The First Wallholla in the USA, designed by Carve, manufactured & distributed by Goric in the USA & Canada

  

The Southwest Corridor playground is a joint project between the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), a state agency, and The Boston Children’s Hospital, who raised the funds for the project.

 

When the project started there was a well-used basketball court, a small greenery beside it and a double bike and walking path running through the space. The group wanted as much play value as possible in the small area while keeping the basketball court and bike/walking path.

 

The Wallholla climbing structure answered all of their needs for space saving, lots of play and a perfect divider between the basketball court and playground. The eye-catching aesthetic and ultimate transparency was the icing on the cake.

 

With the space that they saved by using the Wallholla they chose other play items that would give children a variety of movement opportunities: the spinning of the Integration Carousel, the swaying of the Grass, the inertia of the Zip Line and the to-and-fro of the swings.

 

The Jackson Square “T” (subway) station is steps away from the play area and the playground will be installed directly over the subway tunnel. Special footing changes were made for the shallow depths overtop the tunnel.  Goric worked with a team of people from the Boston Children’s Hospital, the DCR and the landscape architects from Stantec to design the area in a way that would meet the needs of the local community.

 

The playground will open in 2013.

Rock Climbing & other Challenges

As a child I spent many hours on the swing in my backyard, talking to my friends, the trees.  Of course I also loved to slide on slides (my favorite slide must have been at least 80’ long, located at High Park in Toronto –It’s no longer there and I can’t believe I could find no images on Google!).  But I was never really a heights type of person; climbing trees and a being up high was not my biggest desire as a child.

Since I entered in the playground industry I started climbing and trying all types of playground equipment so that I would know what it feels like.  I’ve climbed cable net structures to find out that I felt safe and secure within the net (which is counter intuitive to most that see these types of structures for the first time); I’ve swung down 100’ long zip lines and felt the exhilaration of speed; I’ve spun, bounced and swayed and tried to challenge my bodily strength on all types of equipment.

Inverted climbing wall

At NRPA a couple of weeks ago I climbed on the new net structure from Kompan (in my high heals which I’m usually wearing when I’m climbing cable nets –no excuses for not climbing and trying new equipment).  It proved to be quite a challenge and a good workout with many different types of climbing activities within one unit.

I also tried out the Orbis by Henderson.  I liked the bounce of the rubber bridge.  I have never been a fan of climbing that goes nowhere (like a stand alone vertical net – you go up and then come down and that’s it) so I liked this unit for the continuity throughout each play and climbing component.

The Henderson Orbis, display at NRPA 2010

The other night I went indoor rock climbing for the first time.  I was nervous but I tried to remind myself of my “playground climbing experience”!  And in truth, when I climbed the wall for the first time my climbing experience did come into play and it felt, well almost, natural.  I felt accomplished and more self-confident for challenging myself.

Rock Walls at the Boston Rock Gym

This also reminded me of when I went zip lining through the mountains in Whistler, BC (Canada) last year.  I was very nervous being so high in the trees.  I had to remind myself of all I had learned about the strength of cables.  It was an amazing experience that I would repeat in an instant.

Zip Lining in Whistler, BC

Sometimes as adults we forget how important it is for children to play and climb on challenging play equipment.  If my self-confidence and sense of accomplishment was increased by these experiences just imagine what children gain from playing on playgrounds and other physical activities!