LAX's public artwork will invite Bristolians to play with animated creatures projected in little-used corners of the city  

On Tuesday, Watershed announced the winner of the 2015 international Playable City Award: Urbanimals by the Laboratory for Architectural Experiments. LAX are an experimental design team based in Poland, who describe themselves as practicing ‘at the edge of architecture’, testing the boundaries of urban planning, design, psychology and computation.

“Bringing people together through play in forgotten areas of the city lies at the heart of what we do”, say Ania and Sebastian from LAX. “With Urbanimals we want to highlight the city’s hidden value and treasures inspiring residents to consider their environment in new and unexpected ways, we want to stimulate their senses and inject a sense of excitement and wonder into the everyday urban landscape.”

This September and October, a playful pack of wild beasts will appear in unexpected places across the city of Bristol, waiting for people to play with them. Passersby can take up the dolphin’s challenge to leap together, chase a shy rabbit down the pavement or skip with a cheeky kangaroo. Lurking behind city walls and hiding in dark corners, Urbanimals are eager to brighten the day. Triggered by people passing or stopping, the interactive project will be created using projectors and sensors and will stretch across the whole city.

The Playable City Award is helping put Bristol is at the forefront of improving urban environments and promoting civic engagement. Last year's title went to Canadian interaction designer Jonathan Chomko and British designer Matthew Rosier for their Shadowing project.