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The Carbon Playground, Discovery Center Museum, Rockford IL, various science...
My chemist heart skipped a beat when I heard about the new Carbon Playground at the Discovery Center Museum in Rockford, IL, the first place in the world where children can experience the atomic-level...
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Buckminster Fuller Fly-eye Dome
Buckminster Fuller designed a variety of dome types, though only the geodesic has ended up as a common playground piece. I like the ‘fly-eye’ dome, one of which was temporarily installed in New York...
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PlayWorld Dome, Arc2 Architecture, Bristol UK, 2002
More geodesicity…Arc2 Architecture used a geodesic structure to support a multigenerational play space at the Hengrove Playpark in Bristol UK. Rather than growing up from the ground the play...
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Valentine Heart Playground, Helle Nebelong, Valby School, 2000
And on Valentine’s Day I always like to revisit the heart-shaped playscape Helle Nebelong designed for the children of Valby School…most playground consultations with children are distressingly...
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Kirkenes School Playscape, Steinsvik Arkitektkontor, Norway, 2013
For a project in the most northeastern part of Norway–as far east as Istanbul–Steinsvik Architects designed a playground that captures the sun: pinning it down as a faceted orange climbing wall that...
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Shin Egashira, Urban Toys, 2010
Artist and architect Shin Egashira refers to his double-curvature fibrocement constructions as ‘urban toys’. And once again I lament that there is not enough overlap between the world of art and the...
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Accessible Playground Design from Korea, 2005
I’ve had this image in my files for awhile…it’s from a 2005 museum display on universal design and the wheelchair-accessible circles have stayed in my mind. While allowing disabled access it doesn’t...
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Honolulu’s First Playgrounds
This fascinating image of local context (tiki bar! banana stall!) in an early playground comes from an interesting post on Hawaaiian playground history by Peter Young: ”Established in 1895, the...
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The Pulse Park, Arhus Denmark, CEBRA, 2012
I’ve been away from posting for a bit after a car accident…glad to be back, and glad to be fine! No long-term damage, except to the car. And now on to the Pulse Park, lately installed by CEBRA in the...
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Cardboard Tube Playhouse, Virginia Melnyk, Toronto 2013
Virginia Melnyk designed a playful house made of cardboard tubes for a competition in Toronto that reimagined the Sukkah, the pavilions constructed during the Jewish festival of Sukkot. Sukkahs are...
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Rainbow of Ropes, Virginia Melnyk, proposed
Virginia Melnyk has also proposed a ‘Rainbow of Ropes’ to convert unused vacant lots to community hang-outs: “In a city, the vacant lot becomes a space of emptiness, a place that people try to avoid....
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Playground Rock Star (Dude, ’72), Mick Rock, 1972
Throwback Thursday…photographer Mick Rock’s shot of a kid cardboard guitarist in an adventure playground was the original cover photo for the Mott the Hoople album “All The Young Dudes”, produced by...
View ArticlePlayscapes Television Series – Call for Playground Proposals!
Are You Making an Amazing Playground? Thanks to all who have already submitted their great projects. If you haven’t, this is your last call…get in touch with when and where you’re building, and what...
View ArticleAdventure Playground Videos, London Play
Staying in London, don’t miss the wonderful videos of adventure play, both modern and contemporary, that the great organization London Play has been uploading. My personal faves are below: c 1960s...
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Artists I want to see on the Playground: Marc Fornes
Had a great conversation with a reporter from the Boston Globe yesterday and one of the things we talked about was the importance of keeping artists engaged with play to keep seeding the playground...
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Happy Birthday Aldo! Happy Birthday Blog!
Aldo van Eyck was born March 16, 1918, which would have made him 96 this year. And this blog is six. As always, I like to give you a present, dear readers, on our very own saint day. A big thanks to...
View ArticleHappy Birthday Aldo van Eyck
The Playscapes Correspondents are celebrating Aldo van Eyck’s birthday, too…don’t miss Maier Yagod’s post on van Eyck’s influence in Israel, or Daryl Mulvihill’s photo tour of remaining van Eyck...
View ArticleThanks for applying to be part of the Playscapes television series!
Thank you to everyone who submitted a play space to be part of the potential Playscapes TV series…we’re in the final throes of decision-making! You should hear from me by Friday April 4. The post...
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A brief history of the word ‘Playscape’
Now that I have vanquished some Dragons of Science let’s get back to Aldo and the blog birthday! I am often asked in interviews why I call the blog ‘Playscapes’. It’s an invented modern word; a...
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Boston Playground History
Very pleased to contribute to How the American Playground was born in Boston, Ruth Graham’s article in the Boston Globe this past weekend. Along with Ruth, I’ll also be a part of a segment on Radio...
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