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
74 Landscape Architect and Specifier News food in hand looking for a place to sit. The playground was a big, fenced in expanse of asphalt with some game markings, some planters, picnic tables and three basketball backboards. In one corner a rectangle of woodchips enclosed a play structure and several spinning devices. While kids with ASD love spinning, they'd have trouble negotiating the busy sharing interactions. An adjacent fenced off area offers a synthetic soccer field. The project had a public matching grant, so we engaged the community through public meetings and workshops. Parents and kids reported the ASD kids tended to pace around the perimeter of the playground next to the fence, as did some non-ASD kids. Not all kids want to play games on the blacktop or jostle about on the climbing structure. There's always a subset of kids wandering about the edges of a playground in little groups or alone. Everyone agreed the playground needed more equipment. The most frequent requests were monkey bars, and some nature, the latter a challenge on a limited site with heavy kid-traffic and virtually no maintenance capabilities. There were large trees outside the fences bordering the playground. Parents were very focused on having a bridge and a dry creek. While the textures and even the physical challenge of walking over the arched surface may be relevant for kids with ASD, the pretend play of most autistic kids tends to be oriented towards vehicles and machinery. Top the very first part of the playground, implemented by parents to build enthusiasm for raising funds, was the "flow line," a 300' long undulating hopscotch simply painted on the ground and encircling the playground. the blue segments represent even numbers; the green are odd numbers; and the purple for prime numbers. It gives kids a familiar path of travel, something to count, and since the segments aren't numbered, it's a special puzzle for kids to figure out. Donor recognition tiles were incorporated into the planters. Bottom the "plinth" is an elevated concrete surface that helps separate the blacktop games from the new play area, while functioning as a stage, a lookout and a gathering place. (Continued on page 76) 70-77.indd 74 5/22/14 8:33 AM