Inclusive Play

We are very pleased to be working with the Anchorage Park Foundation and the Municipality of Anchorage Parks and Recreation Department on a Strategic Plan for Inclusive Playgrounds in Anchorage. Our desire for play design has always been to strive for universal access... and that goes in general for our Landscape Architecture and Planning practice. There are true and distinct challenges in doing this (in the face of complicated sites and budgets) but decisions can be made to allow sites to be enjoyed equally by as broad a section of the populace as possible. What sticks with us is the idea that we might be stopped by some barrier that we couldn't surmount, and our friends would be able to move on without us to other fun things. That isn't such a good feeling to be left behind, no matter how short the time might be.

The idea of inclusive play and universal access is becoming more and more present in media and our community discussions. Here's an article from today in the Star Tribune: http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/relationship/265593651.html

Lucas Dean, 4, spent an afternoon with his parents, Jay and Karen Dean, and his sister, Isla, playing in a neighborhood park. The St. Louis Park boy has spina bifida and uses a wheelchair to get around.

The fun we get to have...

We just found a blog entry that we forgot to publish during our design for Russian Jack Springs Park. Since we just posted photos of the final product we thought that it would still be interesting to upload some of the graphics from Landscape Structures that were used as the basis of design for getting bids on the custom equipment for the playground. Living in Alaska, we wanted to theme it in a way that related to our lives and history, but to not make it too expected or cheesy. The iconic - everyone loves polar bears for how cute and cuddly they seem, and I imagine that Coke advertisements haven't hurt how the polar bear has a pretty iconic place in the North American (if not worldwide) consciousness. Ravens are more present than polar bears across the North, and are equally iconic due to how crafty and clever they area.

One of the interesting parts of this project was our collaboration with Landscape Structures on the sculpting of the polar bear head. The sketch above is certainly different than what was installed. It was a challenge to develop a friendly polar bear with his mouth wide open, but they certainly met that challenge. Just look at the sparkle in the eyes of the final sculpture!

Russian Jack Springs Park

The park has been in for a while now, so it's long overdue for some photos. Funding for this project was secured by the Anchorage Park Foundation and the Municipality of Anchorage Parks and Recreation Department. We (Corvus Design) provided design services. Landscape Structures through their Alaska rep Exerplay provided the play equipment. This playground is incredible for how it turned a derelict corner of a park, into an incredibly popular community amenity. For these photos, we were probably a bit early to show how many kids are usually here. As we were leaving, they started to roll in...

Custom Raven Structure with 'help Raven find her nest' finger puzzle.

Custom Snow Cat structure.

Iditarod Trail finger puzzle in the Snow Cat (the real trail isn't quite so squiggly)

Side view of the polar bear structure. Glass fiber reinforced head and feet.

Polar bear paws at the bottom of four climbers.

Concrete platforms to provide seating for people, as well as to provide informal venues for performance and creative play.

Custom assembly of stock pieces to create a fishing boat, with net behind.

Custom assembly of some stock pieces to create our local small plane airport (Merrill Field)

We just can't keep the ravens away from the playground.

Another raven!

Another area of seating and flexible use for performance or creative play. You can see how skateboarders have waxed the concrete. We didn't actively prevent skateboarders, we just tried to design things to be beefy enough to withstand some wear and tear.

Snow Cat showing it's 'snow trail' behind it... the moebius climber.

The northern lights on the back of the bear.

A 'kittiwake cliff' to connect the fishing boat and its net to the shoreline and the polar bear.

The ferocious polar bear slide!

The Anchorage Park Foundation held a competition to name the polar bear Nola.

Harper's Playground - a great story and community building experience...

check out the video link:   http://harpersplayground.org/

Another great website for examples of existing Inclusive Playgrounds and lots of play equipment to choose from...http://www.playlsi.com/Explore-Products/Universally-Accessible-Playgrounds/Pages/Inclusive-Play.aspx

Here's a link to the inclusiveplay.com website. It's filled with information on Inclusive Design, checking to see if your playground is an inclusive play space, and some inclusive play equipment ideas...check it out: http://www.inclusiveplay.com/

RJSP - More Construction

Some more photos of the in progress construction of our playground in Russian Jack Springs Park.

The 'snow cat'

Raven Play Structure

Polar Bear Play Structure

Some photos from the day that the Anchorage Park Foundation announced the contest to name the polar bear. If you'd like to find out how your kids can enter, go to this link: http://anchorageparkfoundation.org/2012/10/polar-bear-contest/

Snowy Polar Bear Play Structure

Announcing the "name the polar bear" contest

The fishing boat play structure... waiting for spring for completion of the playground.