Far Far Away
Overview
In this project, we collaborated with Earthscape to design our own unique playgrounds in our selected location, following their distinctive styles. Earthscape specializes in custom playground design-builds, with a focus on creating natural high-play-value playgrounds through their emphasis on design and craftsmanship. These playgrounds are more than just play areas; they are designed to tell a story and are truly one-of-a-kind.
Final Design
The theme of our park 'Far Far Away' centered on the four main elements of nature found on another planet, requiring us to imagine what the landscape would look like. The playground is located at Cliff Lumsdon Park, it serves as a gathering place for children and families to enjoy play and recreation together. Our custom playground is designed for children aged 5 to 12 and aims to stimulate children's imaginations, offer physical challenges, encourage social interaction, and promote creative play. Importantly, we ensure that the playground is inclusive, considering the safety and needs of children with disabilities.
Sketch Front View
2D Plan View
The focal point of the park is the rocket structure, featuring a climbing element on the interior and a tube slide from the top level. The base of the rocket is surrounded by climbing nets.
The back of the playground has mountain-like structures that incorporate climbing elements and hammocks of varying sizes to accommodate different ages. The largest structure features a straight slide for added fun and excitement.
In the front, there are inground trampolines resembling puddles, along with wobble boards mimicking craters. To the left, there are crater hills serving as a sitting area.
On the right, there are indented hammocks designed for relaxation for older kids.
The Four Elements of Nature
Earth
The mountain-like structures in the back represent the element of earth.
Air
The climbing net at the bottom of the rocket illustrates smoke, symbolizing the element of air.
Fire
The structures at the top of the rocket resemble flames, symbolizing the element of fire.
Water
The inground trampolines are designed to resemble puddles, demonstrating the element of water.
Development
During the initial stage of development, I created many sketches of playground ideas following a consistent theme. Through iterations and feedback, I began refining my concept and planning how the playground would integrate into our selected location, which included visiting Cliff Lumdson Park to get a sense of the space. During this stage, I created various views of the park to visualize its placement and design from different perspectives.
Scaled Prototype and Materials
Earthscape uses wood as the primary construction material, providing a natural and earthy feel to the playgrounds. Materials including wood, rope, and steel are also used to bring creative play spaces to life. In our prototype, we used wooden sheets to create the majority of the equipment in the playground. Pastel colors were painted on the wood to help tell the story behind the playground and to provide a sense of whimsy and fun. Additionally, the tube slide is constructed of acrylic tube, providing durability and a smooth sliding surface. The inground trampolines are molded with clay, and the hammocks and climbing nets are made of netting materials, ensuring strength and stability for safe play.
The prototype was designed to scale, with each equipment's size carefully calculated to meet the needs of the intended users.
Final design and prototype in collaboration with Hannah MacFarlane and Monica Mehra, all sketches and design developments are my work.