Unusual playpark will offer a whale of a time

Life-size interactive whale to fill in last space in Slessor Gardens

A playpark featuring a life-sized interactive whale is to become the latest addition to Dundee’s £1 billion waterfront development.

It will fill the last space in Slessor Gardens and, as well as providing recreation, is intendedto bean attractive piece of design.

Chosen in homage to the city’s whaling history, the structure will incorporate digital technology.

An ‘initial concept’ drawing released by the council shows what it could look like.

Children will able to walk through the ‘insides’ of the whale and interact with projections of the animal’s prey.

It will sit in the mostly empty southeast corner of the gardens. Part of this area is taken up by V&A architect Kengo Kuma’s wooden pavilion, which will be moved elsewhere.

Dundee City Council leader John Alexander said work on the park will start soon.

He said: “This new addition will create a fun, artistic, design-led element into the corner of Slessor Gardens that is currently not utilised.

“It plays on Dundee’s past but, importantly, also gives a nod to the future with the inclusion of digital technology and design.

“It’s everything that Dundee is: fun, historic, modern, vibrant and a wee bit different.”

The 10,000m2 garden has been used for summer concerts since it was opened by the Queen two years ago and is fast becoming a popular recreational area.

Its border area is made up of a variety of miniature spaces including a public orchard and a sensory garden, as well as an under-construction café- style pavilion.

Mr Alexander said:“We always envisaged Slessor Gardens and its neighbour, Waterfront Place, as being hubs of activity.”

“They are spaces to relax and enjoy: to have your lunch and grab a coffee, to have fun and take the family, to host major concerts, to take markets and festivities, and they are for everyone in Dundee.”

It’s everything that Dundee is: fun, historic, modern, vibrant and a wee bit different. JOHN ALEXANDER

The initial concept proposal of the interactive whale playpark.