Designed by Hong Kong-based Pal Design in collaboration with Sydney’s FROST* Collective, the creative team behind this project have gone above and beyond the humble ball pit.
May 24th, 2017
NUBO is a new sort of wonderland. Designed by Hong Kong based practice Pal Design, in collaboration with Sydney’s Frost* Collective, the children’s play centre is a cavernous haven in gelato white and sky blue. Created for children 0-10 years old, and their parents too, the concept centres upon the idea of ‘pure play’, gently exercising the imagination through considered design.
Frost* were brought onto the project to properly articulate the broader vision of owner Mollie Li. “Her idea was based on the insight that there were no spaces you could go to really interact with your children in play,” explains Ant Donovan, Group Creative Director at Frost*. “The only places on offer are those sort of giant, oversized fun parks. They’re noisy, irritating, loud places. Everything is very vibrant, brightly coloured, and very intense.” It’s NUBO’s simplified but interconnected design approach that makes it the antithesis of neighbouring Sky Zone, as well as Monkey Mania, Lollipops Playground, or Wizzy World in Sydney.
Donovan and his team developed a cohesive top level concept, which trickled down to inform everything from the brand design, digital environment, architectural brief, and the experience brief for NUBO staff (who are all aptly titled ‘Imagination Managers’). “The idea was to create a more relaxed environment, but also one that what was more nurturing,” says Donovan. “One where you could be present as a parent with your child, and engage in meaningful play, and meaningful education.”
The title, ‘NUBO’, means cloud in Esperanto, a universal language devised in the 19th century to meltdown borders and foster worldwide harmony between nationalities. For Frost*, maestros in graphic and text design, this meant most simply flipping the ‘B’ in NUBO to reference a soft cloud shape. More broadly though, NUBO’s experiential concept is hard to pin down like a cloud, and largely inclusive and holistic with gender-neutral toys, and an overriding minimal aesthetic and palette.
Inside, the space is zoned into free play, facilitated play, and rotating workshop rooms. There is a children’s library and reading room set beneath a white hot air balloon, and a building block room clad with Big Blue Blocks, as well as MagFormers, Lego Wedo and Kaleido Gears. There’s a towering three-storey high spaceship-like jungle gym for active play, and a fully set up café serving just wholesome treats. All areas have been designed and sized for children to participate and understand at eye level—a special footing at reception, books within reach, and wide stools set at low heights in the café. Frost* also designed a collection of symbols to guide yet-to-read pre-school age children through each of the play centre’s spaces.
The café features a ceiling full of Brokis’ memory collection white balloon-shaped lights, and throughout the whole space are generous timber accents with gentle, rounded edges. The children’s bathroom is a little like a science fiction set (or a 90s era pop music video, you decide) with an octopus-like fountain in the centre. There’s a ball pit too, but the antimicrobial plastic balls are just a soft powdery blue.
“[We had to think about] the whole experience we were designing,” adds Donovan. “What would it feel like; what do we want children and parents to go away and feel as a result.” NUBO’s united design approach, from concept and branding, through to architecture and operations, has made the vision for a calmer, inclusive, thoughtfully play space come alive.
“All the other play centres around are like being at the airport at the busiest time, whereas what we’ve created is like the Marc Newson lounge. It’s a completely different experience. You’re in the same space, but the experience is very different.”
Get regular design inspiration, join our mailing list.
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest from our industry BFF's!
The Sub-Zero Wolf showrooms in Sydney and Melbourne provide a creative experience unlike any other. Now showcasing all-new product ranges, the showrooms present a unique perspective on the future of kitchens, homes and lifestyles.
Savage Design’s approach to understanding the relationship between design concepts and user experience, particularly with metalwork, transcends traditional boundaries, blending timeless craftsmanship with digital innovation to create enduring elegance in objects, furnishings, and door furniture.
Sub-Zero and Wolf’s prestigious Kitchen Design Contest (KDC) has celebrated the very best in kitchen innovation and aesthetics for three decades now. Recognising premier kitchen design professionals from around the globe, the KDC facilitates innovation, style and functionality that pushes boundaries.
The AIA Alta Wellness Haven offers the complete package for health and wellbeing away from the busy city life in Hong Kong and does it through a stellar interior design.
SEE HOW GROUP has completed Ricoh HK with an emphasis on wellbeing, integrated technology and an overall tone of understatement.
Brewin Design Office has completed the interiors for OMA by the Sea, a luxurious residential development set upon a unique cliff topography in Hong Kong.
A firm that plays the “occasional ratbag to their own rule making”, Denton Corker Marshall has just celebrated its 50th anniversary. Explore the rules and ratbags that make this Australian-founded architectural practice truly exceptional.
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
A hair salon in the Japanese capital blends a language of metal and water in a distinctive, original design.
Extrapolating the typology of farmhouse architecture, Cameron Anderson Architects (CAARCH) has drawn on the local architecture of Mudgee in both form and materiality to deliver a surprising suite of buildings.