גני שעשועים אקסטרים-ADVENTURE PLAYGROUNDS

Posted on מאי 12, 2010 | השאירו תגובה

גני שעשועים אתגריים דוגמאות מלונדון ומברלין.

הילדים מעצבים את סביבת המשחק עבור עצמם בעזרת כלי עבודה, מסמרים וקרשים.

שוב תודה ל: http://playgrounddesigns.blogspot.com/

Glamis Adventure Playground, Shadwell, London

One playscape with 'real stuff' is Glamis Adventure Playground, where a boat lies beached on sandy shaols near the entrance. The kids get to do real stuff as well; roasting courgettes over a fire, learning to repair bicycle tires, and adding to the playground themselves. A delightful cacophony of self-build and self-color, noise, dirt, and madness beckons from way down a street of plain brick facades in a challenging area of East London. Glamis is a registered charity, always in need of support and facing funding cuts for next year.  They've already disappeared once, and been recreated, so add your support!  I'm told they'll soon have the ability to make a donation through their website…

Thanks to reader Daniel Bigler, who is doing an MA in Child Studies and also a playworker at Glamis, for the introduction to this never-never land where the kids are well-supervised by a commited staff and allowed to do and build about anything that doesn't destroy the existing structures, though grown-ups are called upon to help with advanced construction.  Daniel is also helping me with blog construction…adding searches, maps, announcements, etc, per your requests,  so watch this space!  And be happy – happy – happy.

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Posted by arcady at 3:52 PM 1 comments

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Back to Reality

So, the million-dollar-microscope has achieved sub-nanometer resolution (hooray! hats-in-air!) so I will hopefully be back to blogging more regularly. And flight cancellations from the volcanic ash cloud in the UK, where I'm visiting, are providing me with some rare and welcome unscheduled time for writing and research…But this past summer I was showing my electron microscope (the old one, not the new million-dollar one) to a group of five year-olds and explaining to them how the bug we had just put into the chamber was now visible on the screen, only bigger, and comparing it to a television and saying "you know how you can see the people on your TV but they're not inside the TV, are they, they're somewhere else" when it became quite clear that they had, in fact, thought that those people were indeed inside their televisions, not somewhere else, and I had blown their little minds.

All that to say, that children need to know how the world works, and knowing is often a relief to them,  and so I like having real things on the playground for them to examine.

"Real stuff" on the playground seems to have been common in the past but almost completely absent in current designs (the City Museum of St. Louis being a notable exception).  Which is surprising since it could represent a unique and low-cost option, and it's recycling! Here are some inspiration shots from my files; some sources unknown. Enlighten me if you have them!

The British Admiralty donated this 22-foot sailboat to the Kennington adventure playground in the 1950s.
An engine at the Dansom Land Playground, 1967.
Antique fire engine at the previously-blogged Riverside Park Playground in Independence, Kansas.  [source is Michael Bates' flickr]
Decommissioned navy plane placed on a New Jersey playground in 1956 [Getty Images]P.S.  If you know of other playgrounds with 'real stuff' I'd love to hear about them.

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Posted by arcady at 2:11 PM 8 comments

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Swing-set Houses, Tom Ngo

from a collection of architectural absurdities by artist Tom Ngo

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Posted by arcady at 8:39 PM 4 comments

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Friday, March 26, 2010

Turtle Park Playground, St. Louis, Bob Casilly, 1996

Thanks to reader Guy Fawkes (is it really you, Guy?) for pointing out another playground by Bob Cassily, founder of the amazing St. Louis City Museum, consisting of gigantic sculptures of turtles.

I always like it when playground animals represent real local species…Turtle Park has "a snapping turtle, a soft-shelled turtle, a red-eared slider, three box turtles and a stinkpot along with a snake that is curled to form an area for sitting and a serpent taking a bite out of the Highway 40 overpass. Seven large eggs, three with emerging turtles, are used to make a sitting area." 



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<a href="http://stlouis.missouri.org/citygov/parks/forestpark/turtle.html">
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<span class="post-author vcard"> Posted by <span class="fn">arcady</span> </span> <span class="post-timestamp"> at <a class="timestamp-link" title="permanent link" rel="bookmark" href="http://playgrounddesigns.blogspot.com/2010/03/turtle-park-playground-st-louis-bob.html"><abbr class="published" title="2010-03-26T15:45:00-07:00">3:45 PM</abbr></a> </span> <span class="reaction-buttons"> </span> <span class="star-ratings"> </span> <span class="post-comment-link"> <a class="comment-link" href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9044269239642004084&postID=7902378260125274150">3 comments</a> </span> <span class="post-backlinks post-comment-link"> </span> <span class="post-icons"> <span class="item-action"> <a title="Email Post" href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=9044269239642004084&postID=7902378260125274150"> <img class="icon-action" src="http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_email.gif" alt="" width="18" height="13" /> </a> </span> <span class="item-control blog-admin pid-429920164"> <a title="Edit Post" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=9044269239642004084&postID=7902378260125274150"> <img class="icon-action" src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/icon18_edit_allbkg.gif" alt="" width="18" height="18" /> </a> </span> </span></div>
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<h2 class="date-header">Monday, March 22, 2010</h2>
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<h3 class="post-title entry-title"><a href="http://playgrounddesigns.blogspot.com/2010/03/shiny-happy-playground-features-from.html">Shiny  Happy Playground Features from the Goric Company</a></h3>
<div class="post-body entry-content">Some time ago I posted a <a href="http://playgrounddesigns.blogspot.com/2008/11/playground-globe-berlin.html">reflective  half-globe from a playground in Berlin</a>...these are made by the <a href="http://www.blogger.com/">Goric company</a>, in either single domes  or delightful bubbly mountains.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_REjQQ5OAUrM/S6g32fP_XHI/AAAAAAAAEYg/QEtOkjScBG8/s1600-h/goric+playground+stainless+steel+dome.jpg"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_REjQQ5OAUrM/S6g32fP_XHI/AAAAAAAAEYg/QEtOkjScBG8/s400/goric+playground+stainless+steel+dome.jpg" border="0" alt="" width="400" height="273" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="border: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_REjQQ5OAUrM/S6g3D82r-gI/AAAAAAAAEYY/UAR68LBCqYM/s1600-h/goric+playground+mountains1.jpg"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_REjQQ5OAUrM/S6g3D82r-gI/AAAAAAAAEYY/UAR68LBCqYM/s400/goric+playground+mountains1.jpg" border="0" alt="" width="400" height="267" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="border: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">I also like the strong sculptural qualities of  their other stainless steel playground features, top to bottom here are  "waterfalls", "rainbow", and "turning points".</div>
<div class="separator" style="border: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_REjQQ5OAUrM/S6g42xzMF2I/AAAAAAAAEYo/nozarm4Kpgg/s1600-h/goric+playground+waterfalls1.jpg"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_REjQQ5OAUrM/S6g42xzMF2I/AAAAAAAAEYo/nozarm4Kpgg/s400/goric+playground+waterfalls1.jpg" border="0" alt="" width="400" height="300" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="border: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_REjQQ5OAUrM/S6g453ugT9I/AAAAAAAAEYw/4SnayKpSB30/s1600-h/goric+playground+waterfalls2.jpg"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_REjQQ5OAUrM/S6g453ugT9I/AAAAAAAAEYw/4SnayKpSB30/s320/goric+playground+waterfalls2.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="border: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_REjQQ5OAUrM/S6g5n_mWmvI/AAAAAAAAEY4/P4UfNbij_Fk/s1600-h/goric+playground+rainbow1.jpg"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_REjQQ5OAUrM/S6g5n_mWmvI/AAAAAAAAEY4/P4UfNbij_Fk/s320/goric+playground+rainbow1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="border: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_REjQQ5OAUrM/S6g7DzoKJII/AAAAAAAAEZA/l9LrbxGnYtI/s1600-h/goric+playground+turning+point.jpg"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_REjQQ5OAUrM/S6g7DzoKJII/AAAAAAAAEZA/l9LrbxGnYtI/s320/goric+playground+turning+point.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="border: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">They also have a very cool teeter-totter....and I  love teeter-totters!</div>
<div class="separator" style="border: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">UPDATE:  Thanks to reader Steve Nowland for letting  me know that these components are actually made by the German company <a href="http://www.conlastic.de/">Conlastic</a>; Goric is their North  American distributor.</div>
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<span class="post-author vcard"> Posted by <span class="fn">arcady</span> </span> <span class="post-timestamp"> at <a class="timestamp-link" title="permanent link" rel="bookmark" href="http://playgrounddesigns.blogspot.com/2010/03/shiny-happy-playground-features-from.html"><abbr class="published" title="2010-03-22T21:07:00-07:00">9:07 PM</abbr></a> </span> <span class="reaction-buttons"> </span> <span class="star-ratings"> </span> <span class="post-comment-link"> <a class="comment-link" href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9044269239642004084&postID=5323404220335725068">2 comments</a> </span> <span class="post-backlinks post-comment-link"> </span> <span class="post-icons"> <span class="item-action"> <a title="Email Post" href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=9044269239642004084&postID=5323404220335725068"> <img class="icon-action" src="http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_email.gif" alt="" width="18" height="13" /> </a> </span> <span class="item-control blog-admin pid-429920164"> <a title="Edit Post" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=9044269239642004084&postID=5323404220335725068"> <img class="icon-action" src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/icon18_edit_allbkg.gif" alt="" width="18" height="18" /> </a> </span> </span></div>
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<h2 class="date-header">Tuesday, March 16, 2010</h2>
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<h3 class="post-title entry-title"><a href="http://playgrounddesigns.blogspot.com/2010/03/happy-birthday-aldo-happy-birthday-blog.html">Happy  Birthday, Aldo!  Happy Birthday, Blog!</a></h3>
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<div style="text-align: center;"><em>"Whatever space and time mean,  place and occasion mean more.”</em></div>
Aldo van Eyck would be ninety-two today.

He's really the reason I started the blog...finding "The Playgrounds and  the City" as I stumbled around in libraries and obscure internet  postings, thinking that there had to be better playground ideas out  there somewhere, but where?  felt like tripping over treasure in the  dark.

So it was satisifying to notice recently that the day  I started the  blog, two years ago, was on March 18, just two days after his birthday.   I made eight quick posts in an afternoon flurry when I should have been  working, compelled to start talking about the new ideas, the new  places,  I'd discovered.  Aldo's was the eighth, the top shot of the  first blog cover.  It was months before I had a single reader.

And now I have you all, and many of Aldo's surviving playgrounds from  the prodigious 746 sites that he designed for Amsterdam between 1947 and  1978 have reached their half-century with grace and happiness and  children still.

The occasion is Aldo's birthday, though the place is one he couldn't  have anticipated, the virtual landscape of a blog-home, for great  playgrounds and their champions.

Happy Birthday Aldo!

[photos  from "Aldo Van Eyck the Playgrounds and the city" (eds. Liane Lefaivre  and Ingeborg de Roode), which still makes me happy every time I look at  it.  The series of before and after photos show a sad bombed-out city  coming back to life...recuscitation by playground.  Detroit should take  note.]
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<span class="post-author vcard"> Posted by <span class="fn">arcady</span> </span> <span class="post-timestamp"> at <a class="timestamp-link" title="permanent link" rel="bookmark" href="http://playgrounddesigns.blogspot.com/2010/03/happy-birthday-aldo-happy-birthday-blog.html"><abbr class="published" title="2010-03-16T13:27:00-07:00">1:27 PM</abbr></a> </span> <span class="reaction-buttons"> </span> <span class="star-ratings"> </span> <span class="post-comment-link"> <a class="comment-link" href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9044269239642004084&postID=2494882520163938841">6 comments</a> </span> <span class="post-backlinks post-comment-link"> </span> <span class="post-icons"> <span class="item-action"> <a title="Email Post" href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=9044269239642004084&postID=2494882520163938841"> <img class="icon-action" src="http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_email.gif" alt="" width="18" height="13" /> </a> </span> <span class="item-control blog-admin pid-429920164"> <a title="Edit Post" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=9044269239642004084&postID=2494882520163938841"> <img class="icon-action" src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/icon18_edit_allbkg.gif" alt="" width="18" height="18" /> </a> </span> </span></div>
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<h2 class="date-header">Monday, March 15, 2010</h2>
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<h3 class="post-title entry-title"><a href="http://playgrounddesigns.blogspot.com/2010/03/sandpit-playscape-anthony-chimbuyu-2009.html">Sandpit  Playscape, Anthony Chimbuyu, 2009</a></h3>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I  really love hearing that I've encouraged/helped/inspired students.   Educating new designers about what a playground can be is one of the  best means of effecting change.  So I was happy to hear from Anthony  Chimbuyu, who designed this component-based sandpit as part of his final  year at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.</div>
His concept was to provide a facelift to existing urban sites, adding  hexagonal elements fastened to a grid resting below the sand that allows  for variability of layout and size as well as height customization for  age-based play zones.

Interestingly, Anthony said that although he is most inspired by natural  playgrounds elements, the project brief did not allow for them!   Perhaps some educating of the educators is in order.  Thanks and good  luck Anthony!</div>
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<span class="post-author vcard"> Posted by <span class="fn">arcady</span> </span> <span class="post-timestamp"> at <a class="timestamp-link" title="permanent link" rel="bookmark" href="http://playgrounddesigns.blogspot.com/2010/03/sandpit-playscape-anthony-chimbuyu-2009.html"><abbr class="published" title="2010-03-15T13:57:00-07:00">1:57 PM</abbr></a> </span> <span class="reaction-buttons"> </span> <span class="star-ratings"> </span> <span class="post-comment-link"> <a class="comment-link" href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9044269239642004084&postID=7932111415330675067">1 comments</a> </span> <span class="post-backlinks post-comment-link"> </span> <span class="post-icons"> <span class="item-action"> <a title="Email Post" href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=9044269239642004084&postID=7932111415330675067"> <img class="icon-action" src="http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_email.gif" alt="" width="18" height="13" /> </a> </span> <span class="item-control blog-admin pid-429920164"> <a title="Edit Post" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=9044269239642004084&postID=7932111415330675067"> <img class="icon-action" src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/icon18_edit_allbkg.gif" alt="" width="18" height="18" /> </a> </span> </span></div>
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<h2 class="date-header">Thursday, March 4, 2010</h2>
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<h3 class="post-title entry-title"><a href="http://playgrounddesigns.blogspot.com/2010/03/circle-of-squares-treehouse-jay-smith.html">Circle  of Squares Treehouse, Jay Smith, Dallas, 2009</a></h3>
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<div style="border: medium none;">Part of the Dallas Arboretum's  2009 Ultimate Treehouse Competition, which required that the structures  be interactive and <em>not </em>attached to the tree, "Square of  Circles" won a design award from the Texas Society of Architects.</div>
<div style="border: medium none;">from <a href="http://www.texasarchitect.org/ta200609-studio.php?sess_id=69c89b1dcbe7a088b3bfa30103aca44b">their  website</a> (I can't find one for the architect):</div>
<em>"Square of Circles consists of 108 vertical sewer and drain  pipes ona 16 x 16-foot plan. The pipes are painted yellow and hinged 16  feet above the ground on a wood frame. Each pipe extends from just above  the ground up until it encounters a branch so that each pipe is a  different height. Visitors can swing the pipes side to side and move  between them. The pivot also allows the pipes to sway with the breeze."</em>

Jay sold the installation on ebay after the close of the  competition...anyone know what happened to it?</div>
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<span class="post-author vcard"> Posted by <span class="fn">arcady</span> </span> <span class="post-timestamp"> at <a class="timestamp-link" title="permanent link" rel="bookmark" href="http://playgrounddesigns.blogspot.com/2010/03/circle-of-squares-treehouse-jay-smith.html"><abbr class="published" title="2010-03-04T19:35:00-08:00">7:35 PM</abbr></a> </span> <span class="reaction-buttons"> </span> <span class="star-ratings"> </span> <span class="post-comment-link"> <a class="comment-link" href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9044269239642004084&postID=5614759673494079224">0 comments</a> </span> <span class="post-backlinks post-comment-link"> </span> <span class="post-icons"> <span class="item-action"> <a title="Email Post" href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=9044269239642004084&postID=5614759673494079224"> <img class="icon-action" src="http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_email.gif" alt="" width="18" height="13" /> </a> </span> <span class="item-control blog-admin pid-429920164"> <a title="Edit Post" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=9044269239642004084&postID=5614759673494079224"> <img class="icon-action" src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/icon18_edit_allbkg.gif" alt="" width="18" height="18" /> </a> </span> </span></div>
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<h2 class="date-header">Monday, March 1, 2010</h2>
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<h3 class="post-title entry-title"><a href="http://playgrounddesigns.blogspot.com/2010/03/playground-architects-josee-aubin.html">Playground  Architects, Josée Aubin Ouellette, 2009</a></h3>
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A series of paintings exhibited at (appropriately) the YMCA during  Edmonton Canada's 2009 The Works Art & Design Festival. <a href="http://www.instituteparachute.ca/josee/"></a>
<pre><a href="http://stlouis.missouri.org/citygov/parks/forestpark/turtle.html">
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Friday, February 26, 2010

William Carter School Playscape, Boston Massachusetts, 2008

Many thanks to reader Erica Quigley of the Mass Audubon’s Boston Nature Center for sending photos of the William Carter School Playscape.  Carter is a special-needs Boston Public School, who renovated their exterior space with a focus on accessibility.  I love the idea of using removable plastic bins for the raised planting beds and playstations.

The Sensory Garden and Outdoor Classroom won a design award from the American Horticultural Therapy Association in 2008.

Carter school also has an innovative bus shelter, designed by graduate students in the architecture program at the Massachusetts College of Art.

"The architecture students came up with the idea of what they termed an “interactive rain garden,’’ one that channels water from the gutters into vertical rows of pint-sized silver buckets – and eventually, into the outstretched hands of Carter students who crave sensory experiences. They also created a xylophone-like rooftop, which would turn the rainfall into rhythms.

The structure would also feature rock-filled basins that provided another sensory experience for the Carter School students. They designed colorful seats – set at wheelchair level – for aides to use while waiting with students. In an environmental touch, they routed all the rainwater, eventually, into basins that nourish nearby plantings.


The roof also includes colorful translucent panels, which project, in sunny weather, hues into the sidewalk." 



</a></pre>
<a href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/09/14/carter_school_gets_needed_roof_courtesy_of_mass_college_of_art_architecture_class/?page=1">[/source]
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Posted by arcady at 5:26 PM 2 comments

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Help!

Dear readers,
I need some assistance with making some upgrades to the blog, adding a map of playground locations and the like.  If you think you could be of help (or if you know how to make a merry-go-round out of a wagon wheel), get in touch!
arcady

[homemade merry go round from wikimedia]

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Posted by arcady at 7:38 PM 9 comments

Monday, February 22, 2010

Mid-Century Playground of Big Tanks and Boxes, 1967

Life Magazine also had more information about this playground, previously featured on the blog…in 1967 it was New York's newest, a prototype playscape designed by Jerry Lieberman and funded by the Pepsi-Cola Company.  Lieberman wanted to create a playground out of materials that were "safe, attractive, and cheap" but had "inherent qualities for new kinds of play".  It was intended for mass-production, though I can find no indication it ever moved beyond this single installation.

The tank climber was in fact an oil storage tank of translucent fiberglass, fitted with colored vinyl windows and a fiberglass girder slide, and the boxy playscape was a surrealistic city formed from storage cartons.

According to a 1971 news article, Lieberman's designs, which he referred to as 'recre-educational', were originally on display at the Owens-Corning Fiberglass Center, and he 'designed for playgrounds all over the country', though I can find no further mention of his work.

"A Children's Garden's of Plastic Delights". Life Magazine, July 14, 1967

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Saturday, February 20, 2010

"Playgrounds take a Space-age Spin", 1963

An article in Life Magazine "Playgrounds take a Space-age Spin", March 15, 1963,documents the use of space exploration as a playground motif, including the pictured satellite structure, located in Torrance, California. "In Philadelpha, where 160 playgrounds have the space age look, attendance has increased by as much as 800%".

The rocket climber pictured, still to be found at older playgrounds here in my home state, was made by the Jamison Manufacturing Company and could "accomodate 35 aspiring astronauts".  Rocket climbers are the subject of a much-blogged photographic series by Lauren Orchowski., who logged over 23,000 miles of travel to document the often decaying structures, climbing into each one.  Read an interview with Lauren at the blog daddy-types.

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