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Photographs by Malcolm Pickney for the Parks Department
Yesterday, Parks Department officials, school children and many others helped break ground on the Imagination Playground at Burling Slip in the South Street Seaport area. The new space "is the product of over five years of David Rockwell’s extensive research on play and playgrounds. It is a progressive concept in children’s play that offers a rich environment of diverse materials that encourage unstructured, child-directed free play, where children determine their own activities, alone and with their peers." In other words, there's no massive Tom Otterness sliding statue.
The playground has three key components: an open multi-level space with large sand and water features; a huge array of loose parts (toys and tools); and Play Associates (trained staff on site who maintain and manage). And while in the photo it looks like just a bunch of foam blocks, the Rockwell Group’s pro-bono design even captures the essence of the Seaport, with climbing rope, a lookout ramp with telescopes and a crow's nest. Here's a nice rendering from when the project was announced two years ago.
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who needs an imagination playground when you can a playground in your imagination. I have an imaginary amusement park in my back yard
"the Rockwell Group’s pro-bono design" Thankfully there is a good part to the story and that about covers it. It took them four years of study to come up with some blue foam blocks with holes in them that will be in a dumpster two months from now.
"the essence of the Seaport, with climbing rope, a lookout ramp with telescopes and a crow's nest." We are talking about pulling out all the stops and thinking outside the box with those three features. Personally I think the big pile of dirt as shown in the first photo is probably their best idea.
What age group is this park suppose to cater to? For the most part the children shown in the second photo appear to have outgrown the Fisher Price stage in play. And putting blue foam pipes into blue foam boxes really doesn't get my creative juices flowing. But I do like the storage containers for all the blue crap.
This design is perfect for a nursery or pre-school situation where the kids keep falling down and hurting themselves because they didn't quite get the concept of standing vertically.
No swings, no slides, no fun!
There are swings. You have to go to the "Here's a nice rendering" link to see them, along with all the other great ideas generated for free.
I guess what they say "You get what you pay for." holds true for this exercise.
"Now now Johnnie stop hitting Brianna with that blue tube." "Get down from there Suzy, you'll hurt yourself!" "Stop trailing sand all over the place Kelvin. We are tired of picking up after you." "Why are all the drains clogged with dirt? It's causing a backup in the blue foam pit area."
This is great! It's just like Montessori school. Kids are naturally creative with something as simple as a cardboard box. Kids are basically cheap and make a lot out of a little. It's pretty darn amazing.
Look at the smiles on all their little faces. Oops none of the children in the photo are smiling. Most have a dumbfounded look. Back to the drawing boards.
Give them a Quaker Oats box two wooden spools and a ball of twine and let them go at it. Sorry add three crayons to the mix. They can share them if they want extra colors.
The photo actually reminds me of when they give out free blue plastic five gallon water containers in some third world country.