DESIGN / BUILD Satchels’s Pizza Playscape University of Florida SoA
CONTENTS
Documentation
2
Context
6
Process
18
Schematic Design
18
Making
26
References
48
Week 1-2
Week 3-4
Investigations
3 8
Play
9
Thoughts on Playscapes
14
Case Study
44
Reflections
Oosterpark Play Garland Amsterdam, Netherlands
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Project Contributors: Dr. Charlie Hailey Prof. Elizabeth Cronin Kristel Bataku Adriana Dunlap Jonathan Haist Amanda Herring Brice M Schiano
Context
6
Site Playscape area (Red) Gainesville, FL
Satchel’s Pizza Gainesville, FL Summer 2018
In late 2016 the back of Satchel’s Pizza had been burned down by a fire taking with it much of the playground outside as well. For the Grand Re-opening, we were given the opportunity to design and rebuild the new playground while using as many recycled materials as possible. The intent of the project was to design not a typical playground with swings and a slide, but to create spaces and zones that would engage with the senses of the children to play and become interactive with the architecture, while providing a safe place to play. The project became an investigation of how we can create architectural landscapes that can engage children and provide space for them to play while allowing for visibility for the parents. The goal of the independent study is to document and analyze the design/build project from the Summer 2018. In addition, the study will place this project in the context of other architectural playground projects and similarly-scaled design/build projects, both historically and theoretically.
How can Architecture engage the idea of play? What creates an engaging space for children to play in?
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Lyons Park Playscape (Top) Rural Studios - 2010 Greensboro, AL
Free Play Playscape (bottom) LTL - 2009 Free Play Competition
Play
Thoughts on Playscapes “We seek to identify the extraordinary in the mundane and recognize that every aspect of a project has the potential to be playful.� - Unknown 9 We as designers desire to create environments in which children can imagine and invent new ways to play. We often resort to placing cookie-cutter type play instruments that have prescribed uses and movements to them, like a slide. Especially in the case of young children, parents guide their child to the slide, supports it while they climb the ladder, and encourages them to slide down. By doing so, the parents demonstrate the child the function of the play element. But when a child uses the slide in another way (e.g., by climbing up via the part that is meant to slide down), many parents correct their children that this is not how they should use the equipment. Why are spaces that are meant for creative freedom prescribed? Why do they not provide equipment for children to engage in more imaginative manners. One of the more important aspects of the play elements designed should be that they do not have a designated function: They can be used in different ways, depending on the game you are playing, and with their simple and abstract forms they stimulate children to use their imagination. Designs don’t aim to show what they are and how they should be used, they rather suggest what they could be.
Playgrounds can propose an open architecture for a series of non-prescribed uses. Most of the spaces and facilities can be both organic and inorganic shapes, which appear as ambiguous objects. They represent abstract ideas and invite open-ended use. Open spaces create an experience of continuity and give users the freedom to move in any direction. The organic nature of the shapes suggests artistic freedom, rejecting concretization and the notion of standard typology. 10
Two examples of playgrounds that approach these ideas are Lyons Park playscape and the Free Play playground (images pg.8). Lyons park playscape was designed and built by Rural Studios and is composed of large recycled mint oil drums that create a maze and hide other sensory moments in between the walls and create opportunities for children to hide, run, climb, and explore the maze how they want.1 The Free Play Playground is designed by LTL and its intention was to create a new playground for children that seek to look past the limitations of today’s conventional playgrounds. Rather than prescribing a certain set of motions - such as set by the ubiquitous climbing forts. LTL’s proposal instead seeks to create environments in which children can imagine and invent new ways to play. They created a modular system that can be assembled to create flexible playscapes to related back to the site and fit in where needed.2 Instead of creating prescribed paths and uses, should playgrounds become spaces of Dérive? One of the basic situationist practices is the dérive, a technique of rapid passage through varied ambiences. Dérives involve playful-constructive behavior and awareness of psycho-geographical effects, and are thus quite different from the classic notions of journey or stroll.3
In a dérive one or more persons during a certain period drop their relations, their work and leisure activities, and all their other usual motives for movement and action, and let themselves be drawn by the attractions of the terrain and the encounters they find there. Playgrounds as constructed fields of spaces become their own instances of these unprescribed paths and kids work together to create their own narrative and itinerary through. Those increasingly rare moments when children run free, play make-believe, and build their creativity – are critical for a child’s intellectual, social and physical development. Interestingly enough after World War II, the Dutch architect Aldo van Eyck developed hundreds of playgrounds in the city of Amsterdam understanding that they play a vital role in the life of urban public spaces. These public playgrounds were located in parks, squares, and derelict sites, and consisted of minimalistic aesthetic play equipment that was supposed to stimulate the creativity of children. Over the last decades, these playgrounds have been studied by sociologists, theorists of art and architecture, and psychologists. Adopting an ecological approach to the human environment, it is argued that the abstract forms of van Eyck’s play sculptures indeed stimulate the creativity of the child. Whereas a slide or a swing almost dictates what a child is supposed to do, van Eyck’s play equipment invites the child to actively explore the numerous affordances (action possibilities) it provided.4 However, it is argued that the standardization (e.g., equal distances between blocks or bars) that tends to characterize van Eyck’ play equipment has negative effects on the playability. This standardization, which was arguably the result of the aesthetic motives of the designer, might be appealing to children when simply
11 1 LTL Architects “Free Play.” 2009. http://ltlarchitects.com/free-play 2 Rural Studio. “Lyons Park Playscape.”2010. http://ruralstudio. org/project/lions-park-playscape/ 3 Guy Debord. Theory Of The Derive.
Actar/Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona.1899. 01-12
4 Rob Withagen & Simone R. Caljouw. “Aldo van Eyck’s Playgrounds: Aesthetics, Affordances, and Creativity.”( Front. Psychol.) 2017. 01-04.
looking at the equipment, but it is not of overriding importance to them when playing in it. Indeed, a recent study indicates that the affordances provided by messy structures appear to have a greater appeal to playing children.5
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In 2017, Tato Architects + ludwig heimbach architektur composed of a series of temporary pavilions that created a number of practical public spaces in a rarely used schoolyard. These pavilions were built using only a single or two materials. The simple operations and construction that the pavilions are built with still creates an engaging and interesting set of spaces for children and adults alike to explore and experience together. Some seem to appear or feel unfinished
The Kagerou Village Tato Architects + ludwig heimbach architektur - 2017 Kyoto, Japan
as if our minds are left to fill the missing pieces and create the rest of the spaces ourselves. The pavilions mutually influenced one another and as a whole created a village. One of the main discussions of the first symposium had been on the topic of prohibited matters in Japanese public spaces. In this village that appeared and disappeared like a mirage, the thoughts was not ‘do not do‘ instead it became ‘what if we do?‘6 The Kagerou Village became a place children and adults alike could enjoy, despite the ‘dangers‘, allowing them to now subjectively raise questions as ‘if various things are doable, why not?‘. While an exhibition is a specific scenario, hopefully it becomes an opportunity to rethink the approach to public space from now on.
13 5 Rob Withagen & Simone R. Caljouw. “Aldo van Eyck’s Playgrounds: Aesthetics, Affordances, and Creativity.”( Front. Psychol.) 2017. 02-03. 6 Tato Architects & Ludwig heimbach architektur. “Kagerou Village.” 2017.
Speeltuin Oosterpark - Google Maps Speeltuin Oosterpark
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2/24/2020
Speeltuin Oosterpark - Google Maps Speeltuin Oosterpark
Image capture: Jul 2019
Images m
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Oosterpark Play Garland Carve Studios - 2016 Amsterdam, Netherlands
Image capture: Jul 2017
Mr Mookie Photo - Aug 2017
Images may be subject to copyright.
Play
Case Study
Spring 2016 Oosterpark Play Garland Amsterdam, Netherlands Carve Studios
“...the common ‘color explosion’ is reduced to one long, continuous line...” -Curve Studios
One of these additions is the ‘Play Garland Oosterpark’, situated on a former functionless grass field in the northwestern corner, in front of a former open air school. The 88 meter long play garland is an adventurous platform which is transformed to a play structure: an object that raises up, dives downwards and turns into a narrow line – and which creates an inner world by its distinctive shape. The delicate character of the garland adds a new dimension to the play space. As the canopies and tree roots may not be disturbed, it were the monumental trees that determined the exact location and shape of the object. These parameters also had another advantage: while in cities almost always artificial safety surfacing is used, in this case a natural safety surfacing could be applied. The play sand, which will not be blown away because of the sheltered setting, is the ultimate playing material and turns the whole site into a play-zone. The frailty of the tree roots asked for as little weight as possible, which is why the play object has been kept very light weight; only on a few points it actually touches the ground.7
15 7 Carve Studios. “Oosterpark play garland.” 2016. http://carve.nl/ en/item/135
Speeltuin Ooste
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The simplicity of the object invites to run, climb and slide. Because the object raises up in the air considerably at several points, the object is a particularly challenging roller-coaster for children between 4-8 years old. Furthermore, the capacity of the play garland is very high; on a busy day, more than hundred children can play simultaneously on and around the object.8 Depending on age and motor skills, children use the garland in various ways. On the steep parts, the path is also a slide, and on one side the garland transforms into a tube slide. Underneath one of its arches, hammocks are placed, and another section of the platform is divided into two different levels. At the entrances to the site, the object lifts up and creates an ‘arch’ that opens up towards the inner space. The meandering movement creates a constantly changing perspective, which stimulates the interaction between above and below, and between inside and outside. The dominant perception is that play-objects should be as colorful as possible. This design tries to unite a dual thought. The main structure of the object is coated in the same color as all new park elements – anthracite black. As a quip two colored lines were added, which gradually change their color, “With this, the common ‘color explosion’ is reduced to one long, continuous line – by which the object is visible throughout the park as a color flash, without being dominant.”9 How does Oosterpark Play Garland facilitate ideas of play? While this case study provides a more prescriptive path and still holds elements of a typical playground like a slide and swing, it still gives a good example of how playgrounds can start to become more fluid and react more openly to the site. It delineates areas /zones of the playground without creating barriers that block view or feel isolated from one another (ie. inside the curve, outside the curve, or on the curve).
erpark
17 8 Carve Studios. “Oosterpark play garland.� 2016. 9 Ibid. 2016
Image capture: Sep 2019
Images may be subject to copyright.
Anton Michalski Photo - Sep 2019
Points of interest are placed along the curve that holds hiding spaces, or holes to climb through, poles to slide down, that encourages children to move between them and cause them to move across the site in a more free fashion. The barrier between the playscape and park is a series of broken up hedges that provide a soft edge and a more aesthetic barrier than a typical iron fence, while still continuing to allow for multiple but controlled entrances. Even with the minimal color and materials this playground still creates a engaging and fun playground. Oosterpark Play Garland Carve Studios - 2016 Amsterdam, Netherlands
Process
Schematic Design Week 1-2 Summer 2018
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How should we think about design for children to promote spaces to be themselves? We approached the project with the lens of a child. Promoting imagination and creativity. Bringing in color, shapes, and sounds. The Playfulness of the space comes from the children’s ability to create the narrative of the space for the time they are in it. To be re-written by each child and changed with every visit. Our design should facilitate the various ways kids play and learn without limiting them to a single idea of what the space or object is meant to be. Week 1: The first week of meeting was to discuss the scope, goals, and a schedule for the project. We investigated and presented case studies to one another on ideas and brainstormed concepts for the overall playscape. Our goal of our project was to create a space of exploratory experiences. So after a few days on conceptual side, we made sure to visit the site often and take measurements to produce drawings and a scale model to work in studio with. We presented our initial concepts and model with the client and received good feedback on how they felt about our approach as well as any issues they saw.
The Playscape was to be imagined as an environment to facilitate a variety of running, hiding, jumping, climbing, and other exploratory experiences that exist to create opportunities for physical activity. We also imagined undulating ground surfaces, sound tubes, and sensory areas are throughout the scape to heighten discovery and create opportunities for mental stimulation and imagination. Using Recycled Materials
One of the conditions by Satchel was that we incorporated recycled/reused materials into the project. The Repurpose Project is a non-profit community based effort to divert useful resources from the landfill, redirect these items to the public for art and education, inspire creativity and help us all rethink what we throw away. Lucky for us it was only 200ft away from our site, so we could frequently and easy walk back and forth between the two. The Repurpose project provided us with endless possibilities of types of objects and materials. We only had to dig them out from their piles. Although we had a $2000 budget at Repurpose we were still very conscious of how much we took, as we wanted to make sure we only took what we would use. Initially we took samples of various materials to take back to studio to discuss what qualities we were intrigued by but more importantly how we would attach them or design with them into a structure.
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With the intent of making the space not only fun but also functional the team researched what material decisions would allow for children to feel most comfortable.
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We found that elements that appeared to occur naturally or that they were familiar with would instill both a sense of ease in their safety, and excitement in their experience. Even though we were using somewhat familiar items we decided we would use them in unconventional ways to further push the idea that for children their imaginations can transform items and landscapes anything they desire them to be. Sizing and scale was an variable that we addressed from the start. With a super narrow site we wanted to be sure that the project did not feel jammed into the site but breathed. The goal was to design the space not fill it. With using recycled materials we never knew how much of one material we would have access to or be able to find, so our designs had to be flexible and creative to adjust to what was available to us.
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Schematic Design Scale Model Playground - Summer 2018 Gainesville, FL
The team scavenged for materials and found objects.
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Tools Playground - Summer 2018 Gainesville, FL
Week 2: Digging into the toolbox Now that we had some ideas of materials and wanted to start mocking up structures and building in the 1:1 scale, we needed to familiarize ourselves with the tools we would be using. “Using a tool is not merely a skill, it also carries implications of how to build and how to design... They also bind making to thinking and join the conceptual, technical, and physical...�10 We took a few days to practice cutting wood with pullsaws, how to drill screws without splitting the wood, and also just being safe with the tools to avoid any unnecessary danger to ourselves or to each other. With this time still spent mostly in studio we were taking the found objects we had from the Repurpose Project and experimenting with potential uses and assemblies in the playscape. These experiments lead to very important discussions on how these objects were held, if they posed any hazards, and the biggest discussion of scale. We took a few of our mock assemblies to the site to sit them in their potential placement and talked about if the sizing looked appropriate and if the elements used were an appropriate scale for its use.
25 10 Hailey, Charlie. Design/Build with Jersey Devil: A Handbook for Education and Practice. (Princeton Architectural Press) 2016. 43.
Process
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Light Tunnel Overhead Mock-Up Playground - Summer 2018 Gainesville, FL
Making Week 3-4 Summer 2018
The playground begins act as a community “backyard�, specifically due to is site located in the back portion of Satchels pizza. Where families typically spend time eating together in the greenhouse as there was space for the children to run around while waiting for their meals. Week 3: Dirty Hands With the start of the third week came our start on the building phase of the project. And even though we were out of the studio this did not mean the design phase was over, it really only begun. When working on site you find that issues or problems arise as you cant predict all the variables. But as a group of designers we easily would come together, brainstorm a solution and be able to move forward without to much delay. Lucky for us there was a chalk board installed on one of our site walls that allowed us to draw quick sketches as group and discuss elements we had yet to be able to completely flush out yet, or had to adjust due to the materials available from the Repurpose Project. We found that most of our time in the start was actually taken up by just digging holes. Measuring where the holes land and then also doing our best to dodge the water pipes and lines we found when first digging our initial holes for the light tunnel structure. We quickly adjusted our design in the back half of the tunnel to avoid any complications with hitting any of these pipes while digging and to avoid our structure coming into contact with any of them.
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A tree a cut down tree from a local Gainesville home was cut into sections to be used as a “Stepping Stump” area that created a type of undulating ground surface for kids to hop across or navigate between. The bottom half of the stumps that was placed into the ground was de-barked and sealed. Metal L-Shaped anchors were then drilled into the bottom face to give the stump a sort of root system to anchor it in place so it does not pull up or tip from play on it. 28
The Light Tunnel structure became one of the more elaborate details in the project, but allowed us to be more creative in solutions for the overhead condition of the tunnel. The existing iron fence that ran along the site and defined one of the edges of the tunnel was very uneven due to the ground in the area meaning that the beams we placed across from the columns would all sit at varying heights. We had to touch the fence lightly, without relying on it too much structurally. So our beams came and rested on top and was fastened with bolt and adjustable C-shaped metal clamps (Details pgs.30-33). This joint lead us to convince the idea that the overhead could ‘float’ off the structure and use the beams as anchor points but could sit at varying distances below the beam to create the bending effect between the anchors and give the overhead a distinct organic feel. The PVC we recycled from Repupose project was cut, painted, and strung
Light Tunnel Structure time-lapse Playground - Summer 2018 Gainesville, FL
together to appear as a continuous ribbon that floats behind the screen. The varying sectional widths of each PVC pipe created cracks and breaks in the folds giving the tunnel an interesting light affect at different times of day.
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Light Tunnel Overhead Mock-Up Playground - Summer 2018 Gainesville, FL
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Construction Playground - Summer 2018 Gainesville, FL
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Week 4: Wrapping up Finishing the rapid build we split up into groups to put on the last touches in each of the final areas.
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Building a fence enclosure for the playground was important to help keep kids from entering the parking lot and guiding them to more safe areas to play in. The fence design was kept low to not block any parents view who might be watching from inside the restaurant. Colorful collaged windmills were placed on top of the wall enclosure while recycled iron gates were incorporated also into the design to continue the recycled material pallet. Part of the team worked to get the red PVC overhead in the light tunnel strung up while other half helped place the last the cedar screening on the back half. Projector lenses were placed and framed into the screen later to add another fun viewing elements for kids to explore along the tunnel. Later a second chalk board was installed along the fence at the front of the light tunnel to provide additional surfaces for kids to mark as they play. The last day of the build was the grand re-opening of Lightning Salvage at the back of Satchels. So as we put in the last few screws and started to lay pine straw, families were already starting to show up and the kids were immediately excited for new space of their own. Kids running through the tunnel as we picked up tools, kids jumping off the stumps and even climbing the cedar screening to get on top of the tunnel and sitting on the red PVC. The Tunnel even acts as backdrop to the live music stage inside and you can see blurs of kids as they run through, up, and over the obstacles of the playground. Parents used the new fence enclosure ledge to sit drinks on and talk with other parents. The playscape seems to fade into the back and the focus shifts towards the community and happy faces.
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Construction Playground - Summer 2018 Gainesville, FL
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Enclosure Details Playground - Summer 2018 Gainesville, FL
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Light Tunnel Construction/ Artifacts Playground - Summer 2018 Gainesville, FL
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Light Tunnel Construction Details Playground - Summer 2018 Gainesville, FL
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Light Tunnel Playground - Summer 2018 Gainesville, FL
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Light Tunnel Overhead Detail Playground - Summer 2018 Gainesville, FL
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Fence Enclosure & Stepping Stumps Playground - Summer 2018
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Peering Through Playground - Summer 2018 Alana Wilson via The Alligator
Reflections
“We encourage aspiring young architects to address the ethical responsibility for the social, political, and environmental consequences of what they design and build.”11 - Andrew Freear, Rural Studio Director 45 Participating and engaging in the Design/Build process occurs in a context that includes the site, the result of the build, and more importantly the community. The process allowed us as a group to connect design from a studio perspective to its everyday life in the built environment. No longer are our ideas isolated in a studio classroom and in a theoretical proposal realm but has been built into life. A life that will age, weather , and be a presence for those who come across it. The lessons learned during this studio instilled an idea of reflective design into us. A deeper understanding of what it means to connect with a site, understand a clients needs, work in groups, and learn the materials you work with. Design/Build connects participants to community. The playground begins act as a community “backyard”, specifically due to is site located in the back portion of Satchels pizza. Where families typically spend time eating together in the greenhouse as there was space for the children to run around while waiting for their meals. The project gives back space for the children of the area as it becomes a zone of their own imagination, while also providing enclosure for the parents to worry less about their kids wandering off into a hazardous parking lot. The Orange geo-dome was salvaged from the original playground that was burned in the fire, and repainted for use in the new as a familiar object for the kids of the area to see in their new playscape.
11 Freear, & Barthe. Rural Studios at Twenty: Designing and Building in Hale County, Alabama. Princeton Architectural Press, May 20, 2014. 04.
How does what we learned in a playground extend to the public realm and public space?
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Satchels may welcome everyone and be at the center of a community but it is not technically public. Satchel has the intention for this playscape to merge with his other open outdoor seating and greenhouse to become a quasi-public space. Inviting people to come and share space and engage with one another on common ground, but ultimately it is still a restaurant that opens and closes, with access controlled by a private owner. I think the character of the spaces we helped design should be thought about in the same manner when approaching the design of true public space. Communities could be stitched together by playscapes that invite not only children but everyone to have a landscape that shapes space to facilitate us in engaging with one another in a true sense of community. Learning how to build links with how to collaborate and asks us to consider a projects value, what it means for the community , and how other work might follow a similar conscious lead. Playscapes should be as designed and thoughtful as the large scale public spaces we design for our cities. Playgrounds are some of the first environments that give shape to and allow space for children to truly engage and understand space. These playscapes give an impression of architecture and designed space that will imprint on them for their lives. Having a space that teaches them to rethink how their space is perceived and to engage their imagination will carry through to their adulthood. Both playgrounds and public spaces can look to one another for influences and help to better engage its participants.
Our physical spaces should add value to us as individuals and as a society. They should create connections, foster community and challenge us to encounter new people and ideas. We should create public spaces that are far more intriguing than the static characteristics of the architectural landscape but are as dynamic as the human interactions that inhabit them.
Kids on Stepping Stumps Playground - Summer 2018 Alana Wilson via The Alligator
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References
Carve Studios. “Oosterpark play garland.” Accessed February 29, 2020. http://carve.nl/en/item/135 Debord, Guy. Theory Of The Derive. Actar/Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona. December 30, 1899. 48
Freear, Andrew & Barthe, Elena. Rural Studios at Twenty: Designing and Building in Hale County, Alabama. Princeton Architectural Press, May 20, 2014. Hailey, Charlie. Design/Build with Jersey Devil: A Handbook for Education and Practice (Architecture Briefs). Princeton Architectural Press; 01 edition. July 19, 2016. LTL Architects “Free Play.” Accessed March 10, 2020. http:// ltlarchitects.com/free-play Rural Studio. “Lyons Park Playscape.” Accessed March 10, 2020. http://ruralstudio.org/project/lions-park-playscape/ Tato Architetcs & Ludwig heimbach architektur. “Kagerou Village.” Accessed March 28, 2020. https://tat-o.com/projects/3472/# Wilson, Alana. 2018. “UF students design, build new playground at Satchel’s Pizza.” The Alligator, June 5, 2018. https://www. alligator.org/news/uf-students-design-build-new-playground-atsatchel-s-pizza/article_561f4514-687a-11e8-a2ce-abdfb92066eb. html Withagen, Rob & Caljouw, Simone R. Aldo van Eyck’s Playgrounds: Aesthetics, Affordances, and Creativity. Front. Psychol., 04 July 2017.
Image Sources
Context
01:Site. Google earth Version 9.3.109.1. Gainesville, Florida. http://www.earth.google.com. [January 16, 2020].
Play
01: Rural Studios; 02: LTL Architects; 03-04: Tato Architects + ludwig heimbach architektur; 04-07: Carve Studios.
Process
01: Repurpose Project; 02-05: Elizabeth Cronin; 06: Brice Schiano; 07 Elizabeth Cronin; 08-21: Brice Schiano; 22-29: Elizabeth Cronin; 30-31: Brice Schiano; 32-38: Elizabeth Cronin; 39-50: Brice Schiano.
Reflections
01: Elizabeth Cronin; 02: Alligator Newspaper.
Cover
01: Brice Schiano.
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University of Florida SoA