Squeeze Play



An Australian company called Ingström designs and manufactures “escape chutes” for use both inside and outside of buildings.

These are fabric chutes—like large sleeves or pant legs—that allow relatively quick evacuation from an architectural structure, where the word “evacuation” takes on a somewhat comical double meaning, as the examples seen in the YouTube video, above, genuinely look like an alien bowel has taken up residence inside an office building somewhere in India, with people squeezing themselves down through its sphinctrous maw to a soundtrack of tablas.

Like the “SkySaver” system we looked at last summer, Ingström chutes offer a kind of secondary or alternative method of circulation through and around architectural space. What’s interesting about the “Multi-Entry” chute in particular, however, is that it seems to go so far as to suggest an entire secondary interior for the building, one that cuts through existing rooms like a web to form a bulbous topology that would be just as useful as some strange new form of children’s playground as an actual, life-saving system for emergency egress.

(See also Rain Noe’s take on escape chutes over at Core77. Originally spotted via @machimachinc).

2 thoughts on “Squeeze Play”

  1. Fascinating video. I love the attitude of the participants and the choice of music.

    In the event of a fire, I'm not sure I would want to be in one of these tubes as they look 100% flammable, but I guess that's another design feature they'll have to work out.

    Cheers!!

  2. Looks fun and also a great way to create some ready-made human sausage links for the fire fighters to find.

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