Woiwurrung people of the Kulin Nation
Victoria
The new play structure at East West Childcare & Kindergarten is a highly adaptable addition to a small urban site, replacing a much loved, but diseased tree.
A stainless steel ‘trunk’ of expanded mesh supports raised platforms of steel and timber, connected by a timber post-and-beam structure. It engages with the new adjacent fence, featuring viewing windows and decorative finials representing Bundjil and the seven Wurundjeri seasons.
The design distils the qualities of a tree as playground, providing shelter, height, and climb- ability without dictating to or interfering with the user’s imagination.
A restrained selection of materials, chosen for their durability and environmental responsibility, were selected through consultation with Revival, a sustainable construction specialist. Reclaimed materials like timber and tyres, were also utilised in the design.
The outcome is an inviting and non-prescriptive play structure – prompting imaginative play, providing a sense of place, site specific and adaptable for the future.
East West is an amazing place for children, so when we make the decision to add something permanent into our space it needs to be amazing too. Our new play structure is flexible – offering both high platforms and secret underground lairs; but also, very specific to our small garden space and educational needs – it is safe (obviously) but also challenging and interesting so the children want to play there; offering possibilities but not dictating how it should be used. We absolutely did not want something that was already a “thing” (for/shop/boat/etc). We got all this, and it is beautiful too.
Katherine Sainsbery, Director and Design Architect
Finn Forsyth, Project Lead (Graduate of Architecture)
Rob Neville, Builder, Sustainability Consultant
Rob Neville, Builder, Sustainability Consultant, Structural Engineer