Month: August 2016
King of the Hill: Topography in Children’s Playgrounds
In a recent interview with the Chicago Tribune’s Blair Kamin, landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh was asked about the 40-foot-tall climbing walls at Maggie Daley Park, a sprawling, 20-acre mega-park towering over Chicago’s lakefront. His response: “They were designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates architects and landscape architects (and me!)…
Why Waiting for the Bus Can Be Fun
Stone Abacus, Park City, Compliments of PlaySpace Designs Few of us like to wait at the bus stop. Why? Because aside from scrolling Facebook or surveying the cracks in the sidewalk, there is not a whole to do. Some of the discomfort we feel may be intentional. A recent article in the Atlantic describes how “homeless deterrence technologies,”…
Why Sand and Water Play Are Good for Children
Long before the iPad and Pokémon GO, there was sand and water. The two are foundational to the earth and offer near limitless possibilities for young children’s imaginations. During the summer months, I take my two-year-old son to Chicago’s Montrose Beach on the shore of Lake Michigan. After laying out a…
Designer Spotlight – Ilisa Goldman and the Power of Our Natural World
Reclaiming Community Spaces Creates Healthier Environments for us All This past November, Rooted in Place, the design firm founded by Ilisa Goldman,orchestrated a 4 day community build event to transform a parking lot just outside ARTS (a local arts based youth center) into an, ‘arts-dedicated community space for art-making, performing…
