I am a sucker for well-designed theme parks, the best of which are surreal utopian worlds that combine the gloriously kitschy architectural style of Las Vegas with the airy innocence of a gargantuan candy store.
They also put pedestrians ahead of vehicles, are planned with vast stretches of public open space, and include swathes of luscious planting and water features — if our city centers were more like this, we would undoubtedly be a lot happier, even if it meant our productivity dropped to dangerous low levels at the expense of all the candy floss and rollercoasters distracting us.
In this niche sector of fantastical architectural design and urban planning, graphic artist Takumi has just raised the stakes: He has drawn up an incredibly detailed plan for a theme park based on the much-loved Japanese animation empire, Studio Ghibli.
Takumi’s work in progress…
...and the finished map.
Takumi has thought of everything: For accommodation, you can kick back and relax in Hotel Adriano — featured in Porco Rosso — or the Aburaya Bathhouse, the architectural centerpiece of all-time classic Spirited Away.
Aburaya Batthouse, in the north-west of the park
If you fancy a wild ride, you can hop on Automobile Mountain, with a gun-toting Dora from Castle in the Sky, or swing through the air on Therru’s Dragon from Tales from Earthsea. There are even some cultural institutions within the park, with a gigantic aviation museum featuring a host of flying machines from Jiro’s Birdplane, featured in The Wind Rises, to the Flaptter, also from Castle in the Sky.
Aviation museum and the Cat Bus monorail, in the south-east of the park
Above all of that though, I’d be content just riding around in the Cat Bus monorail all day: what a place. Is there any chance Takumi’s vision could one day become a reality? We can dare to dream…
Yours illustrated,
The Angry Architect
Images via Geekologie