Roles: Design Research; Design Strategy; Design Management; Industrial Design
Why do most public playgrounds look so similar? Our team set out to rethink the playground by first trying to understand what drove decisions in standard playground design. We interviewed early childhood experts, educators, manufacturers, and recreational managers, and found that major factors in designing play equipment, like maintenance and liability, have more to do with adults than children. Our team took on the challenge of designing a playground based primarily on children's developmental needs.
We discovered that children are most engaged when they engage not only their gross motor skills, but also their creativity, cognitive ability, and social skills. We developed a concept for a playground of loose parts that allow children to create their own play environments, creations, and activities—in a safe, collaborative setting.
A key aspect of our concept was to create a platform that offers kids a manipulable landscape that can incorporate natural elements like sand and water, as well as other found objects.
Although our concept began as a site-specific playground, we saw great potential to bring this new kind of playground to any space. Through a partnership with the NYC Parks Department and the non-profit advocacy group, KaBOOM!, we developed a mobile playground product that we launched with a 5-city pilot.
A total kit of parts including our signature construction system, sand & water pieces, and a starter set of found objects.
Other storage options include a lightweight unit for secured outdoor spaces and indoor storage.
Future products extensions led to storage units that could roll indoors and outdoors for a variety of situations.
The concept received much applause from educators, parents, and the press, with coverage from national media outlets like CNN, The New Yorker, Fast Company, and the front page of The New York Times. The initiative has grown into a thriving start-up distributing products worldwide. The offering expanded to include educational content, events & programming, as well as a tablet-based 3D builder app.