Trampoline trail puts spring in visitors’ steps

Three hours from Moscow in the Nikola-Lenivets forest, Russian artists invaded the site of an ancient settlement dated 3,000 B.C. to create outdoor art installations for the Archstoyanie Festival last summer The exhibit put spring in the steps of visitors on the “Fast Track,” a 170-foot-long walking trail and trampoline. Designed by Maarja Kask and the team from Salto Architects, Tallinn, Estonia, “Fast Track” is “a road and an installation at the same time,” according to Salto. “It challenges the concept of infrastructure that only focuses on technical and functional aspects and tends to be ignorant to its surroundings.”

The installation also challenges standard ideas about commuting, and those who hopped, skipped and jumped down the Fast Track clearly enjoyed the experience. Fast Track was one of a number of installations at Nikola-Lenivets Park, about 120 miles southwest of Moscow. The field had to be dug out in order to install the trampoline surface at ground level to allow for all the active commuters.