ThinkPlaygrounds - Francesco Montresor

ThinkPlaygrounds

ThinkPlaygrounds was founded as a volunteer group in 2014 with the mission to promote children’s right to play by collaborating with multidisciplinary partners and communities. ThinkPlaygrounds became a social enterprise in 2017, and by the end of 2021 built over 200 public playgrounds and community gardens across Vietnam, piloted the first adventure playground in Hanoi, and organised over 30 public play events in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The commercial vein of ThinkPlaygrounds has designed and built over 100 playgrounds for schools, hospitals, and private clients, the revenue of which helps finance the construction and renovation of playgrounds in public urban space.

The social enterprise aims at building environmentally friendly playgrounds and sustainable public spaces for all, with the mission of strengthening the resilience of urban communities (especially in times of crisis) through collective organisation and setup of creative playgrounds and community gardens in urban environments. Increasing community cohesion, offering friendly public spaces, creating more sustainable urban and environmental living conditions.

The talk will be showcasing ThinkPlaygrounds way of working and approach through the presentation of 2 of our recent projects.

Speaker - Francesco Montresor

Francesco is a Hanoi-based architect having graduated from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (Switzerland, 2016) with the thesis entitled “Red River Delta; A Two Speed Productive Territory”. He studied the mechanisms of industrialisation and urbanization in the Red River Delta (Vietnam), later developing it into an urban vision for the development of Hanoi and its surroundings.

Having first arrived in Vietnam in 2004, Francesco worked as a Senior Architect at G8A architects & urban planners where he was employed since 2017 and Multiply Office after that. Today, he collaborates with ThinkPlaygrounds social enterprise on various community-based initiatives in the city and gained experience in community projects around south-east Asia with focus on developing sustainable building techniques.

Francesco nourishes his practice by participating in community workshops, residencies, training and symposiums on topics often related to urban conditions in South-East Asia.

Please note this is an in-person only presentation.