For those wondering what pin-skating is, it’s exactly like the pinball arcade game only in this instance the skater is the ball. This pinball-inspired skatepark only recently appeared on our radar and it’s blown us away. The magnificent 600 square foot layout features 40 foot backboards, flippers, lights and sensors. It was designed by the British graphic designer, Mark Ward, for the Mountain Dew launch of their three extreme flavours in Auckland, New Zealand. Built in just less than 17 days in May 2011, this half a million dollar skate park was made with a combination of plexiglass and wood. The crowning point of this park is its ability to record your skating high scores and has about 20 cameras that capture still pictures of your tricks and airs on various 360 degrees angles.
This innovative park entertains the idea uniting gamers and extreme sports fanatics in a unison of thrills…and spills. It also obviously attracts a much broader audience of delighted spectators. BMX rider Haimona Ngata and New Zealand skateboarders Brett Band and Mike Bancroft are among those that have cruised on the surface of this fine specimen.
This masterpiece stirs up a keen interest of the discovery of more exquisitely designed skateboarding platforms out there and these two are among the many to be found;
Pierre Andre Senizergues, founder of Sole Technologies (Parent company to Etnies, Emerica and eS) converted his living space to fit around his devotion to skateboarding. This simple but eccentric design enables him to skate on every surface of his home.
The striking architectural outdoor skate and amusement park, Factoría Joven in Merida, Spain was also another masterpiece that caught our eyes. This multifunctional space was built to protect the archaeological remains beneath its base, and what a way to do it!
