Community led design and managed risk are key to the success of the largest playground in the Southern Hemisphere
42 LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AOTEAROA
Unfettered play
Community led design and managed risk are key to the success of the largest playground in the Southern Hemisphere
Text by Kathleen Kinney Images by Opus
Most of us can recall the typical school or municipal playground of years gone by – the same barren stretch of hard-packed earth with metal-pipe based structures in the same configuration no matter what town or school it was . Much like eating McDonald ’ s , you knew that what you were getting was going to be the same wherever you were . And while it wasn ’ t necessarily awful , it wasn ’ t great either .
Is it any wonder we all decided it was far more fun to fling ourselves down tussocked hillsides , cross rushing streams and traipse into the bush ?
But look through the city playgrounds and primary schoolyards today , and you ’ ll see that playspaces have come a long way .
The Margaret Mahy Family Playground is a case in point . From the outset it had an imperative far beyond merely offering a bog-standard destination for children at a loose end .
Just a few weeks after the 2011 Canterbury ‘ quakes , the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority ( CERA ) was established . Among the anchor projects identified for the Te Papa Otākaro / Avon River Precinct , was a City Playground .
Central to the plan ’ s success , both as a physical playspace and as an integral part of the emotional rebuilding of Christchurch , was getting the wider community involved on the ground level .
Catherine Hamilton of Opus , lead designer of the playspace , says this project , and those like it are a move back toward old-school neighbourhoods in which children were able , and encouraged , to play freely . Achieving this sort of public space “ requires a commitment to the vision , meaningful community engagement and timely contribution from child-centric advocates and rofessionals , throughout the planning and design ... ”
To that end , more than 6000