Playground | The Creat(ur)e of the Museum is the new artist-designed playground at Centro Pecci. It is a space to inhabit and bring to life — a place for experimenting with imaginary worlds and fostering intergenerational encounters. This permanent installation, open to everyone — children, teenagers, and adults — is the result of a project to regenerate the outdoor area between Italo Gamberini’s original building and the more recent addition by NIO Architects.
Born from an idea by the Education Department of Centro Pecci, this museum space dedicated to play is the result of a restoration project led by the Municipality of Prato and a design competition open to artists, designers, and architects, who were invited to imagine a playground for the museum’s outdoor spaces.
The architecture firm ECÒL, toy designer and illustrator Luca Boscardin, and the participation and active citizenship experts from Sociolab, supported by the museum’s Education Department, co-designed the features of this creature together with students from schools across the city
Through a series of workshops, the characteristics and habits of the Creat(ur)e were defined: its appearance, distinctive features, movements, diet, size, and personality. The ground design, nestled in the space between the museum’s original architecture and the new addition by architect Maurice Nio, represents the body of a fantastical animal — a new creature to inhabit and bring to life. Three-dimensional elements rise from the geometric surface, suggesting parts of the creature’s body such as its mouth, antenna, claws, eye, and tail. The abstraction of the design allows children and young people to freely express their creativity and play around it, creating a personal connection with the museum and with art through expression and interpretation.
The Creat(ur)e of the Museum was created as part of the project Ciel'in città, led by the cooperative Uscita di Sicurezza, with the Municipality of Prato and Centro Pecci as partners.
The project was selected and fully funded by Con i Bambini through the Fund for Combating Educational Poverty.