A soccer field doesn't have to be a rectangle / AP Thailand "The Unusual Football Field"

The problem

Small, irregularly shaped vacant lots are scattered across Thailand, and in densely populated areas especially, they tend to get left alone and turn into dumping grounds or hangout spots where young people do drugs. In crowded neighborhoods, people often talk about juvenile crime and quality of life, but AP Thailand had been discussing internally whether its expertise as a real estate developer in designing spaces could be put to use for the good of society. After researching the Khlong Toei community, AP Design Lab decided to turn these unused vacant lots into spaces that would benefit the whole community.

The insight

AP Thailand holds the belief that "space can change people's lives," and wanted to prove just how efficiently space can be used in an urban environment. Under the concept "Think Space," they turned small, irregularly shaped plots into practical soccer fields while keeping them symmetrical, challenging the limits of what space can do. What would normally just end up as "unusable land" was instead turned into a vision that breaks the common assumption about what's possible in abandoned spaces. It's a design philosophy only a real estate company could pull off — shifting the mindset of product development into a social context.

The idea

In Khlong Toei, a densely populated district of Bangkok, the agency turned every available empty space into a soccer field, regardless of its shape or size. The result was a set of oddly shaped soccer pitches — L-shaped, zigzag-shaped — proving that a soccer field doesn't have to be a rectangle. While breaking soccer's traditional constraints, the pitches kept their symmetry, so fair play could continue as normal. It's a new kind of advertising that turns "ad space for a real estate brand" into a place people can actually interact with.

What happened

It won the Grand Prix in the Design Lions category at Cannes Lions 2017 — the first Grand Prix for Thailand since the festival began in 1954. Jury president Sandra Planeta commented, "It's smart, simple, purposeful and useful design. And above all, I want to try it myself." TIME magazine also named it one of the 25 best inventions of 2016 worldwide. The campaign also won a Silver Lion in Outdoor and a Bronze Lion in Entertainment. In total, the campaign won eight Grand Prix awards around the world.

Afterthought

When a real estate developer seriously takes on a social issue, this is the kind of beautiful output you get. Instead of proving the belief that "space can change lives" through a brand film or a manifesto, they proved it physically, as a place where kids can actually play. That's what brand strength looks like. And the careful design touch of keeping things symmetrical so play stays fair — that's the kind of attention to detail that gets me. I want to make more ideas like this, ones that actually get built. Making the Cannes jury president say "I want to try it myself" has to be the highest compliment there is!

Awards

• Cannes Lions Grand Prix 2017

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