This ground-breaking play system empowers children to build their own playscapes, exercising their minds as well as their muscles. Winning the acclaim of educators, parents, and kids all over the world, this pro bono design initiative has grown into a thriving venture with international distribution.
THE CHALLENGE
What kind of play best supports children’s healthy development? As a community service project in partnership with the NYC Parks Department, my team at Rockwell Group embarked on a mission to design a better playground. With children today facing a range of issues from obesity to screen addiction and overscheduling, we sought to address the needs of modern-day children.
MY ROLES
Lead Experience Strategist
Design Researcher
Lead Industrial Designer
PROJECT APPROACH
This began as a pro bono side project that later grew into a complex business operation. My team worked in short bursts between client work, with sudden ramp-up periods for critical pitches with partners and potential funding sources. Our core team included 4 industrial designers and 3 architects.
WE SET OUT TO DESIGN A BETTER PLAYGROUND THAT MEETS CHILDRENS’ DEVELOPMENTAL NEEDS.
DISCOVERY
To understand the role of play in children’s lives, we delved into the history of play and playgrounds, as well as the latest thinking on childhood development. We interviewed experts including a playground historian, an environmental psychology expert, children’s advocacy groups, as well as administrators and on-the-ground staff from the NYC Parks Department.
We toured playgrounds all over the city and—most importantly—observed how children and their grown-ups used these spaces. The core user group in these playgrounds were children ages two through ten.
AS WE VISITED PLAYGROUNDS THROUGHOUT NYC, I WONDERED WHY THEY ALL LOOKED SO SIMILAR. THE REASONS, IT TURNS OUT, HAVE MORE TO DO WITH ADULT ISSUES LIKE MAINTENANCE AND LIABILITY, THAN WITH KIDS’ NEEDS.
SYNTHESIS & INSIGHTS
As lead strategist, I distilled key insights about standardized playground designs, and how they compare with children’s needs.
Experts agree that self-directed play—when children themselves decide how they play—is critical to all areas of child development. We found, however, that most playground designs determine how children play. A climbing structure, for example, directs a child to climb.
WE SAW AN OPPORTUNITY TO DESIGN A PLAYGROUND THAT LEAVES MORE TO THE IMAGINATION, AND ENGAGES CHILDREN MENTALLY AS WELL AS PHYSICALLY.
DESIGN & PROTOTYPING
Brainstorming and ideation led our design team to a solution inspired by classic wooden blocks and Adventure Playgrounds—public play spaces that appeared in post-WWII Europe, where children would use real tools to build structures with rubble from bombed-out ruins.
WE DESIGNED AN ASSORTMENT OF LARGE BUILDING BLOCKS AND SHAPES, AS WELL AS OPEN-ENDED ACCESSORIES USING COMMONPLACE OBJECTS. THE SOLUTION ALLOWED CHILDREN TO DESIGN THEIR OWN PLAY SPACES.
We tested a variety of prototypes, collecting insights from observation, surveys, and informal interviews with children, parents, and teachers. Some of our shapes and designs held the children’s interest for only a short time, but the designs that allowed for at least three different affordances engaged children for longer and in more diverse ways. We explored a variety of materials and fabrication techniques, and refined our designs accordingly.
WE PROTOTYPED AND TESTED IN DIFFERENT SETTINGS: AN UNDER-RESOURCED PUBLIC SCHOOL, A CITY PARK IN AN AFFLUENT NEIGHBORHOOD, AND AN INDOOR MUSEUM PLAY AREA.
LAUNCH & GROWTH
THE FIRST IMAGINATION PLAYGROUND OPENED IN NYC TO AN OVERWHELMINGLY POSITIVE RESPONSE. WITHIN A COUPLE YEARS, OUR SMALL TEAM GREW THE INITIATIVE INTO A THRIVING BRAND WITH A LOYAL INTERNATIONAL FOLLOWING.
