Design with Play: July 2014

As luck would have it, my visit to the Imagination Playground in New York would require me to use my imagination. We arrived shortly after it had closed for the day, and it's surrounded by a pretty significant fence. It also looked like a portion of it is under renovation.

What immediately struck me is that the park really isn't that big, but it's designed in a way to have a significant number of features, and the space is made 'larger' through ground level and elevated components. That in combination with a supervised loose-parts play system would create a pretty good play and experimentation experience. Too bad I had to imagine what it looks like in practice.

I've included some photos below, but you'll need to find other photos online to see the whole thing in practice. We also have an earlier blog post that dealt with the concept behind the 'loose parts' and the imagination playground: Imagination Playground Post.

Our photos:

(Visited January 2013)
The food trucks beside this park point to a renewed way that we are looking at our public spaces. Success in a space often involves something to do, something to eat and somewhere to go to the bathroom. Looking this park up online also illustrates the changing approach to parks, with an excellent website and a very high level of event programming. The park even has free Wi-Fi. It would seem that many of its features might result from it being a public/private partnership.

With an ideal goal for park design being to provide something to do for everyone, this park provides the physical amenities that are specific to certain uses (i.e. playground and restrooms) and those that allow a high level of flexibility in its use. Success is measured by how many people use a park, and what times of the day a park gets used. Some of this visitation will be organic due to people visiting the park to use it's amenities, but a large number of people seem to come to this park due to how it's programmed (a calendar can be viewed on their website).

The east end of the park was being used lightly when we visited (during the late morning), with the game tables and activities being the most popular (ping pong and foos ball, with adjacent putting green). The west end of the park had a number of food trucks for lunch time, and a playground that was popular. For what would be expected to be a non-busy time, the park had a healthy level of use. I can only imagine how used it might be during more peak times.

Designed by: The Office of James Burnett

An interesting article on how the park was built: How Clyde Warren Park Was Built
Check out the Yelp Reviews: Yelp - Clyde Warren Park
It even has a Facebook Page: Facebook - Clyde Warrent Park

Addition to post: Metropolis magazine has an article on Dallas, where they reference the importance of this park to the urban fabric: Mission Impossible

One of the park entries: it's impressive that this park is built over a freeway.

The park is chock-full of stuff... including these arches over a promenade.

Lots of movable furniture.

A few shelters in this part of the park, more for shade than rain cover I'd think.

We were here on a weekday around lunch. This part of the park wasn't as occupied as that closer to the food trucks.

Definitely a wide variety of places to sit.

Ping pong table under a shade canopy. You leave your ID with a park docent to get the paddles and ball.

The park design is warm and friendly. Paving, planters and lots of seating elements. Also, a putting green. You leave your ID with a park docent to get the clubs and ball.

Foos Ball!!!! You leave your ID with a park docent to get the ball.

The park docent... enabler of cool games and guide to your enjoyment of this park.

Another park docent helping people with directions and enabling them to enjoy the park.

Bike racks. The use of a model with plastic bumpers is nice to minimize scratching paint.

Water features. I head that Dallas can get hot, hot, hot!

Lots of places to sit and socialize.

Food truck promenade. A good amount of options of food, and then great seating in the park.

A main lawn area in front of the play area.

Entry to the play area. A gateway is good for finding the way in, and certainly adds some fun.

The high point in a play area is always a favorite place.

Poured in place safety surfacing makes for a great pathway, and provides options for color and designs.

An interesting sign to see... but high heels would indeed damage the soft play surfacing.

I think that a sure sign of success in a play area is seeing everyone's parents hanging around and talking to one another while their children play.

The green mounds are artificial turn. The natural materials like a boulder area great design and play feature, and the native plantings certainly make this feel like a well-designed space.