playscapes

City Museum, St. Louis, Bob Cassilly, 1997

2009-11-03T06:21:00.000-08:00

I like all of the playgrounds I post on the blog, but this is the first time I thought I might need to relocate to be near one...thanks to reader Jeff for letting me know about St. Louis' City Museum. From their website:

"Housed in the 600,000 square-foot former International Shoe Company, the museum is an eclectic mixture of children's playground, funhouse, surrealistic pavilion, and architectural marvel made out of unique, found objects. The brainchild of internationally acclaimed artist Bob Cassilly, a classically trained sculptor and serial entrepreneur, the museum opened for visitors in 1997 to the riotous approval of young and old alike.

Cassilly and his longtime crew of 20 artisans have constructed the museum from the very stuff of the city; and, as a result, it has urban roots deeper than any other institutions'. Reaching no farther than municipal borders for its reclaimed building materials, CITY MUSEUM boasts features such as old chimneys, salvaged bridges, construction cranes, miles of tile, and even two abandoned planes!

CITY MUSEUM makes you want to know," says Cassilly. "The point is not to learn every fact, but to say, 'Wow, that's wonderful.' And if it's wonderful, it's worth preserving."

Wow, that's wonderful.

Kiwanis Park, Paul Horne, Pittsboro, North Carolina, 2009

2009-10-29T15:14:00.000-07:00

Paul Horne of the Pittsboro. NC Parks Department involved an impressive list of community members in the renovation of their Kiwanis park, and salvaged slabs of a huge felled oak to serve as imaginative lily pads in a garden 'pond'. Other wood pieces were recyled as a car and a curved seating bench that is intentionally integrated into the playspace, to pull in the grown-ups, rather than leaving them hovering 'round the edges as most playgrounds do. They've recently hosted a sculpture exhibit, featuring the works of local artists, at the playground.

"Renovations include doubling the play space, the addition of colorful shade cloths, 10 new trees plus a variety of shrubs and perennial flowers. Natural play features have been added including two sandboxes, a boulder climbing area, and a unique carved wooden car, along with benches, a hop-scotch area and an incredible “Clyde critter.”

I have been hearing passionately positive feedback from parents, and seeing enthusiastic kids every time I’m out there. My day was made Thursday when a woman confided that she “wished they had something like this in Chapel Hill.” I’ve also heard it described as a “wonderland.” Word must be getting around because I’ve seen higher attendance at the park than ever before. "

I think it's important to note that this project was the renovation of an existing site that still includes traditional, poles-and-platform equipment...it's an excellent model for the addition of natural play spaces to existing playgrounds. Well-done, Pittsboro!

More at the Pittsboro Parks blog.

Artist's Playground, Sudely Castle, 2008

2009-10-27T11:11:00.000-07:00

The theme of last's years outdoor sculpture exhibition at Sudely Castle in the U.K. was play.

Some of the installations are of no relevance (Dripping plastic skeleton figure in a tree? Not. Playful.) but others have some new ideas...

Several of the pieces focused on reflectance, a material attribute I wish I saw more in playspaces. Jeppe Hein's 'Mirror Labyrinth' would definitely be fun on a playground, as would Arik Levy's 'Moon Tables', though finger smudges would have to be tolerated.

Henry Krokatsis reproduced the pulpit from the chapel on the Castle's grounds as a treehouse. Since pulpits are a place for 'vocalizing' it made me think of the delight of having a shouting spot (preferably elevated, like this one) on the playground.

James Hopkins made a bottle containing lenses and mirrors to give a kaleidoscopic view of the surroundings (how much do I want to see lenses used on the playground? Alot.)

and Carston Holler (he of the gigantic slides at the Tate Modern) contributed a flying machine.

Oh, and Zaha Hadid made a slide, but it looked just like her shoes/sofas/faucets/buildings and wasn't very interesting.

[Thanks, Fawn!]

"My swings have no chains because chains get stolen in Belarus."

2009-10-25T15:55:00.000-07:00

In discussions about the niceties of playground design, I sometimes forget about the places where there isn't any playscape at all. But I've been reminded by Tom McEnaney of International Orphanage Development Programme, who has installed 60 playgrounds for orphanages in Belarus. His playground components are manufactured by a company that used to make tanks for the Russian military (how's that for swords into plowshares...tanks into swings!) so they're virtually indestructible, and use struts instead of chains on the swings. Fortunately, they seem to still allow teeter-totters and merry-go-rounds in Belarus!

See more of his images here: http://www.ammado.com/nonprofit/orphan/photoalbums/2409

The Learning Community Playground, Rhode Island, Laurencia Strauss, 2008

2009-10-21T15:48:00.000-07:00

I'm back...thanks for your patience. I'll ease into things by posting some of the playgrounds sent in by my readers...I'm always glad for recommendations!

At The Learning Community, a charter school in Central Falls, R.I., students spent recess on an old parking lot until a fourth grader wrote to Lowe's asking for help. They sent $110,000.

The new playground was designed by Laurencia Strauss, a Rhode Island School of Design graduate, as "part playground, part park, part sculpture" to provide space for both active play and quiet reflection. Creative use of inexpensive elements like round pre-cast stepping stones and galvanized water troughs, good use of plants...and the sandpit is a pool!

Lots more photos, including of construction (I love construction photos!) at the school's Flickr stream.

(Thanks Maggie L.!)

2009-10-07T10:00:00.000-07:00

Apologies for being away...desperately trying to finish a manuscript on Raman spectroscopy of nanostructures at the moment. Back soon!

arcady

Coney Island Playground Slide 1905

2009-10-02T04:06:00.000-07:00

The 'Helter Skelter'. From my files, original source unknown, enlighten me if you know it!

Luckey Climbers

2009-09-20T20:23:00.000-07:00

Tom Luckey and his son Spencer design biomorphic climbing systems that feature in many large-scale museum installations. Surrounded by nets, they allow for a much greater height than in most playground experiences. I have personally climbed one, and it was great! Luckey considers himself a sculptor..his climbers, he says, are like fountains, and the kids are the water.

Photos from the Luckey website and a Boston Globe slideshow about their work.

Riverside Park playground, Independence Kansas

2009-09-17T15:13:00.000-07:00

One of those places is Riverside Park in Independence Kansas. They must take good care of things in Independence, because the Riverside park includes a range of playground equipment that appears to date from the 1920s through the 1950s, as well as modern additions.

Plus it has a corythosaurus statue from the 1964 New York World's Fair and the birthplace of Miss Able, the First Space Monkey.

What a place!

See more photos at Michael Bates via flickr

FUN-FUL playground equipment, 1920

2009-09-15T14:44:00.000-07:00

On-line at the Smithsonian is the 1920 equipment catalog from the Fun-ful company, especially noted for their slides, some of which are still being used around the US today.

Cowley Teenage Space, Brixton London, Snug and Outdoor, 2004

2009-09-13T08:55:00.000-07:00

All the ideas for the Cowley Teenage space emerged during a consultation project conducted with the young people who lived on the Cowley housing estate, in which objects such as large ramps, platforms, steps, wooden crates, and a temporary shelter were used by the teens to create their own spaces.

What developed was a five-a-side football and basketball pitch, a ramped mound for bicyclies, and "a covered inactivity zone for spectators and a loose arrangement of large concrete blocks with both 'inside' and 'outside' spaces for occupying, playing on and flirting around. " New entrance ways and signage denote it as a special place, and automatic lighting enhances safety at night.

According to Snug and Outdoor, the new space has improved relationships within the community and complaints against local teens have been reduced.

Bodyspace-motionthings by Robert Morris, 1971 and 2009, Tate Modern, London

2009-09-10T09:43:00.000-07:00

American minimalist Robert Morris's Bodyspacemotionthings originally appeared at the Tate Modern in the 1970s, but was closed after only four days due to irrational exuberance by museum goers.

'Some of the 1,500 visitors became so intoxicated by [the] opportunities that they went around "jumping and screaming" to quote the exhibitions keeper, Mr Michael Compton. They went berserk on the giant see-saws, and they loosened the boards on other exhibits by trampling on them ... "It was just a case of exceptionally exuberant or energetic participation," Mr Compton said tolerantly'

Rebuilt to modern safety standards, it reappeared again in the Turbine Hall this past spring.

Robert Morris, now 78, said: 'It's an opportunity for people to involve themselves with the work, become aware of their own bodies, gravity, effort, fatigue, their bodies under different conditions'

Quote and photos, both modern and vintage, from the guardian.

Taka-Taku Land Preschool, Susan Hoffman Architects, Berlin, 2007

2009-09-08T08:28:00.000-07:00

Inspired by one of my favorite childhood stories, Pippi Longstocking, this Berlin indoor-outdoor playspace is an interpretation of the hollow oak tree at Pippi's house, which produces lemonade.

"The lemonade breaches the rough “bark” of the walls to flow outside. In the bark of the oak tree the children can climb, hide and nap. The playable space within the facade is well-cushioned and offers protection from all weather conditions. The luminous textile shines colourfully both on the outside and the inside. Within this space the children can lose themselves in play and fun within the lemonade world."

I like the way the structure is climbing frame/ladder/slide/pillow all at once, and the feel of climbing out of a window (usually a forbidden experience for a child) and into the playspace must be irresistible.

There are seven stages to the lemonade tree:
"1 Glittering Lemonade in the Sun Light: to catch the sunlight and welcome friends. 2 Waiting for the Parents: to watch for the arrival of the parents, while interacting with the children inside in a lemonade glow. 3 Lemonade Gallery: to discover yourself and to show Mum and Dad your pictures in a lemonade illumination. 4 Lemonade Island: to have fun and delve and hide yourself in the lemonade. 5 The Bark Breaks Open: to play and have fun outside on rainy days 6 Delving into the Lemonade: to feel the world turn into lemonade while gliding around or relaxing. 7 Dreaming under the Apple Tree: to dream and share secrets."

found via urbanpreschool; more photos (and other interesting work) at the Susan Hoffman Architects website.

The Bug Hotel, Costessey School, Norwich

2009-09-04T09:43:00.000-07:00

Costessy School's Bug Hotel uses "silver birch logs, a bark-covered flower pot to act as a small mammal home, sections of plastic down-pipe filled with cut canes as bee homes, and a number of various-sized logs and flints all built on a base-board with willow framework, up which ivies could be grown to back the structure."

Whether or not you go so far as to install a bug hotel, if natural elements like stumps, rocks, and plantings are used on the playground, you'll have insects aplenty for projects and study.

And if you have a sea of artificial surfacing planted with metal poles and plastic platforms, well, you won't.

Along those lines, an excellent item to add to 'loose' playground equipment is some large plastic magnifying glasses, great for examining bugs as well as dropped bird feathers, rocks, and dirty fingers. Just don't show them how to start a fire!

But I'd also like to see some fixed magnifying lenses installed on playgrounds...they could be installed away from direct sunlight to avoid a fire hazard and kids could take their finds over to the lens to magnify them. It could be as simple as simple as embedding the lenses into holes drillled in a fence rail.

The pleasure of looking at things through microscopes and magnifying glasses played a large role in my decision to be a scientist when I 'grew up'; I'd like to see more children use them to engage with the wonders of the world around them.

Roliqueries for the Playground

2009-08-28T09:20:00.000-07:00

After I saw these I remembered watching children amuse themselves in a large sand area with the smooth track created by rolling a ball. How much more interesting if the ball made a pattern, like those left behind these 'roliqueries' by Amy Brier. Her creations are hand carved, with a price to match, but high-relief resin balls are available in the garden section of the hobby stores in my area.

(roliqueries originally found at thehomeoutside)

Playground Ornithopter, Richter Spielgerate, 2007

2009-08-25T13:39:00.000-07:00

Ornithopters have fascinated designers since Icarus flew too close to the sun. The wings of this playground ornithopter actually flap, though I couldn't ascertain the mechanism...by Richter Spielgerate. Photo by gynti 46 via flickr.

Grounds for Play, Glasgow, 2004 and continuing

2009-08-17T16:48:00.000-07:00

‘Grounds for Play’ was designed to exploration the interrelationship between art and play in a public setting; in this case Bellahouston Park outside the modern completion of Charles Rennie Mackintosh's celebrated 'House for an Art Lover' design in Glasgow, Scotland. The winner of a 2001 design competition for the overall scheme of the grounds was Gareth Hoskins Architects, who designed a carpet of leaf-like mounds to frame custom designed play and art objects. 26 giant leaves or grassy mounds currently house 15 specially commissioned play pieces for children. House for an Art Lover hopes to continue adding pieces to the park.

Graeme Andrew - Clouds

Katy Barac - Jelly Babies

[image by Guin's view via flickr]

Tassy Thompson - the mini forest and skara brae

Elspeth Bennie - peace cairn sculpture and bug swings

Alex Rigg & Trevor Leat - Bellahouston ship

Lorraine Aaron - rainbow bridge

[image by poodiecat via flickr]

Unless noted otherwise, all images courtesy of House for an Art Lover and Gareth Hoskins Architects. Additional information on the pieces in this City of Glasgow guide.

I've been to Scotland several times but never Glasgow...must put it on the list for the next visit.

That Seventies Playground, McDonalds, c. 1972

2009-08-15T08:48:00.000-07:00

Vintage McDonalds playground materials, including original prices, posted online at flickr by jasonliebig. I favored the Big Mac climber, myself.

Vintage NYC playground c. 1970

2009-08-13T09:54:00.000-07:00

Also from Life magazine, undated photos (1970s, perhaps?) by John Zimmerman of playgrounds in NYC, including what looks to be an industrial drum converted into a playspace with perspex 'eyes'.

Trekroner School playground, Stig L. Andersson, Roskilde, Denmark, 2002

2009-08-07T16:19:00.000-07:00

Also found at vulgare is the Trekroner School Playground by Stig L. Andersson architects, with a wading pool that looks like a giant mud puddle. I'm particularly intrigued by the way its shallow sides allow for running and unstructured play, as pictured. Do any of you landscape architect types know what this is made of? I assume a drain is provided for cleaning...

"The school playground is conceived as a ‘garden of knowledge’ framed by the school buildings which have no corridors, so to get from one block to another everyone has to go outside and feel the weather and the changes of nature."

Jester Park Natural Playscape, Granger, Iowa, RDG Planning and Design, 2008

2009-08-05T10:59:00.000-07:00

Located in an under-visited area of a large existing park, the Jester Park natural playscape is not only used 58 percent more than the traditional playground in the park, but 94 percent of the playscape's users were in the park solely for the purpose of visiting it.

How's that for the appeal of a new kind of playground?

And the cost was $204, 343 for 40,000 square feet; just over $5 per square foot.

According to Lewis Major, a naturalist with Polk County Conservation,“…the Playscape is not teaching children to play naturally, but is teaching parents to let their children play naturally. The kids know how to do it.”

Features:

Tall Grass Tangle: like a hedge maze but with grasses

Forest of the Dead: salvaged timber logs set into earth berms for climbing

Stone Henge: a circular monolith with viewfinders into the wider park

Wetland: wading pool, waterfall and bubbling stone

Grass Slide, Log Stairs and Boulder Scramble for climbing up and sliding/rolling back down

"Pathways constructed using limestone edging and red decomposed granite allow stormwater to sink into the ground while maintaining an accessible and visually contrasting path for those with mobility issues or visual impairments.... art elements visually engage visitors and invite them to explore the playscape further. The first component visitors encounter is a rustic 18-foot-tall entrance feature adorned with intricate carvings and a giant spider web. Three light bollards near the entrance look like old tree stumps, and mysterious petroglyph carvings are strategically hidden on rocks throughout the area. Originally designed art tiles and carvings can be found throughout Stone Henge, while the fossil plates buried in the Archeological Dig are handcrafted and painted to look like the real thing. "

Photos from the website of the Polk county conservation board, and recreationmanagement (from whom the playscape won a design award); review by a parent/visitor to the playscape is here

Playground Sculpture, 1955, Herb Goldman, Los Lunas, NM

2009-08-02T10:40:00.000-07:00

From the same era is the sculpted form originally designed for the Los Lunas Hospital and Training School, Los Lunas, NM. From the website of sculptor Herb Goldman.

Concrete Playforms, Philadelphia, 1954

2009-07-30T09:36:00.000-07:00

from the Life magazine archives.

SPARK Parks, Houston, Texas

2009-07-28T15:44:00.000-07:00

I've posted before about the San Francisco's Open Playgrounds project, in which they leave school playgrounds unlocked on weekends.

The city of Houston's SPARK program is even better:

"The SPARK School Park Program was developed in 1983 as a way to increase park space in Houston, Texas. Former Houston School Board member and former City Council Member, Eleanor Tinsley, created SPARK to develop public school grounds into neighborhood parks. "

Schools apply to the city to become a SPARK site; the surrounding neighborhood must demonstrate a willingness to help plan and fund the SPARK Park with partnerships between the school and community groups such as churches, businesses and civic clubs.

The school itself raises $5000, and the school district provides $5000 as well as overseeing bidding & overseeing construction of the SPARK Park, as well as maintenance of the park after completion.

"Each school selected is given a goal of raising $5,000 for their park. Penny drives, bake sales, school carnivals, candy sales, spaghetti dinners, "buy a brick" drives, rummage sales and innumerable other events are staged to generate the funds. Classes volunteer to care for trees planted in the parks. Local businesses often help with in-kind contributions. Architects, landscape architects, artists and businesses are solicited for their professional contributions through the parents, spouses and teachers at the school. "

More than 85 of the 180 SPARK Parks have public art components. About half of the projects are proposed and completed by art teachers at the schools. When there is no art teacher, a local artists is recruited to work with the students and architect on a project. The artwork often reflects the heritage of the neighborhood, a specific theme, the school mascot, and/or the school motto.

An astonishing 180 schools in Houston have turned their grounds into public parks over the 25 years of the Spark program! Try getting your city council to adopt a resolution to build 180 parks. Great concept, effective use of taxpayer resources, and one that more communities should adopt.

New York has recently begun a similar program, called Schoolyards to Playgrounds, investing 95 million in funding for playground improvements to open 266 schoolyards as playgrounds in underserved neighborhoods.

Grosse Tete, Francois Lalanne, La Grande Borne, Grigny France, 1967

2009-07-25T16:49:00.000-07:00

Found at the enjoyable blog vulgare was this vintage playground I'd never heard of, located at La Grande Borne, a housing estate designed in 1965 by Emile Aillaud to include large-scale works of art.

I had difficulty finding complete information on this, but apparently the playground structures are by Francois Lalanne, known for his surrealistic animal sculptures like the "Rhinocrétaire", a life-size rhinocerous that folds out a writing desk. Which would also be fun on a playground.

Aillaud's 'Instead of Balance', a construction of swelling cobblestones that was apparently not originally intended as a playground, is nonetheless used as one as well.

photos via vulgare and Jean François Noël