interesting playground, design provided FREE by architect

There is no such thing as “free”. The park cost $3.4mil to build and I guarantee that somebody got paid to design it. It might not have been a landscape architect but hey, really, if an architect can design a building, why can’t they design a park with nothing but hardscape? It did take five years after all…

The first picture in the article has a few interesting design aspects though. That seat-wall next to the “umbrella” of water looks like a slipping hazard if I’ve ever seen on. Cue kid running out of sandbox, hitting wet ledge. Speaking of sandbox. How long will it be before sand clogs the plumbing/drainage for that “umbrella”? And lastly, it looks like there is a teeter-totter in the right side of the picture. It looks like it was installed to close to the seat-wall and can’t fully articulate without bottoming out on the seat-wall. Ooops…

A picture is worth a thousand words…

Its not a teeter-totter, its a sand/water table. Good comments, but I personally despise poured in place surfacing (if thats what you meant by hardscape…). I did experience poured in place under sand. It was originally intended to provide an accessible surface, but got covered with sand. It was very interesting to walk on.

I really enjoyed this comment–

“So, we take the jungle gyms away from the fat, McDonald’s- Bloated youth of America and replace it with a place where the kids SIT and think about becoming architects and engineers? Isn’t this what Lincoln Logs and Legos do at a lot less cost? I also seem to remember Erector Sets and Tinker Toys in a world that existed a long time ago.

Meanwhile, let’s all watch the little tykes turn into Fat Bodies. If I was a McDonald’s or BK or Wendy’s franchisee I’d be rubbing my palms in glee at the thought of selling burgers and fries to the kids who get exhausted from moving foam blocks at the 7.4 million dollar playground.”

I think there’s a tendency to criticize and deconstruct any ‘public improvement’ project, especially in these times, but it’s especially difficult to criticize a playground or school project.

At first glance my reaction was positive-applauding the investment, but then I started reading through the comments and looking closer at the photos– Mostly a fancier giant nerf ball park for the kiddies though the design intention is in the right place.