Color Pit
COLOR PIT
Studio Etienne Bastormagi
ARCHITECTS
Studio Etienne Bastormagi
ARCHITECT
Studio Etienne Bastormagi + Sandra Richani + Nada Borgi
CLIENT
Armenian Evangelical Central High School
PHOTOGRAPHS
Hsein Dbouk
AREA
520 m²
YEAR
2021
LOCATION
Beirut, Lebanon
CATEGORY
Schools
English description provided by the architects.
Color Pit is a site-specific ground intervention realized within a school playground in Beirut following the 2020 explosion.
Developed by Studio Etienne Bastormagi in collaboration with Sandra Richani, and Nada Borgi, the project is rooted in the studio's broader Let's Play philosophy, which frames play as a civic and therapeutic act.
In a post-disaster context where reconstruction efforts largely focused on shelter and infrastructure, the playground was identified as an overlooked yet vital space—one where children would eventually return, and where joy, movement, and imagination could quietly support recovery.
Reinterpreting the notion of a sunken pool, Color Pit transforms the ground plane through paint alone.
Chromatic gradients and fluid shapes create the illusion of depth and topography without excavation or equipment, defining a play field through perception rather than physical boundaries.
The painted surface offers cues instead of rules, encouraging children to jump, trace, gather, and invent their own forms of play.
Refusing a single use or narrative, the project becomes an open framework for collective interaction and experimentation.
