Imagination Playgrounds
Watching Natasha and Chloe play, I realize it’s those self-directed moments when my girls learn best; when I’m more like a fly-on-the-wall and they’re the captains of their own (princess) ship. That’s why I was blown-away when I heard about New York City architect David Rockwell’s vision for Imagination Playgrounds.
The notion may sound redundant, but over the years of creating safer playgrounds, many lost sight of their purpose: a dynamic place to play. As teeter-totters and merry-go-rounds disappeared, playgrounds lost those unstructured elements fundamental to imaginative recreation. At Citibabes, we try to recreate that kind of experiential environment in our classrooms and CitiGym. Outdoors, though, it can be difficult to find the same kind of all-ages, unstructured atmosphere that’s equally as safe. Luckily, David saw the need for reintroducing a playground’s so-called “loose parts” and in signature Rockwell style (the firm is responsible for Jet Blue’s JFK terminal and W Hotel designs) created an amazing outdoor play space.
After seven years of research, development, focus groups and testing, Imagination Playground at Burling Slip is finally opening at the end of this month, conceived and designed pro-bono by architect David Rockwell. It all started when Rockwell began spending time in playgrounds with his two children, and noticed a lack of encouragement of imagination, creativity and variation. These wheels began to turn just after a few public projects he and his firm Rockwell Group collaborated on with New York City, and so they immediately turned to the City to partner with them on a playground initiative in lower Manhattan.
So began the journey of designing a playground that catalyzed opportunities for child-directed, unstructured, free play. And what resulted was Imagination Playground, an interactive, transformable environment that inspires children to manipulate their environment and create a playspace of their own with sand, water, and custom designed loose parts such as wagons, carts and bright blue biodegradable foam blocks. All of this together provides a changing array of elements that allow children to constantly reconfigure their environment and design their own course of play.
Imagination Playground at Burling Slip – a pro-bono collaboration between Rockwell Group and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation – is the first realization of a site-specific Imagination Playground park, which can be designed and conditioned for any community. In late July, kids will be able to play there with features inspired by the history and context of Burling Slip, such as a sandpit, a cascading water channel, a rope climbing structure, masts and pulleys, and a listening forest.
Kids also can experience the Imagination Playground free play concept through semi-mobile Imagination Playground in box sets, 10 of which are scattered in parks throughout the boroughs. We have partnered with KaBOOM! in an effort to bring Imagination Playgrounds in a Box all across the country, so that more and more kids will have access to this type of open-ended free play. Check out the website for more info: http://www.imaginationplayground.org/.
[...] Imagination Playground at Burling Slip Ribbon Cutting Ceremony on July 27th! Submitted by Citibabes Blog on July 22, 2010 – 11:37 amNo Comment Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.Powered by WP Greet Box WordPress PluginDon’t miss the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for the Imagination Playground at Burling Slip on Tuesday, July 27th at 11:30 am! Read more about the Imagination Playground… [...]
We played at one at the South street seaport!