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The Ian Potter Children’s WILD PLAY Garden
The Ian Potter Children’s WILD PLAY Garden
Sydney, Australia
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Other Projects by ASPECT Studios
The Ian Potter Children’s WILD PLAY Garden
Sydney, Australia
Firm
STATUS
Built
YEAR
2017
A botanical wonderland nestled within the tree-lined avenues and rolling hills of the Centennial Parklands, the Ian Potter Children’s WILD PLAY is a counterpoint to the increasingly isolated and digital lives of children. ASPECT Studios’ design responds to research suggesting few Australian children play outdoors regularly.
By using a palette of natural play elements like sand, water, sticks, leaves and mud – rather than prescriptive playground equipment – ASPECT produced a whimsical and immersive experience that encourages children and their imaginations to run wild.
The play spaces are staged to reveal themselves in an unexpected sequence that makes the 6,500-square-metre site feel almost endless. Paths interweave, disappear through tunnels and meander over mounds to create sites waiting to be discovered. The experiences scattered throughout are designed to reference features of the surrounding natural environment - like visiting a unique timber treehouse that could have been hewn by giant insects, or balancing on a timber “eel" in the shade of established figs.
The water play area takes this a step further by telling the story of Australia as Earth’s driest continent and reinforcing the importance of conserving water. An artesian water basin brings life to the landscape through waterfalls, water jets, banks of mist and curtains of steam, that surprise and delight, while teaching in a tactile way the role water plays in creating and sustaining life. The water itself is sanitised and reticulated through tanks to minimise its use, and throughout the project, best practice Water Sensitive Urban Design has informed the arrangement of spaces to benefit the microclimate and planting.
By using a palette of natural play elements like sand, water, sticks, leaves and mud – rather than prescriptive playground equipment – ASPECT produced a whimsical and immersive experience that encourages children and their imaginations to run wild.
The play spaces are staged to reveal themselves in an unexpected sequence that makes the 6,500-square-metre site feel almost endless. Paths interweave, disappear through tunnels and meander over mounds to create sites waiting to be discovered. The experiences scattered throughout are designed to reference features of the surrounding natural environment - like visiting a unique timber treehouse that could have been hewn by giant insects, or balancing on a timber “eel" in the shade of established figs.
The water play area takes this a step further by telling the story of Australia as Earth’s driest continent and reinforcing the importance of conserving water. An artesian water basin brings life to the landscape through waterfalls, water jets, banks of mist and curtains of steam, that surprise and delight, while teaching in a tactile way the role water plays in creating and sustaining life. The water itself is sanitised and reticulated through tanks to minimise its use, and throughout the project, best practice Water Sensitive Urban Design has informed the arrangement of spaces to benefit the microclimate and planting.
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