Landscape architecture is a broad profession, but you can sum it up well by saying that anything outside the building is within the realm of a landscape architect. This means that your parks, trails, plazas, streetscapes, campuses and even zoos are designed by landscape architects! One really fun part of landscape architecture is playground design (I mean, playgrounds should be fun right?).
When designing for children there are a lot of things to consider. In the case of the Gem Foundation, we had a unique user group that we needed to design for! So instead of looking at what people would describe as a “standard playground” and trying to retrofit it for the needs of these kids, we first looked at the kids. Our goal was to determine the developmental needs of the children at Gem and determine what kinds of play elements would help them grow!
I vividly remember the first meeting we had with the couple that runs the Gem Foundation, Josh and Emma Quisenberry. Chad, Justin and I hopped on a video call and we had begun asking questions about the children and Gem and the hopes they had for this play space. Josh and Emma lovingly refer to this part of the design process as interrogation, but somehow this questioning was different than the ones I had attended with them in the past. Chad Kennedy and Justin Wilson are both landscape architects who specialize specifically in designing for children with physical and mental disabilities. This ranges from non-verbal, wheelchair bound children to high energy children with mild to sever autism. They asked questions like, “So how many of your kids have sensory deficit disorder?” I remember seeing Josh and Emma physically relax – they knew that they were in good hands.
I encourage you to take a look at the concept design below!
Having trouble reading the text for the design narrative? Click on the image and then you can zoom in!