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Dreamland

Thanet

Project Details

Alteration to existing property

Practice

Space Agency

Dog & Duck Yard , Princeton Street , London , WC1R 4BH , United Kingdom

In 2016 Spaceagency was appointed to work on the Wayfinding and interactive landscape installations for the relaunch of Dreamland heritage theme park in Margate, Kent. The park was being expanded to include a new event space to stage large scale concerts as well as installing many new attractions. Spaceagency created a series of sculptural 3D Letters, made from the letters that form the work 'Dreamland'. Two sets of letters, starting at opposite ends of the park, are paired in sets on an upright and a laying down letter. This trail of installations provides orientation and wayfinding points and at the same time opportunities for sitting and resting. We paired blackened steel on the side with mirror polished distressed steel at the front of the letters, the mirror reflecting the 'Otherworldliness of 'Dream-Land' and the blacked steel providing a robust counterbalance to anchor the letters in the present day. This concept enabled us to reinforce the notion of wonder, whimsy and discovery throughout the park through large scale 'scattered' and arranged text characters spelling out Dreamland but introduced a more grounded and tactile material palette. Heritage and narrative information about the various rides and attractions is displayed on freestanding structures evocative of games of a bygone, romanticised era such as playing or tarot cards.