Swingtones: Musical Swings Built by Kids

At a summer camp with power tools, the campers helped design their own amusement: a set of musical swings.

Supermass Studio landscape architect Taewook Cha has designed museums, office parks and public plazas. But if you ask him to tell you the highlight of his career thus far, he’d tell you it was designing wooden swings for a kid’s summer camp in New Hampshire last summer.

Swingtones: Musical Swings Built by Kids - Photo 1 of 7 -

Swingtones Project

Campers at Beam Summer Camp in Strafford, New Hampshire, built the Swingtones swings during a three-and-a-half week period last summer.

Image credit: Juan Ude

"This was one of the most interesting things I’ve ever done, and the most rewarding," he says of the Swingtones Project, last year’s focus at Beam Summer Camp in Strafford. Every year, designers across the world submit concepts for the campers to construct during the three-and-a-half-week camp, which have to meet a $10,000 budget. Swingtones, a collaboration between Cha, Sage and Coombe Architects and the camp, evolved from the idea of a kinetic sculpture into a simple set of wooden swings connected to circular, embossed steel chimes, which the children would customize during assembly. The further out a rider swung, the more tension in the line, creating an interactive playground piece. Prototypes fabricated in a Brooklyn warehouse before camp commenced helped the design team meet the needs of the counselors and collaborators, and verified that the technology was buildable by children.

Swingtones: Musical Swings Built by Kids - Photo 2 of 7 -

"The best part for me was when the kid’s starting seeing the swing come together and really understood the whole picture," says Cha. "All the projects at Beam have been exciting and amazing, but I was really proud the students could build and enjoy ours."

Swingtones: Musical Swings Built by Kids - Photo 3 of 7 -

Swingtones Project

Children fabricating the swings during camp. “All the projects at Beam have been exciting and amazing, but I was really proud the students could build and enjoy ours,” says Cha.

Image Credit: Supermass Studio

While Cha’s project has received great feedback, he faced some tough feedback at home from his 10-year-old daughter Ria. She attended the camp and helped assemble the set of eight swings, which created a joyful cacophony in the New England forest. Ria not only helped her Dad come up with the name—she shot down early ideas, like Swing for the Ring—but she also felt empowered by the process. ""Power tools … Now when I see them, I can say 'I can do it!'" she told her father. What architect wouldn’t be beaming with pride?

Swingtones: Musical Swings Built by Kids - Photo 4 of 7 -

Swingtones Project

Mock-up and installation during camp. “The best part for me was when the kid’s starting seeing the swing come together and really understood the whole picture,” says Cha.

image credit: Supermass Studio + Sage & Coombe Architects

The Beam Summer Camp recently announced their 2014 projects, Forest Phantasmagoria and Creatura. This will be the tenth summer for the camp.

Swingtones: Musical Swings Built by Kids - Photo 5 of 7 -

Swingtones Project

Ria Cha, Taewook’s daughter, attended the camp and helped assemble the set of eight swings, which created a joyful cacophony in the New England forest.

image credit: Supermass Studio

Swingtones: Musical Swings Built by Kids - Photo 6 of 7 -

Swingtones Project

Designer Taewook Cha and his family.

Image Credit: Juan Ude

Swingtones: Musical Swings Built by Kids - Photo 7 of 7 -

Swingtones Project

The chimes in the forest. The Beam Summer Camp recently announced their 2014 projects, Forest Phantasmagoria and Creatura. This will be the tenth summer for the camp.

Image Credit: Juan Ude

Patrick Sisson
During the course of his career writing about music and design, Patrick Sisson has made Stefan Sagmeister late for a date and was scolded by Gil Scott-Heron for asking too many questions.

Published

Last Updated

Get the Dwell Newsletter

Be the first to see our latest home tours, design news, and more.