Children's Hospital Ambulance Playground, Sakaramenta, Malawi, 2012

 

We've talked before about 'real stuff on the playground'--repurposing items like train cars and jet planes--that was once a common playground practice but has fallen out of favor, at least in the West.  But repurposing is still a common theme of play spaces in developing countries, and charmingly so in this playground for a children's hospital in Malawi, which repurposed an an old Land Cruiser as an ambulance!

Made wheelchair accessible with the using of appropriate concrete pavements and ramps, the ambulance becomes a clubhouse/swingset/climber all in one.   The installation is by Peter Meijer, director of Sakaramenta--a social enterprise which employs Malawians to produce bicycle carts and other items--along with designers Luc van Hoeckel and Pim van Baarsen.

[photos by sakaramenta, via designboom]