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The one acre park is one of the few remaining wooded sites within Kingwood,
a new town north of Houston, Texas. The uniqueness of the woods combined
with a lean budget suggested minimal clearing to make the park for school
children and a tot lot.
The design attempts to avoid the usual play equipment design that locates
play equipment within open often vacuous spaces that have no relationship
to their environments. It uses the existing clearings to locate play equipment
and play spaces, but it breaks the equipment into areas that are appropriately
sized to the cleared spaces without further clearing.
The design also weaves the equipment into the landscape. Within the major,
central space, an earthen mound forms a framework upon which to insert and
attach play equipment. introduces variety into the landscape and differentiates
sides of the park. The mound also introduces variety into the landscape
and differentiates sides of the park. In the tot lot, the ‘crazy fence’
that darts in and out of the trees allows the woods to become play equipment.
Kathy Poole at The SWA Group, Inc. Kevin Shanley, Project Manager. |
