City membrane training platforms. Health-promoting Spatial Instalations for Children and Teenagers

This article is inspired by the research on membrane training platforms, which has been conducted by the author for over two years. Currently, they are at the stage of building an experimental prototype in a real scale. These studies are the result of cooperation between the Wrocław University of Technology and the Center "Lunares Space - simulated space base" in Piła and the cooperation with the Academy of Physical Education in Wrocław regarding training devices. The membrane training platform is a spatial membrane, mesh, rope or belt installation, stretched elastically on a light and economical, spatial rod structure. A membrane is understood as a bi-curved surface, which is an unstable substrate, generating significant deformations under a load from a human walking on it - simulating walking "in deep snow" or in conditions of reduced gravity. The author's experience, gained in the course of this scientific work, gave him the idea of applying a similar idea to health-promoting urban installations intended for children and adolescents. The author presents this concept against the background of currently known devices with a similar function and character. At the same time, he shows arguments in favor of the implementation of this unconventional proposal, justifying in detail the need to develop this type of activity for children and adolescents, and even for the elderly. The presented proposals for new functional and spatial forms, intended for location in open space, are based on the use of low-cost, single-layer, octagonal and hexagonal bar systems, designed in such a way as to form closed systems, well absorbing forces from polypropylene nets, tapes or membranes stretched inside. According to the author, apart from their functional tasks, these objects could create intriguing, attractive architectural forms, enriching the city space.