Historic Earthworks for the Playground

So I mentioned in the previous post about the Haye Playground by Mortar and Pestle that its snail-like forms have historic antecedents, which I did a series of posts about some time ago at my garden history blog (here, and here).   Like all turf installations, they require maintenance but are relatively easy to construct for the playground, and a nice way to add historical context.    

The spiraling snail mount was a favorite of the Elizabethans,  included in an entertainment staged for Elizabeth I at Elvetham in 1591 in which the snail mount 'resembleth a monster', and was fired upon with cannon (see it there in the lower right corner)

Sir Francis Bacon's garden (c. 1620) had 'in the very middle, a fair mount, with three ascents, and alleys, enough for four to walk abreast; which I would have to be perfect circles...and the whole mount to be thirty foot high'.   The snail mount was was a logical response to the desire to view a flat garden from a high overlook, and its wide, spiraling paths a practical way for heavily skirted ladies to ascend on a gentle incline.

The best surviving example is at Lyveden New Bield in Northamptonshire, where twin snail mounts arise from a moated landscape surrounding Thomas Tresham's haunting, never-finished Trinitarian retreat.  (Highly, highly recommended for a visit.)

The horticulture students at Cornell University made a smaller construct...I particularly love the idea of a group of people 'walking in' the spiral to the top.

 

An even earlier model is the medieval turf seat (there's a good historical overview at the Met garden blog), which was sometimes just a shaped area of turf, with or without a seat back, but could also be framed into the seat shape by wattles or boards or masonry.  

There's been a resurgence of interest in these 'green sofas' in the last few years....instructions for making a 'sprout couch' can be found at ReadyMade magazine, and there is a commercial kit for making a turf 'chair'.  But I prefer simpler, less literal constructs, like this one from the Goresbrook park in Dangenham:

Or these by environmental artist Angela Ciotti from a 1983 installation in Pennsylvania:

And my favorite is the idyllic example painted by Ilya Repin in the waning, dappled days of the Russian elite.

Also note some earthworks previously featured on the blog:  Maya Lin's wavefield, and  the playhills of Dani Karavan and Parklife London. 

Much more could be done with turf on playgrounds, so take this as inspiration!

"Centre of the World" climbing wall, Arkstudio Lamusuo, Vuokatti Finland, 2004

This is the most beautiful play installation I've seen since I started the blog...the "Centre of the World" climbing wall  by Arkstudio Lamusuo anchors the assembly hall of the Satuvakka day care center in Vuokatti Finland, giving it a planetarium-like feeling.  The material is a grained plywood, worked into topographic layers and accented with gold leaf.

It also belongs to the Municipality of Sotkamo's art collection. 

How many playscapes are beautiful enough to qualify for a place in a permanent art collection?  How would playgrounds be different if they had to?

Vintage Japanese Playground Elephants

I've made my periodic pilgrimage to the "Old Playground Furniture" group at flickr, and turned up a couple of interesting vintage Japanese designs:  a two-stage elephant slide (photo by yoakenobang), and a mid-mod style elephant seat ([photo by joopy).  As always, if you have additional info on these installations, get in touch!

Puckelball Pitch (the world's first!) Johan Strom, Malmö, Sweden, 2009

 

The world's first Puckelball pitch is in use in Malmö, Sweden, a city notable for its commitment to  creating new social spaces that encourage its residents to interact outdoors. 

Also called 'Mogul ball' for its resemblance to the moguls on ski runs, the puckelball pitch (made of artificial turf) is a protected design concept by artist Johan Strom, who thinks of it as a metaphor for life:

"Many live under the belief that life is a fair playing field, that both pitch halves are just as big and the goal always has at least one cross. But ultimately the ball never bounces exactly where you want it to and the pitch is both bumpy and uneven."

As one of those uncoordinated kids that was always picked last for team sports, I would have loved playing in a setting in which "the pitch’s irregularities neutralise the players’ skills. It is not at all certain that the best football player is also the greatest puckelball hero. If the ball doesn’t bounce where you think it will everybody has a chance."

The unevenness of the field is intended to invite more imaginative ways to play, and to encourage play between girls and boys, old and young, skilled against unskilled, on equal footings, challenging the physical elitism inherent in most sporting activities.  But serious footballers find it useful, too...for practice in responding to unpredictability.

How much do you want a puckelball pitch in your hometown?  Yeah, me too.  Let's start a movement.

(Malmö has more exemplary playscapes...watch for them in future posts!)

UPDATES:  see also photos of the puckelball field construction by Bo Johnsson and a video about puckelball by the municipality of Malmo.

Playspace Design Competition, Killybegs Ireland, registration deadline 9 February

Sponsored by the Donegal County Council Public Art Office in partnership with the Irish Architecture Foundation and the RIAI (Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland), this one stage architectural competition seeks to be an exemplar for commissioning play spaces in Ireland and is open to architects and architect-led design teams.

It has an laudably ambitious brief:

"Commissioning Public Art does not mean merely providing the public with the most obvious and fixed solution, for this would preclude the possibility of truly innovative art. It involves a process of dialogue and expanding horizons in the sense that people cannot express a desire for that which they have not yet experienced. This PlaySpace should cultivate a greater understanding of place, allow children the fullest play experiences, and benefit their families and the wider community."


Killybegs is a small picturesque fishing town with a population of 1,289 (2006 Census) located on the northwest coast of Ireland. The PlaySpace site is a small green rectangular area (size .278 acres / .1126 hectares) surrounded on all sides by a low boundary wall and is located on your left-hand-side as you enter the town of Killybegs. The construction budget for the PlaySpace is €65,000.

• Competition Registration Opens: 16 December 2010  
• Questions Deadline: 7 January 2011
• Withdrawal of Registration and refund of fee: 10 January 2011  
• Answers Circulated: 19 January 2011
• Registration Deadline: 9 February 2011
• Submission Deadline: 21 February 2011
• Assessment: March 2011

More information and registration at the competition site.    [Thanks Ruben!]

Soe Ker Tie House, TYIN Tegnestue, Nah Bo Thailand, 2009

TYIN Tegnestue is a non-profit composed of architectural students from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and recently notable for their small-scale projects in Thailand that address social needs and cultural context without sacrificing architectural quality; characterized by innovative uses of local materials.  Their Soe Ker Tie House project (Butterfly Houses, so named by the workers) for an orphanage on the Thai-Burmese border, was designed to "somehow recreate what these children would have experienced in a more normal situation. We wanted every child to have their own private space, a home to live in and a neighbourhood where they could interact and play."

So the the six sleeping units they constructed contain some dedicated playspaces of swings (built for one or many, that's important) and chess tables.  But my favorite aspect of the project is that it incorporates many small elements that are play opportunities without explicitly making a playground; the whole site is eminently playable.  Look for the bench between two trees, the stairsteps formed from tires, the changes in level, the intriguing windows...and do visit archdaily to see complete photos, including a beautiful library space and bathhouse they also built for the orphanage.  TYIN Tegnestue are currently engaged in new projects in Haiti and Sumatra; can't wait to hear more.

Playground Paths from Soil?

One of the vexing issues in playground design (and other landscape interventions for that matter) is the issue of paths:  concrete is so raw in appearance (and don't get me started on faux concrete finishes), stone is expensive, gravel is messy, soil is muddy, mulch scatters and needs replacing...hoggin (a compactable mixture of sand, gravel and clay)  is a favorite of mine but it's not readily available here in the US.  So I was intrigued to run across the idea of 'soil stabilizers', which appear to be some sort of polymeric additive to existing soil that consolidates it to make a durable surface.  [see a list of the multiple options at this site about trail surfaces]

The sites of commercial purveyors seem to be marketing to the military (quick runways and roads, that sort of thing) so I assume it's durable.  Has anyone out there used these products?  Thoughts or reviews?

House with a concrete slide, Aboday, Jakarta, 2010

Does it say something about our need for play that this house with a concrete slide for getting from floor to floor was the most popular post of the year over at that most popular design site, dezeen?  It goes from the child's room to the kitchen.  The two best places in the house!

By Indonesian architects Aboday, photographed by Happy Lim.

Atomic Culture on the Playground, 1945

"For years the playground in Washington Square has resounded to the high-strung anh-anh-anh  of machine guns and the long-drawn-out whine of high velocity shells.  Last  Saturday morning a great advance was made.  We watched a military man of seven or eight climb onto a seesaw, gather a number of his staff officers around him, and explain the changed situation.  "Look,"  he said, "I'm an atomic bomb.  I just go 'boom'.  Once.  Like this."  He raised his arms, puffed out his cheeks, jumped down from the seesaw, and went "Boom!"  Then he led his army away, leaving Manhattan in ruins behind him".

The New Yorker, August 18, 1945 (Nagasaki had been August 9)

I'm deep in Cold War culture at the moment...almost finished with a manuscript on the Atomic Gardens of the 1950s and 1960s.  So posting may be a bit slow for about a week.

[image credit:  Lauren Orchowski's Rocket playgrounds project...there's now a book!]