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
78 Landscape Architect and Specifier News The Harvard Kent Elementary School's transformation was funded by the Boston Schoolyard Initiative, a public-private partnership among the city of Boston, Boston Public Schools and the Boston Schoolyard Funders Collaborative. Launched in 1995, the mission of the program is straightforward: to revitalize outdoor play and learning spaces in public schools across Boston. By the end of 2013, every feasible public elementary school in the city had been transformed. Like every schoolyard designed as part of the Boston Schoolyard Initiative, Harvard Kent Elementary is the result of thoughtful collaboration among parents, teachers, the principal, students, neighbors, the landscape architect, city and school officials and funders committed to providing urban students with safe, inviting outdoor spaces to learn and play. Harvard Kent Elementary is located in Boston's Charlestown neighborhood, Boston's oldest neighborhood. Charlestown is just north of downtown Boston on a peninsula between the Charles River and the Mystic River. Charlestown is the northern end of Boston's Freedom trail, which passes by the USS Constitution, and culminates at Bunker Hill. The school is just a couple blocks east of Bunker Hill. The Harvard Kent schoolyard was a sea of broken asphalt spread among Above & Inset This Harvard Kent Elementary school playground design was inspired by the USS Constitution, which floats nearby in the Charlestown Navy Yard. The three-mast frigate, built in 1795, is said to be the "world's oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat." The three tapered 25-ft. tall aluminum flagpoles (The Flagpole Co.) with nautical flags and internal halyards on the terraced level above the playground represent ship masts. The wood-plastic composite benches were designed by the landscape architect to look like dinghies. Nautical graphics enliven the walls and asphalt. The graphics were designed and drawn by CBA Landscape Architects using Dynaflex paint (Neyra Industries). An artist hired by the contractor did the painting. Two nautical ropes with sailors' knots in long lines mark distances in feet and yards; a ship's anchor, cod and flounder, mussels and lobsters are realistic representations proportionally sized to one another. A 30-ft. ornamental mesh fence (Omega II), which is quite transparent to the eye, protects the continuous planter of native grasses and perennials along the wall. (Continued on page 80) Harvard Kent Elementary Schoolyard, Charlestown, Mass. Design by CBA Landscape Architects, LLC 78-83.indd 78 5/23/14 4:05 PM