LASN is a photographically oriented, professional journal featuring topics of concern and state-of-the-art projects designed or influenced by registered Landscape Architects.
Issue link: https://landscapearchitect.epubxp.com/i/320919
64 Landscape Architect and Specifier News School Campus History The Children's Museum of South Dakota opened in 2010, however, the location - 521 4th Street of Brookings is not new to educating children, as it was originally an elementary school built in 1936. In 2006 the Brookings school district was in the process of planning a new elementary school; it was at this time that the Larson Family Foundation approached the city of Brookings and the Brookings School District about their vision to create a children's museum. The Larson Family Foundation, a private, nonprofit organization founded in 1990 to fulfill the need of the state's communities and citizens, supported this project by fully funding the start up costs of the Children's Museum of South Dakota, and established an endowment for future operating costs. By October of 2008 ground was broken on the project and at the end of the school year in 2009, after 73 years in operation, Central Elementary School closed its doors. The next fall, students in the Central School District were divided and sent to either existing Hillcrest or Medary Elementary schools. A new Camelot Intermediate School (for 4th and 5th graders) was constructed and opened in time for the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year. The official museum opening and ribbon- cutting took place in September of 2010. Transforming the Campus Confluence, a regional landscape architecture firm, was brought on to help program and lead the exterior design effort for the 3.45-acre site, including 1.5 acres of exterior exhibit space and the adjacent streetscape improvements. "Nature Play" was a unified theme of the outdoor exhibit space. Confluence worked closely with the owner and exhibit design consultants to develop a site plan that reflected the unique goals of the project. The site exhibit space includes an interactive stream and fountain, dig pits, a rolling hill and tunnel, a "mud pie kitchen", stacking and climbing elements, a maze, a winter skate pond, and a In Dino Dig Plaza, part of the Outdoor Prairie Play area at the Children's Museum of South Dakota, children can explore the fields of paleontology and archeology by conducting their own excavations within three sand pits and two prairie berms. Evolution of a School Campus —Landscape Architecture by Confluence By Editor Michelle Medaris, LASN 64-69.indd 64 5/23/14 2:50 PM