge, the installation uses 30 large white inflatable pillars arranged in a spiral. Unlike rearock, these “soft stones” sway when touched, inviting adults and children alike to interact in ways they otherwise wouldn’t.

The white color of the soft stones stands out against the green wetland and reflects light, creating a glowing effect in nature. Later, at night, the pillars take on a new dimension as their fabric is illuminated by light that imbues them with mellow yellows, cotton candy pinks, creamsicle tints and warm indigos. Visitors can walk inside the circle, entering a space that feels both ancient and new. Children can hide and run between the soft pillars, while adults see the work as a reminder of time and history.

Diffuse Mirror

by António Costa Lima Arquitectos, Portugal

Jury Winner, Architecture + Light, 13th Architizer A+Awards

António Costa Lima Arquitectos designed Diffuse Mirror, a small chapel on the edge of a dam in Portugal. Built with pine wood poles placed close together, the structure looks both fragile and strong. Light filters through the small gaps between the wooden posts, changing the space throughout the day. Inside, the play of light and shadow creates reflections that feel like moving water.

A single horizontal window at floor level frames the surface of the dam, while a cross-shaped wooden pole rises through the chapel, linking sky and water. In winter, water reaches close to the floor, making the space feel as if it floats.