Our aim for Chimney Park, in the
centre of the new Dublin Docklands
Development was to create a playful
‘oasis’ for adults and children to use
throughout the day. This is a place
where office workers come to eat their
lunch, parents bring young children to
play, teenagers hang out with friends.
and ‘low tech magic’ are incorporated
Planting and landscaping shape and into every aspect of the scheme, with
define the area, creating a distinct false perspectives, out of scale objects,
green space protected from the busy giant anthropomorphic topiary, hidden
traffic and tall buildings that surround tunnels, ‘mythic heraldic beasts’,
it. The problem of reduced light is forming the backdrop of a wondrous
tackled with a 26 metre ‘zig-zag mirror environment for children and families
wall’, throwing kaleidoscopic light and to engage with the history of the palace.
reflections back into the park. Poems
written by Chris Meade and local The Magic Garden won the 2017
people during consultation workshops Landscape Institute Award for Design
are engraved into the stone seating and for a Small Scale Development.
walls that snake throughout the park
. Project Team: Snug & Outdoor; Robert
Client: Dublin Docklands Development Myers Associates; Michael Barclay
Agency Partnership; Chapman BDSP; Spiers +
Project Team led by Snug & Outdoor Major; CgMs.
and LDA Design
Snug & Outdoor is a multi-award
The Magic Garden at Hampton Court winning company of artists who are
Palace in London is a unique and at the forefront of play design that
immersive play garden that has provides creative and welcoming
became an enormous popular success play environments for all ages and
with over 75,000 visitors in its first three abilities. Headed by sister and brother
months of opening. Inspired by the team Hattie and Tim Coppard, Snug
myths and legends of the Tudor Court, & Outdoor enjoy collaborating with
the Magic Garden plays with notions of landscape architects, architects,
hierarchy, status and scale. Playfulness engineers, poets and other specialists.
www.snugandoutdoor.co.uk
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