Commercial alleys, though often thought of as dirty or unsafe, can be designed to play an integral role in a downtown street network and improve the pedestrian realm in and around commercial areas.
Openfabric, Dmau: Play is about finding ones place in the world and making sense of that world. We have created a plan that seeks to juxtapose two different worlds. The man made and the natural. The plan has an urban exterior and a wild natural interior, each space contains a different type of play. The formal […]
Through my experience working in a skilled nursing and long term care facility, I have found that patients can greatly benefit from therapy exercises and strategies to improve their breathing coordination as well as expiratory duration and strength. This in turn will positively affect their breath support, swallowing and communication skills. Patients who have are ... Read More about When Communication, Cognition And Swallowing Are Affected By Decreased Breath Support
scape Landschaftsarchitekten: In 1993 the city council of Solingen, an industrial town in central Germany, decided to merge all the municipal services administration offices in one new building. In this context it was decided to create a new quarter, composed of the municipal buildings, housing, shops, gastronomy and offices. To receive innovative solutions for a […]
Public Realm Concept We are working on conceptual designs for two town “gateway” sites, with an aspiration to transform existing vehicle-dominated areas of public realm into joyous and functional community spaces.
Studio BOLOZ - open-ended products, installations and exhibitions which prompt interaction and encourage new ways of experiencing reality.
Image 1 of 20 from gallery of "Urban Toys" Designed to Reactivate Underused Public Spaces in Mexico City. Cortesía de Laboratorio para la Ciudad
Located on a Middle Arm of the Fraser River, the Terra Nova landscape represents a myriad of landscape types: intertidal foreshore, dykes, remnant sloughs, and past and present agricultural use. The play experience borrows from the form and character of these existing types, integrating and embedding the play experience in the park setting.
Image 1 of 24 from gallery of Te Ara Ātea Library & Community Center / Warren & Mahoney. Photograph by Grant Davis
From Offbeat Jungle Gyms to Sliding NYC Condos
Source: Deavita
Schwäbisch Gmünd, a mid-sized town in southern Germany, has engineered a far-reaching urban redevelopment process resulting in a new green heart for the city. This comprehensive project has structurally reoriented the inner city, including its traffic patterns. Historical urban structures were re-exposed, new urban axes were formed and expansive public spaces were built.
In Chorzów, Poland, a vibrant, multi-use public park designed by SLAS Architects explores the possibilities of play.
Cities around the world have been designing outdoor gyms and play areas for older generations to improve fitness and wellbeing. Even non-specialist playgrounds are getting multi-generational. Play’s not just for kids...
The typical NYC school yard consists of a fenced-in amalgamation of asphalt, safety surface and standard play equipment. SCAPE worked in close collaboration with Pave Academy, a K-8 Charter School, to develop a swiftly constructible landscape that goes beyond the standard-issue urban schoolyard while working with a similar suite of low-budget and readily available materials.
Our school has an Outdoor Learning Committee that I am a part of. We all feel very strongly that the environment where the children play outside is just as important as the environment inside our school. We have worked hard to make our playground an area where the kids can run, exercise explore and yes...learn! Outside play plays an important role in children's development! They are working gross motor muscles and getting must needed exercise. They learn how to solve problems such as when social disagreements arise. They learn empathy as they help friends who get hurt. They learn to take risks and see where their limits are and feel empowered as they take those risks and succeed. They create games and role play. They learn science concepts as they discover things in nature and learn to look closer and ask questions about what they see as they discover new things. They learn kindness as they try to save an insect in danger or nurture a plant. They are literally learning about life and life skills as they play outside, so we knew the environment needed to support that. We had an area that we were having some problems with in the middle of our asphalt area. We wanted to turn it into something all of the kids could explore and benefit from and decided to create a Barefoot Sensory Path. We came up with a design and my husband figured out how to make it so that it would be sturdy and last. Our amazing PTO gave us funds to purchase the materials and we had fun shopping at Lowes for items that would provide the sensory experiences we were hoping for. Our team came in on a Saturday and went to work. Our maintenance team had dug the area down four inches so that it would be even with the asphalt. We put down a layer of paver sand, and then the 4x4's. We glued some materials to 2x2 pieces of plywood. The sections were all 2x2. We filled the sections with paver base and tamped it solid. My son even came and helped! Here is the finished frame. Of course, we had to test it out! Here is the finished path!! We were so excited for the kids to try it! It was a huge success!! The kids absolutely loved walking on it with bare feet, crawling on it and feeling with their hands and even laying in it enjoying the warmth radiating from it from being in the sun. Another new area we created was an area to create roads, ramps, etc. using scrap wood, cars, signs and other loose parts. This lovely lady below had the vision for this area! We also added an area to really work those gross motor muscles. Mr. Doyle created a boundary to keep it all contained to one area. We filled it with stumps, logs, and large branches. The kids have created obstacle courses and love lifting these up to show how strong they are! They jump, balance and create here. They collaborate and problem solve. They use both critical and creative thinking skills. This is a great area to develop 21st Century Learning Skills as they play! For our nature lovers, we have an area with plants for them to explore and observe. Some are edible such as peppermint and fennel. We have cone flowers, milkweed, irises, sunflowers and more. This area is a great place to explore and observe insects also! Here are some other things on our playground where they can let lose and have fun! Our playground is still a work in progress! We have many more ideas that we want to implement some day! One step at a time!
Four design finalists unveil their proposals for the rehabilitation of Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles
