LA studio PlayLab and construction company California Skateparks have created Checkered Future, a temporary skate bowl in front of the Sacré-Cœur Basilica in Paris for footwear brand Vans.
The two-part installation spans the hill of Montmartre, where the Sacré Cœur is located, and comprises a large skate bowl at the bottom of a set of steps and a checkerboard DJ platform.
PlayLab and California Skateparks built the installation from wood and foam designed to look like stone, while the bowl is made from concrete.
“The installation is built from a combination of wood and foam that are scenically sculpted and painted to resemble the stone that was once quarried on the site,” PlayLab co-founder Jeff Franklin told Dezeen.
“The bowl is concrete that is ideal for skating,” Franklin added.
“We wanted these elements to have a visual weight that could hold its own in the shadows of the amazing Basilica above.”
Checkered Future was created for OTW by Vans, the brand’s “dedicated space to push the boundaries”, and follows a ramp designed by PlayLab last year that was made from plexiglass and referenced the nearby Louvre museum.
It was completed in time to host live skating and music performances for Go Skateboarding Day and Fête de la Musique, France’s annual music day, which took place on 21 June.
This year’s design was inspired by its surroundings, with the Sacre Cœur basilica made from a similar-coloured stone.
“The overall inspiration for the bowl was to be treated as an in-process construction of a new monument, blending the natural beauty of the Basilica into an innovative skateable structure,” OTW by Vans creative director Ako Jefferson told Dezeen.
“In partnership with California Skateparks and Playlab, we designed a structure that nods to our Checkered Past, while reinterpreting it through a modern lens of a Checkered Future, a nod to Vans’ dedication to always push forward.”
After the event has finished, California Skateparks will “remove and leverage pieces from the structures for a future installation”, Vans said.
Elsewhere, PlayLab recently created a “surreal” pyramidal skatepark for LA art week, also in collaboration with Vans.
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