St Dunstan College

The kids are right- we should always make time to play! Young people at St Dunstan College, Catford have emblazoned this visual celebration of playtime on the wall of their sports pavilion. 

Sitting directly beneath the scoreboard and clock, two seemingly important measures of time and success, this impassioned message now leaps across the wall, challenging the importance of both.

The school itself approached us with the wall, revealing an opportunity to use our participatory process with students ranging in age from 11-16. During a series of workshops, we analysed the canvas and developed potential ideas, finding an opportunity for a playful dialogue with the existing scoreboard and clock features. The students explored ideas around play, sports, time and teamwork. Gradually the concept of play as way to escape time began to emerge.

One of the younger student groups came up with the simple message:

“the longer we play, the shorter the day”.

We love the tongue in cheek way this nods to themes of sport, time, community and joy!

Once our statement was solidified, we began to experiment with graphics and form. We spent time folding paper to help us think about the wall in more than two dimensions. 

The resulting design bounces the eye around vivid colours and geometries, while beaming the important message onto the sports ground below.

This mural is a challenge to the scoreboard and clock. Does it really matter who wins or loses, when we all gain a good time? 

We hope it brings up questions of why we do sports at all; to be part of something, to escape or even to explore parts of ourselves without serious consequences. This work is also a reminder that our perception of time is just that, a perception, that can warp and change if we simply allow ourselves to be a bit more playful.