Holy Family Primary School
This school in the west Brisbane suburb of Indooroopilly has a district history however their existing play facility was showing its years. The school Principal, Mrs. Margaret Gallen, along with some very active members of the P&F were looking for a change, as well as a real need for junior play for the prep year. Knowing that they had a difficult site they commissioned request for design of the complete lower play area- approx 600m2 in total.
Our Brief
Review the site and site survey details, design a number of interactive Playground systems that included:- Group play; Physical Fitness; Seating; Natural Elements; Retaining walls; Garden Discovery paths; Open play kick about areas; all with Permanent Softfall to cover the existing asphalt, while retaining a host of sentimental pieces of large mosaic artwork.
Our Design Approach
This was a challenging process from a design point of view due to access issues and keeping the design within the bounds of budget. There appeared to be four distinct zones within the space hence we decided to implement a 4 stage design so that the total project could be better managed. Each stage would also provide differing play for the different ages of the children, stages 1 & 2 for the older children and stages 3 & 4 for the junior school. To keep the design ‘together’ we included some custom seating scattered appropriately throughout the zones, and kept a strong focus on colour ensuring we delivered a unique theme right through the plan- even painting existing buildings into the same tones.
The Actual Design
Stage 1 & 2 – This involved reshaping the site to accommodate a modern design, senior Playground. We designed a custom “Agility” unit to offer a very active and physically challenging series of features, ideal for 8 to 12 year olds. For those not wanting such a ‘physical’ experience we also allowed for a ‘Lair’ net climbing dome to be located adjacent to the main playground. These have proven extremely popular for school aged kids and allow free expression of play through its non structured features.
The entire area has patterned synthetic softfall throughout, enhancing the theme. Using a totally new product – Pebble Flex, a matrix of Thermo Plastic beads bound by a unique aliphatic polymer, to make a totally colourfast surface. We also added a more natural area with a new version of ‘long pile’ artificial grass grouted with a sand & rubber-crumb mix, providing a soft feel, very natural looking lawn area.
The End Result
Due to a very wet January construction was delayed however eight weeks after earthworks were commenced children had their first opportunity to play on the new playground. The children were ecstatic, and found an absolute plethora of new play opportunities, none more than using the soft artificial grass areas for running, ball games and just simply ‘playing’.
Stage 3 & 4 is currently in final design stage, after the success of the long pile artificial grass, we have used this product extensively for a mini soccer field. Construction is planned for September/ October, we look forward to showcasing this next development in the not too distant future.
