Playgrounds

AMSTERDAM PLAYGROUNDS

After World War II the Public Works Department in Amsterdam commissioned Aldo and Hannie Van Eyck and Jakoba Mulder to design and build areas for play amongst the hundreds of sites around the cities that had been damaged in the war. The design of each play area was different and often featured simple shapes painted on the floor or structures that were intended to stimulate children’s creativity. These parks have since been studied by a wide variety of academics, from sociologists and psychologists to architects and art historians for their curious designs.

Whereas typical play equipment such as swings limit your interaction with that space, van Eyck’s simple designs allowed children to create their own interactions and games - allowing each individual to reimagine the way that they wanted to use the space.

MODEL BY RYAN

PLAYGROUNDS

MODEL BY RYAN

The playgrounds represented a rejection of popular urban planning at the time and favoured what van Eyck called the ‘in-between realm’. He wanted to create architecture which empowered dialogue and stimulated community life, especially for children who were often disregarded in large urban planning projects.

The playgrounds integrated so well into the existing neighbourhoods that they were not fenced, allowing the playground and the city became one. This reflected van Eyck’s belief that children and play should be a part of the city, not isolated from it.

“Architecture must extend those narrow borderlines, persuade them to loop generously into articulated in-between realms”