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, btw!)  staged Wanna Play!–combining “a retrospective view of a fine and original tradition within Danish art – art playgrounds in the public space – with an experimental approach to exhibition practices, specifically in the form of a giant indoor playground created by six artists in the museum’s top floor.”

“WANNA PLAY! looks at how restrictions and rules makes it difficult to create truly wild, artistic playgrounds. Many of us remember the special thrill of that really good slide, the sensational see-saw, and so on, but times have changed: gone are the days of innocence where children could scamper around junk playgrounds, mount swings without having special safety surfaces underneath, etc. Today we are preoccupied with rules and regulations, with the letter of the law and the potential liabilities associated with any mishaps; all this is an impediment to establishing ”wild” playgrounds.Nevertheless, the issue is highly topical in connection with the City of Copenhagen’s project Plads Til Leg (literally “Grounds for Play”), which encompasses five art playgrounds so far, created by Randi & Katrine, Nina Saunders, Peter Land, Eva Steen Christensen, and Tanja Rau, respectively.

More on Copenhagen’s exciting project next week!

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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.

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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 a combination!

“● Spaceship HEART is a public playground made from individual Kid’s stools   ● 100% Cardboard   ● Assemble and disassemble using hands only”

The system was  initially designed for the Shenzhen and Hong Kong bi-city biennale of urbanism architecture 2011 and then re constructed for IX Semana de la Arquitectura, Madrid, then folded and un-folded in a single day at the Victoria & Albert museum, London.  The stools can be utilized in large and small scale assemblies, and customized with an institution’s name or logo.

Upcoming events include workshops at Shibaura House June 8^th and Omotesando Hills June 9th, Tokyo, Japan.  The workshop in Shibaura House will be accompanied by a public debate about playground planning with architect Mikiko Endo… now that’s a workshop I’d love to attend!

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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 and combating obesity.  Sometimes that means the playground simply isn’t well designed.  But there are other ways to think about encouraging longer play times, and Copenhagen based Play IT sound have developed an “interactive sound device that brings traditional swings into the digital age” whose music and applause  ’reward’  longer and more active play.  “After a certain time on the swing and/or when the child reaches a certain height he or she is rewarded with a sound experience. When reaching the next level another sound will be triggered.”

I love that it’s solar powered,  and can be added onto existing equipment!  I’m sure there will be some discussion about whether more sounds/these sounds are desirable in the playscape.  But all kinds of creative thinking are needed to make the playgrounds of the future better than those of the past,  and to keep kids playing better longer…thanks to Jonas for sending this in!  Son-X has been nominated for a Design to improve Life award here.

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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 Peoples from Prehistoric Times to the XIXth Century by Karl Grober, English version by Philip Hereford. London, 1928.  I have just ordered this book and can’t WAIT to read it.

P.S.  Thanks, readers,  for letting me know that the pictures on the posts aren’t coming through correctly on the RSS feed/feedburner emails.  Working on it!

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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 Children’s Year: Seasonal Crafts and Clothes (Hawthorn Press)…a lovely DIY project for the natural playscape.
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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.  Note the intentional use of the word ‘playscape’ rather than ‘playground’, and particularly look at how these playscapes illustrate the twin foci of play in the mid-century:  1) avant-garde forms like the biomorphic concrete playhouse and 2) natural materials in adventurous configurations such as the fort and the timber scrambles.  Much like today’s playground milieu!  It’s a pity we’re just now getting back to these ideas after a long detour through plastics and platforms.

From the City of Vancouver archives.  Also don’t miss this vintage footage of play activities held at the parks in Vancouver in the mid-century, particularly the traffic school feature at 24:00.  Thanks James!

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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 play.  Some of these take my breath away.  Thanks to reader Anna for sending in her work, along with the notice that Maggie has a show, called ‘Second Home’ until May 4 at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education in Philadelphia.

“The natural world has become a secondary home for most of us, with the developed world structuring our lives. The decomposition of nature and industry and the perceived fragmentation of time and space due to technology define our environment.  The young navigate these inherited spaces often with little guidance.

The Schuylkill Center acts as a second home for the children who attend its afterschool program.  Although the imposition of the man-made is measured and beneficial at the Schuylkill Center, humanity’s mark is present. These marks, made largely by adults, affect the spaces where children play, learn, and develop into future architects of the environment.  In Second Home, this narrative is articulated through the deletion, expansion, or simplification of elements of the literal world.”      – Maggie Mills, 2013

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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 of a grid, and this is a really pleasing interpretation of a classic piece of playground equipment.

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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 kid-favorites like lasagna and mac and cheese.  But my favorite feature is the chic op art slide, in which the act of sliding becomes an immersive optical and artistic experience.   And it’s wide for cooperative sliding (though the museum doesn’t seem keen on allowing that, safety concerns and all…)  Slides-should-be-wide.

[photos via toboggan design, thanks Laurent!]

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