Not just child's play: how your agency can create design solutions for difficult playground sites.

The layout of a school playground requires more than just good design--it must also alleviate the various concerns amid the community. For parents, the playground must be safe for children, while teachers also request an open play area that allows all students to be seen at a glance. Facility maintenance managers need a site accessible for vehicles and equipment, and school administrators must ensure the project stays within budget while still providing all necessities. And don't forget the kids who play on it--they need it to be fun. When designing playgrounds on topographically challenging sites, meeting everyone's needs becomes even more complex.

Topographically challenging sites, or areas that have various landscaping problems, require an experienced and creative design team to work hands-on with park officials, school administrators or committee members, to construct a playground that meets handicap accessibility requirements, safety codes and the concerns of everyone involved. For instance, at the K-3 Park School in Brookline, Mass., the topography of the playground--although beautiful with its many mature trees and exposed ledge--was not conducive to a safe and accessible play area for children.

In addition to the numerous outcroppings of exposed rock ledge, a 10-foot grade change within the 80-foot wide playground area made the area steep and dangerous. Outdated play equipment at the 20-year-old playground further exacerbated the problem. It was not up to current handicap accessibility codes, which made for a problematic and unsafe environment for children, teachers and maintenance managers.

Accessible for All

Because handicap accessibility requirements are restrictive for grade changes within level areas and the slope connecting them, removing the ledge to "plateau" the Park School's sloped site was an important first step in creating a functional and exciting playground.

Through the installation of a curve linear segmental retaining wall (made of individual 6-inch-high and 1-foot-long pre-cast concrete blocks with a split-face) the landscape design team created two distract, flat tiers for the playground. The cost to create the wall, an additional fence, and the earthwork, which included the use of an excavator with a pneumatic jackhammer to level the 10-foot grade change, was close to $80,000 and took three weeks of labor.

The final product--a two-tiered landscape with an accessible ramp and route connector made of bituminous concrete--allows for handicapped students to move easily throughout the playground. In addition, by installing rubber resilient surfacing and engineered wood fibar (which is a cost-effective wheelchair accessible material and provides a cushion when a child falls), the playground is now much more welcoming and accessible for all students and staff.

As handicap accessibility codes change frequently, having a knowledgeable designer who stays current on all Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and state accessibility requirements is important for playground projects, especially those that feature rough terrain. At the public K-8 Beebe School in Malden, Mass., the design team was given a very topographically challenging site on which they were assigned to build an ADA-accessible playground. Long and narrow, the site featured a significant grade change throughout. To create a safe and handicap accessible playground, various terrace levels were designed to serve numerous outdoor play options, including play equipment areas with fibar mulch surfacing, hardscapes for flexible activities, and a spring toy area with rubber surfacing. Integral to the overall design, a coherent system of ramps and sloped walkways connects the terrace levels.

Safety First

The Park School playground's narrow, ledge-dotted site also presented a challenge for designers charged with improving its safety. To create a safer play environment, the site was leveled off and its exposed rock and railroad ties replaced with rubber resilient and wood fibar surfacing, retaining walls and railings. Also, because the playground abutted a busy roadway; designers improved the existing fence, but, in addition, created retaining walls to protect the mature trees along the roadway, which enhanced the buffer between the playground and the street.

Teachers also expressed concern with the lack of visibility at the site. Due to the multiple levels and closed-in playhouses, the site provided too many hiding spots, preventing teachers from a clear view of the children. By designing an open playground, including see-through playhouses, the new site allows teachers to keep an eye on students.

The original site's multi-leveled environment also prevented the playground from providing adequate fall zones around play equipment, causing a potential safety hazard. Leveling off the playground created more area to space out play equipment. Working with the playground equipment designer and distributor, the design team was able to specify appropriate and handicap-accessible equipment, and distance these play pieces to create ample fall zones.

"After many years of trying to make a very difficult site safe, and at the same time, fun for kids, we have finally succeeded. Not only is the site safe, but the design and construction take advantage of the topography and landscape to make this a very exciting playground for young children," says Jerry Cathey, the assistant head of finance and operations at the Park School.

Keep It Clean

In addition to handicap accessibility and safety issues, designers must also work closely with facility managers to address maintenance concerns. Due to Park School's original playground layout featuring an awkwardly tight, narrow configuration, multiple levels and insufficient spacing between play equipment, facility maintenance personnel found it difficult to maneuver maintenance vehicles through the playground to keep the area clean from acorns, leaves and other debris.

In addition to keeping the area clean from tree debris, with the addition of engineered wood fibar on the lower tier, maintenance trucks now require additional access in order to spread more wood fibar as it settles and breaks down. According to Park School's head of maintenance Mike Massauro, the new flat, two-tiered design and access road lining the perimeter provides an easy route for his maintenance vehicles to reach every corner of the playground.

Beauty Marks the Spot

"With all of the changes implemented at the Park School playground, the designers also had to consider aesthetics, ensuring the site would be visually harmonious with the rest of the school and grounds. To maintain the natural beauty of the site, the designers accounted for the protection of many of the playground's existing mature trees through a variety of tactics.

Because the two-tiered design required a retaining wall to separate the levels, the designers were able to install it without sacrificing tree roots through the use of a segmental retaining wall, which does not require deep foundations. Also, the wood fibar surfacing placed around the trees allowed for adequate water and air exchange.

At the Hamilton Elementary School's playground in Everett, Mass., which featured a similar tiered landscape, the designers protected and improved its aesthetics through the implementation of plant beds, seat walls, and varied surfacing. All these improvements helped to mitigate the difficult slope transition of the site from the city street edge to the rear of the school. In addition to aesthetic purposes, the walls provided seating for students, created necessary grade changes between each terrace, and generated much needed room for trees and plant beds.

Put Your Heads Together

To ensure a successful playground design, especially on topographically challenging sites, it is important to engage representatives from all factions concerned: from parents and teachers to facility managers, school administrators and even students. At Park School, the design team worked with a steering committee to hear all concerns and incorporate appropriate solutions into the design plan. This multi-faceted committee expressed a variety of issues--all of which were incorporated into the final design of the playground--including the maintenance access roads, the plan to eliminate biding spots for kids and a sand box and water bowl play area suggested by children on the committee. The entire playground design was a collaborative effort and was influenced by the committee, who also made the final decisions on the color and shapes of play equipment, materials and cost.

Especially with multi-leveled sites, a one-dimensional plan cannot accurately portray the intricate design elements to a committee that is made up of non-design professionals. Through the design firm's computer generated, 3D-simulated plans created from programs like Autocad, 3D Studio and VIS software, and a scale model of the play equipment from the manufacturer, the committee members were able to view clear, understandable representations of the multiple-tiered site, allowing for a faster, more efficient decision-making process.

Park School students now enjoy playing ball, hopscotch, four-square and other playground games on the new flat surface, which they were unable to do on the old playground's sloped site. They also line the brand-new play equipment that provides challenges for all different levels.

Teachers at Park School benefit greatly from the layout of the new playground as they now have much more visibility and control during recess time. Developing safe, handicap-accessible, and fully functional playgrounds on topographically challenging sites--all the while staying within budget and meeting the school community's concerns--is not impossible, but it does require a creative and knowledgeable design team, and input and commitment from all involved parties.