Communities at Play

Our American culture today does not incorporate play into everyday life. Possibly this is a cultural thing, but more likely it is a partial result of the way we build and live in our communities. Throughout history society has usually integrated some sort of play into the culture.  As a matter of fact, cultures that integrate more play into everyday life tend to live longer and healthier lives.  This is especially true of people who have frequent intergenerational contact and, more importantly, when that contact incorporates some form of release activity—like play.

Much in the same way that we have segregated the aspects of our lives through community zoning, we have segregated our generations, our friendship groups, and the activities that can bring us together.  One of the most important of these may be play.  Our planned and zoned physical isolation creates difficulty in finding places and partners for play.  Not only does this affect us physically, but it affects us emotionally and socially.  No other activity in our lives, with the possible exception of spiritualism, brings so much to our well being.  Play is usually low or no cost and is best when spontaneous.

Nationally, there is a trend towards finding ways to overcome the isolation created by our automotive-oriented, zoned communities.  People are now asking for lifestyles that allow for closer communities with more potential for contact among generations and friends or potential friends.  One thing that we have learned through urban and recreational design is to create spaces where a greater number of activities are possible and encouraged.  This is the first step in allowing people to do what brings them the greatest happiness: being with other people.  Contemporary studies show that the greatest satisfaction in life is found through contact with others.

One of the best ways that humans historically have found to gather is through play.  Since play is at best spontaneous, and often has no real purpose, it can blend the broadest range of people.  Any type of place will function as a play area, as long as something about the space creates a comfortable atmosphere.  It is also very easy and inexpensive to create a playful environment simply through thoughtful design.

America is rethinking its cities and neighborhoods in order to create a more cohesive, healthy and connected citizenry.  Many planners are rethinking recreation areas.  Now many of our parks, open spaces, drainages, land buffers, sports complexes and playgrounds can and are taking on a new look.  They too are no longer always isolated into separate categories.  These recreational lands are being designed and built to create all of these uses in proximity to each other and close to where we live and work. They are the community rather than an afterthought or addition.  The new millennium should find all of us with greater opportunity to see each other, to interact with each other, and to relieve the stress of our lives through play and interaction.

-Axel Bishop 

For further reading see:

“A History of Children’s Play and Play Environments” by Joe L. Frost.

“Play” by Stuart Brown, M.D.

“Waiting for the Weekend” by Witold Rybczynski

Whimsy and Adaptability in Spokane Valley's New Park

Discovery Playground, a new park in Spokane Valley, Washington incorporates numerous whimsical and imaginative elements.  Working with Beechwood Metalworks and Playtime Creations, we incorporated sculptures of life-size and oversized animals, fish, and flowers among the play and learning activities.

The park's Secret Garden with Objects of Unusual Size incorporates giant flowers designed and created by Casey Lewis of Beechwood Metalworks, Inc. (pictured at above), a pumpkin large enough to stand in (pictured below), and a chair twice normal size.  The garden is entered by crouching through a small gateway that then reveals the giant objects inside.

The playground has been designed to accommodate children and adults of all abilities, and provide engaging and entertaining play as well as socialization and rehabilitation therapy opportunities.  The bear den (shown above) provides a great resting place for those who may need quiet time.  Additional elements such as interactive musical instrument coves, water play, climbing wall, colorful surfacing, sensory gardens and more are incorporated into the region’s first destination playground.

This project presented new challenges for all of those involved (the geology of Eastern Washington was new for us, and none of the local contractors had worked on a project as fanciful as this).  With the enthusiasm of the community, contractors and the City, everyone is sharing in the vision of the project.  We look forward to its completion in late November!

--Carol Henry

Utah Park

Kurt from our office was just up in Crested Butte accepting an Honor Award at the CASFM conference. It was indeed an honor for us to win this award, and we look forward to working with this group of people more in the future.
We thought this would be a good opportunity to share a video for the park we've been working on with Cameron at Colorado Photo. The final product is ready and we love it. You can catch the video here.

The park also appears in the book Colorado Urbanizing, "The premier guide to Urbanism in Colorado."

This was an exceptional project for us to work on, and we're so excited about the attention it's getting.

Natural Play

Natural play, what does it mean and how does it effect our playgrounds? As designers, have we really grasped what the concept of natural play means? Is it as simple as adding tree trunks, sand, and boulders to a design? If so, great! We do this in many of our playgrounds here at Design Concepts. But yet, I want to believe that there is more to this notion of natural play than the addition of “natural” elements. Although, as designers, we are trying to incorporate the notion of natural play, we are still faced with the same parameters and restrictions of liability, safety zones, and fall heights.

Natural play is not strictly about using “natural” elements, it is about creating connections, a sense of risk, and a feeling of discovery. Creating connections is about designing spaces, such as playgrounds that allow kids to interact with their natural surroundings. A sense of risk is important for kids to “test their limits” and a sense of discovery can be created by providing opportunities to unearth something new. In the end, no matter how “natural” the space is, it must be well designed.

One of Design Concepts most recent projects, Bear Creek Park, is a great example of a park where formal play elements, such as swings and climbing walls, are combined with natural play elements. And yes, we used tree trunks and boulders! Our clients are asking for natural play and parents are talking about natural play, our challenge as designers is to continue to create connections with nature, “test our limits” and remember our sense of discovery.
-Amanda

Our day on 9News

As play becomes more of a topic of interest in Colorado, the News decided to talk to people who are intimately involved in the next generation of play design. We have been working, studying and applying our extensive history of creating play places to making multi-generational recreation areas in our state and others. It was our pleasure to share this knowledge through the 9News people, principal Axel Bishop did the interview.
Watch the video here.