On Becoming a Playground Designer: tell your story!
Dear readers, It’s the time of year when I go around delivering microscopes to elementary schools in my home state as part of my scientific society’s Ugly Bug Contest, which is putting me way behind on...
View ArticleHormiguero (Ant Hill) Playground, Bianca Habib, 2009
In thinking about those of you who dream of being playground designers, I’m reminded of a letter I received sometime ago from Bianca Habib, and I think her journey is perhaps instructive as to the...
View ArticleUntersbergstraße Playground, Munich Germany
Playscapes’ friend Lianne sent through this climbing thicket in Munich German as a follow-on to the Florian Aigner post; she says it is at the intersection of Untersbergstraße & Weißenseestraße...
View ArticleQuiet Merry-go-Rounds, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Milan, 2013
I’m intrigued that designers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec made what are essentially electric merry-go-rounds for BMW i at Milan 2013. Given the regrettable removal of merry-go-rounds from playgrounds...
View ArticleEnergy Carousel, Ecosistema Urbano, Dordrecht Netherlands, proposed
Here’s one take on the 21st century carousel: “Ecosistema Urbano has designed this play structure with two particular focuses in mind. The first is to promote education through play. We believe that...
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Play Notes for your April 19, 2013 weekend
Cynthia Gentry of the Atlanta Taskforce on Play sends word that the ATL playground, winner of the Playable10 competition, has been named #1 in the “50 Things Every Atlantan Must Do!” by Atlanta...
View ArticleOp art Slides and Lasagna Playscapes, Manitoba Children’s Museum, Toboggan, 2011
I love it that this design by Montreal based Toboggan was inspired by pasta! Their 11,000 s.f. indoor installation at the Manitoba Children’s Museum includes a climbing structure inspired by...
View ArticlePavilion for Children, Gangjin gun, South Korea, JYG Architects, 2013
JYA Architect’s ‘Pavilion for Children’ reimagines the familiar mid-century jungle gym with a series of interstial spaces that are useful for quiet or cooperative play. I love the ordered nature...
View ArticlePlayground Art by Maggie Mills
Artist Maggie Mills‘ works portray a comfortable subconscious–a surrealism without threat–of thoughtful children in sparsely populated dreamscapes that derive from the outdoors, from sport, and from...
View ArticleVintage Vancouver Playscapes
Reader and landscape architect James Furse-Roberts sent me links to some wonderful footage; an interview with Heinz Berger, the designer of mid-century playscapes in the city of Vancouver c. 1968....
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Stump Seesaws
If you noticed the seesaw made from stumps in the video of the Vancouver playscapes, see also a self-constructed version at the blog plain and joyful living. Instructions are from the book The...
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18th Century Seesaws
Which is not to compare to this fabulous sculpted seesaw from late 18th century Germany, found at the blog 50watts, from the book Children’s Toys of Bygone Days: A History of Playthings of All...
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Son-X Octavia, Play IT Sound, Copenhagen
One of the current issues in playground design is that even when a playground is available, kids often don’t play long enough–they don’t reach the 20 minutes of vigorous play best for health benefits...
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Spaceship HEART, Noa Haim, Collective Paper Aesthetics
Noa Haim of Collective Paper Aesthetics designed this amazing project: a gigantic ‘spaceship’ playhouse whose individual components are simple folded cardboard stools. Sit on OR build with, what...
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Rooftop Sand Table, New York City, 1917
Keeping the play at ‘hand’ level for sight-impaired children at the New York Association of the Blind, c. 1917. From the Museum of the City of New York; unknown photographer. The post Rooftop Sand...
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Wanna Play!, Museum for kunst i det offentlige rum, Denmark, 2012
It’s been great to see the attention given to play recently by museums like MoMA and the Carnegie Museum of Art, and last year Denmark’s Museum of Art in Public Spaces (what a great idea for a museum,...
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And this is what it looks like when you let the artists design the...
In 2008-2010, the city of Copenhagen commissioned five playgrounds from contemporary artists as part of an overall refurbishment of the city’s 125 play spaces. It resulted in a forest of triangular...
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In the Grass, Peter Land, 2009
More playground art by Peter Land…this is In the Grass. The post In the Grass, Peter Land, 2009 appeared first on Playscapes.
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Peacock Slide, 1977, Gunnar Westman, Copenhagen
In writing the post about the new art playground at Nikolaj Plads, I was intrigued by the mention of a previous peacock slide on the site. Turns out this was a work by Danish sculptor Gunnar Westman...
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Midcentury Fish Play Sculpture, Vladimira Bratuž Furlan, Tivoli
Also at Tivoli, this playable fish sculpture by Slovenian artist Vladimira Bratuz Furlan. A lovely combination of arch, tunnel, resting spot/house, and even climbability that deserves a more...
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