Hollaway, who was commissioned for the project by billionaire Roger De Haan, recently told Dezeen that “We see this as an opportunity to put Folkestone on the map. To the best of our knowledge this has never been done anywhere else in the world.” The park’s ambitious three-story plan certainly aims to impress, offering facilities for both skateboarders and BMX riders to hone their freestyling and tricks. There will also be a boxing ring (operated by a local boxing club), an 11-meter-high climbing wall, a café, a first aid center, and a rooftop terrace present to complete the ultimate skaters’ paradise.

Located on the site of an old bingo hall in the center of Folkestone, the project is meant to be a lot more than a fun, tricked-out space and architectural centerpiece. More importantly, Holloway wants F51 to be a draw for the area’s youth through engagement and community involvement, with the end goal of revitalizing and re-energizing the small town of Folkestone. “If you make childhood meaningful through education, sport, and recreation, then it’s more likely [youth] will invest in their town and the future…that is what true regeneration is about,” the architect said at the outset of the project.

Replacing the old harborside skatepark also owned by De Haan, the park will definitely be a striking addition to the town. Currently under construction, the structure’s three stories tower above the rest of nearby Tontine Street, looking eerily similar to the prow of an enormous concrete ship. A true work of art described as a “giant piece of pottery” by local artist Matt Rowe, who has been documenting F51’s progress since the beginning, the skatepark was created using polystyrene molds set with rebar, which were then sprayed into their more finished concrete forms. The process is not only artistic (think ceramics), but a crucial part of one of the park’s signature features: a suspended concrete bowl located on the first floor that’s perfect for the likes of BMXers and skateboarders looking to trick, jump, and ride with reckless abandon.

The open space, with its “refined skate surfaces” and reinforced concrete pillars, will also be a fully immersive experience, with the acoustics playing an important part in creating the park’s enigmatic and energetic ambience. Initially described by Halloway as a “controlled adrenaline facility,” the park offers opportunities for boarders and BMXers of all skill levels to showcase their skills. And even though it’s being designed with safety in mind, the park will nonetheless offer an exhilarating way for locals to ollie, 360, and shred to their hearts’ content – all in the small English town of Folkestone.

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“Colorama Skatepark,” set in an old 20th-century warehouse renovated by French architect Patrick Bouchain in 2004, is an installation created as part of Lille’s World Capital of Design 2020. Commissioned by La Condition Publique (the cultural institution currently occupying the warehouse), the indoor skatepark fuses the architecture of the space with new ramps and brightly-colored details.

The brick walls are reinvigorated with shoes of peach and pink, overlaid with bold murals in neon green, orange, red, and yellow. The concrete pillars that punctuate the interiors are also colored, making them feel like a more active part of the design of the space. Ilori’s colors and motifs derive, in part, from the details of the building, while the skateable features were developed in collaboration with local skateboarders and Decathlon skateboarding product manager Jean-Philippe Rode.

Those elements include two corner quarter pipes with banked ends, a volcano ramp, and a central hybrid module. All of these obstacles were made using FSC-certified recycled paper from Skatelite, a renowned manufacturer of premium skate ramp surfaces used by pro skaters. If you’re not familiar with the ins and outs of designing a skatepark, using paper for this purpose might sound odd, but Skatelite’s products are weather-resistant and nearly indestructible, designed to deliver a balance of speed and grip.

As you can probably imagine, the way projects like this are carried out has changed substantially due to the pandemic. Ilori participated remotely in the construction process during the coronavirus lockdown, overseeing La Condition Publique’s staff as they built and papered the new indoor skate park.

“It was important for me and La Condition Publique to design a skatepark that was inclusive and not intimidating but inviting for all ages and all levels of skateboarders,” Ilori says. “They really wanted to celebrate one of the different ways La Condition Publique, a cultural venue, can be used to bring people together, and they felt that I could create this experience.”

Colorama aims to engage the growing skater community in Lilles, France, also inviting BMX riders and other urban sports athletes to partake in the fun. Whether they’re engaging in skating, dance, basketball, or parkour, users get to enjoy a highly unique street art-inspired environment. The park opened in September 2020, and in the future, it’ll also host events and classes, including educational and employment opportunities.

“This project also finds its place in la Condition Publique’s will to forge a bond with its neighborhood,” reads the project’s press release. “By inviting neighbors to a warm and family-friendly space dedicated to sports, it allows them to gather together and get to grips with this cultural place, where they may [otherwise] feel as ‘outsiders/outcasts.'”

“La Condition Publique also shelters not less than 20 organizations from cultural and creative sectors and accompanies its neighbors in realizing their projects. In addition to this, it strives to enhance collaboration with the social, urbanistic, and associative actors in Pile, an underprivileged neighborhood in Roubaix where the venue is located. In that respect, la Condition Publique searches to organize rendezvous in various forms in order to generate new dialogs within this community.”

Ilori, who began his practice in 2011 as an upcycled furniture designer, draws many cultural influences together into his trademark visuals, including traditional Nigerian parables and West African fabrics. He likes each piece to tell a story, often bringing “Nigerian verbal traditions into playful conversation with contemporary design.”

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Okuda San Miguel continues his career of taking street art to new heights with “Kaos Temple,” a remarkable renovation that transformed the chapel into a sanctuary for skateboarders. The original structure, designed by architect Manuel del Busto and built in 1912, was in rough shape, falling apart after many years of neglect.

Collaborating with the Church Brigade skate group and sponsor Red Bull, San Miguel got to work on the rainbow-colored project, painting the walls, vault, and glasswork in his distinctive geometric style. Taking inspiration from pop surrealism and traditional indigenous art, San Miguel often paints animals and faces, saying he likes using a wide variety of bright colors for his portraits to symbolize multiculturalism.

The artist didn’t start with any preconceived ideas when he first started planning the design for this project. Kaos Temple came together almost by intuition. San Miguel simply went inside and allowed his imagination to fill in the blanks, using the architecture itself as a guide. For large specs like this, he typically starts with a latex primer and spray paints over it. He likes using spray paint because it’s a forgiving method, allowing him to quickly correct mistakes — or decide he likes them enough to keep them.

The name of the project comes from San Miguel’s own “Kaos Star,” a large three-dimensional metal sculpture with many points. A crowdfunding campaign helped the project come to life, and it remains one of the artist’s largest and most impressive works. Skaters travel from all over the world to experience this highly unique indoor skate park.

If you ever get a chance to see it in person, it would be highly worth your while to spend as much time as you can just taking in all of the details. You’ll spot many of San Miguel’s favorite motifs, including skulls, owls, monkeys, bulls, dogs, eyes, nude figures, and of course, the multi-pointed star.

The artist describes this abandoned-church-turned-skate-park as “a magical and alluring work” that represents a creative expression of cultural vibrancy to promote new arts spaces. He’s certainly earned the attention of the public, and it would be cool to see more projects in this vein — whether from San Miguel himself or from other artists he has inspired.

“I need to create in order to be happy and to feel good,” he said in a 2016 interview with Fluoro. “Art is the meaning of my life. When I am working on the lift in a big building and see the movement of the cars and people in the streets, I feel freedom and alive. I am out of the mechanic capitalist world, closer to the sky.”

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Most commonly associated with sports, leather furniture, pool tables, and refrigerators dedicated exclusively to beer, man caves are seen as places where men can relax and be themselves. In the popular imagination, these spaces are ugly, gleefully disheveled, and probably smell a little funky. But some proponents of the man cave argue that they can be just as thoughtfully designed as any other interior space — all it takes is the incorporation of a few decidedly “masculine” features and aesthetic sensibilities.

This spacious lounge by Inhouse Brand Architects in Cape Town, South Africa is one example of a refined take on the man cave trope. Measuring just over 2,000 square feet in size, it occupies a previously underutilized segment of a luxurious residence, providing a new “industrial-inspired dream pad” for the family’s teenage son and his friends. The designers tailored the space to his interests, which include skating, surfing, playing pool, and watching television.

In fact, a private indoor skate bowl serves as the crown jewel of this teen lounge, taking up an entire room. Getting it into place was no easy feat — the designers originally envisioned the bowl as a stepped-down recess, but as it turned out, the structure couldn’t support the weight of its framework. Instead, they removed an entire floor of the home and replaced it with timber fins, flexible plywood, and polystyrene supports.

“To embellish this remarkable feature, emerging South African street artist Jack Fox applied his signature illustrations to the walls surrounding the bowl,” say the architects. “The celebrated artist worked without a set design and completed the impromptu artwork in a twelve-hour, nonstop operation.”

“Another striking design feature comes in the form of a grandiose, curved timber wave that cascades from the ceiling down to the floor to create an extraordinary zone for watching movies. This ‘wave’ is crafted out of steel fins that are clad in timber and lit up with three LED strips. It is kitted out with surround sound to produce a genuine movie theater experience.”

A skateboard rack beside the bowl shows off the teenage resident’s most prized possessions and allows them to double as art. The space is primarily black and white and full of stark contrasts, with a concrete ceiling setting off the rugged materiality of the skate bowl area beneath it. It’s a retreat that’s sure to make many a teen boy envious, but let’s be real: plenty of teen girls (and adults of all genders, for that matter) wouldn’t mind having a space like this to call their own.

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