The art of playscape | Earthscape

The art of playscape
玩的艺术

As one of the most special spaces in the landscape, playground is not limited to any venue type, and has always presented a unique exclusive field with a “rich and interesting” attitude. Many specialized companies have been given birth to in-depth design and research and construction. Over the years, they have basically reached a unified consensus on natural safety of materials, guiding natural interactive exploration and stimulating potential. Several projects to be introduced in this paper come from Earthscape in the United States, and their works often bring natural and immersive amusement atmosphere with complete story experience, which makes people forget their worries.

01
木桩隧道&哨站
Presidio Tunnel Tops Outpost

Earthscape & James Corner Field Operations 2022年春

In collaboration with James Corner Field Operations and the Presidio Trust, Earthscape has designed a bespoke natural playscape for the Presidio Tunnel Tops Outpost playground. The custom playground includes forms that are authentic to the Presidio’s natural and cultural history. The place-based organic design aesthetic thoughtfully integrates with the National Park’s spectacular landscape.

The new playground offers a space for children and adults to experience and explore nature actively or passively on structures and topographical features. The playscape appears to be conjured by nature while also compliant with safety and accessibility standards. The five main features include:

FOREST DEN

The Forest Den is the most complex and challenging play feature. Inside it, you can imagine yourself down on your hands and knees exploring the forest floor like an insect. The Den mimics a habitat of twigs, branches and logs of all sizes and diameters interspersed with net webs. It transforms the shapes and textures of a forest floor eco-system into a magnificent custom climbing structure.

WOODLAND WALL

The design inspiration for the Woodland Wall is the tightly planted historic forest of the Presidio. The forest is represented in a parametric wave of vertical logs that subtly lean forward and backward. The different angles provide varied levels of challenge for climbers who can traverse the wall laterally from side to side. The climbing hand and footholds mimic habitat.

Adjacent to the wall is a mound composed entirely of oak steppers. Three taller columns deliberately obscure views, forcing children to go around them thus creating an element of surprise during a game of tag or hide-and-seek. Together the wall and stepper mound create an environment for non-prescriptive challenge and play.

FALLEN TREE

Estimated to be 250 years old, the Fallen Tree is 75 feet (23 meters) long. The senior white oak came to the end of its natural life after a storm felled the tree and lifted its roots. Cut into three sections, it was carefully removed from the forest then measured and evaluated for its new life in this new space. Each segment of the tree weighs in excess of 15,000 lbs. (6,800 kgs).

Months were spent carefully sanding and hand-carving the tree as it was processed to remove any bark, sapwood and rot. The result is a one-of-a-kind sculpture that is entirely organic and faithful to its natural form. The root flare section is now fully hollow, creating an even more amazing space to play with than what nature created.

HYDRO TUNNEL

In 2010, an archeological survey of the Tunnel Tops site revealed the construction of a subterranean water conveyance system that dated back to the 1850s. The system had been designed to carry water from Mountain Lake to the City of San Francisco but was abandoned because of insufficient funds. As a way to authentically represent the history of site, the hydro tunnel concept is brought to the present as a play feature.

BOWLINE SWING

As a kinetic play element, the Bowline Swing is more organic than traditional swing architecture. The to and fro rope is suspended from large dimension timbers and is an unusual group play feature. The materials and the name connect to the local port and the tall ships that are sometimes moored in the Bay harbour.

NESTS

An oriole’s nest inspired the design of the large play nest. Its pear shape frames the structure that is fully climbable inside and out. A ground level opening makes it more inclusive and gives access to two layers of interior nets. A smaller nest, inspired by a hawk’s nest is a playful gathering space perfectly situated to take in the incredible vistas. Over time, the nest will become a part of a living willow arrangement that will weave around the seating area.

02
彭南特公园
Pennant Park at Daybreak

Earthscape and Loci 2022年秋

At Pennant Park in the Daybreak master-planned community, the circular space allocated for the playground launched the creative process for the playground. In collaboration with Loci and Big T Recreation, our concept designers used the circular footprint and the idea of small play neighbourhoods to create the Ribbon. The Ribbon uncoils through the space in the new Daybreak Village residential development in South Jordan, Utah.

A nearby existing playground features a taller climbing structure so the Ribbon was designed to complement that play opportunity with horizontal dynamism. From one end to another, the piece’s height, transparency, and play difficulty vary to allow for an array of play opportunities and challenges. The enclosed and semi-enclosed spaces invite quieter creative play, and games of hide-and-seek, and act as secret gathering spaces for groups of children. A complex combination of climbing holds, ropes, nets, and flexible rubber platforms creates a unique parkour course for older children.

In dialogue with the grove of trees hugging the playground, tall posts stained in shades of green generate compelling energy. They create a landscape of wood where children interact together in play. The seeming architectural simplicity of the piece judged on the approach to the playground is quickly dispelled as visitors discover tunnels, a balcony, a tower with flexible platforms, an angled amphitheater, openings, connections, and inviting curves. In fact, Pennant Park playground at Daybreak Village is unlike any play sculpture that Utah children and families have ever seen.

The playground moves up and down, creating play spaces in every part of the sculptural coliseum. Spooling off the playground tower with a Juliet balcony, the play structure offers elevated and ground-level play where children can imagine moving through laser beams, crawling across a suspension bridge or traversing the forest wall. Without a doubt, challenge, fun, and adventure await!

03
木之山
Moku-Yama

Earthscape and Kengo Kuma & Associates 2023年夏

In collaboration with Kengo Kuma & Associates (KKAA), Earthscape is thrilled to introduce 木山 Moku-Yama (Wood Mountain) – a new collection of sculptural playground structures available through Earthscape Collections.

Kengo Kuma & Associates is a world-renowned, award-winning Japanese architecture firm that is recognized as a leader in wood design and construction. Referencing historic Japanese building techniques and connections to the natural world, Kengo Kuma’s work explores materiality, light and transparency, nature, and time.

Moku-Yama is a new playground structure that bridges art and play. The name Moku-Yama translates from Japanese to ‘wood mountain’ which aptly describes the impressive floating peaks and valleys of this unique form.

Moku-Yama’s shape mimics natural landscapes and the form provides creative play opportunities. It invites you to be an active climber and a peaceful observer. It offers the experience of great height, the challenge of a daring drop jump, and hidden quiet seclusion underneath.

Curious apertures of light pass through the tightly fit logs, dotting the ground with sun specks. The above and below play experiences stimulate senses in magical ways. Moku-Yama exposes the purity of natural wood materials and, like a mountain, gives perspective.

Earthscape’s initial design brief with Kengo Kuma requested an exploration of sculptural forms that blurred the lines between art and play. The KKAA team imagined more than a dozen possibilities for playground structures, creating sketches and models. Together with Earthscape, those ideas were explored further with an eye to play experience, safety, engineering, and constructability.

The back-and-forth collaboration honed in on the most promising concepts and Moku-Yama was chosen as the finalist. Refinements were made to the design to meet safety standards, with thorough reviews conducted by third-party consultants. Through detailed design and engineering, the overall aesthetic was elevated.

Moku-Yama will find its place in projects that value natural materials, a distinctive sculptural composition as well as open-ended and non-prescriptive play.