It’s National Playground Safety Week, and there’s no better time to read up on some of the most important aspects of playground safety: audits and maintenance! Understanding the difference and the components of the two can help you create a safe, up to date play space for all ages and abilities!
Check us out on playlsi.com to read more about staying safe on the playground!
Case Study: Honoring Paco Sanchez Through Play
Client: Denver Parks and Recreation
Goal: Engage with citizens to find the right design to honor the community and local heroes while revitalizing the underutilized space into an eye-catching destination to be used for years to come.
Solution: Community members, Denver parks and Recreation, and Landscape Structures Inc communicated and collaborated to come up with the design of Paco Sanchez park featuring a custom microphone component to pay homage to local DJ Paco Sanchez while promoting health and wellness within the community through play. An elevated bridge to the tower allows children and adults of all abilities to experience structure. This created a park environment where locals and people outside the area would be drawn to its unique design and functionality. The success of the park has become an example for other areas to take note of for how to keep communities active.
Click to read the full story of Paco Sanchez Park
Client: City of Denver Parks and Recreation Department
Landscape Architect: Dig Studio, Denver, Colo.
Goal: Get children and families outdoors and encourage life-long active and healthy lifestyles in a revitalized park environment.
Solution: The giant 1950’s microphone-inspired tower heralds the horizon, but the built-in play value is what really makes this park honoring local radio DJ Paco Sanchez truly extraordinary. Brilliant colors and bold presence aside, it’s the imaginative use of the musical references that do the hard work of delivering dynamic play. Notes and scales offer footholds. Sound waves create netted climbing adventures. Chimes travel with kids as they run across the bridge.
Read more about how the City of Denver Parks and Recreation Department engaged the community and its culture through the transformation of Paco Sanchez Park.
Are you beginning to plan your continuing education for 2019? We can help! We are an authorized provider of continuing education credits from the International Association for Continuous Education and Training (IACET) and the Landscape Architecture Continuing Education System™ (LA CES). That means we can help keep your parks and recreation department and landscape architects up-to-date on their requirements.
Even better, we have a team of expert speakers that are available to present on valuable playground and aquatics information during a local conference, in your office or during a customer visit to our headquarters in Minnesota. From inclusive play and spray play to designing safe splash play and fitness-focused environments to evidence-based landscape and playground design, there are sessions that will meet a wide variety of needs.
Learn more about playground-related CEUs, and check out the new aqua play sessions available from Aquatix.
Today, more and more communities are using unique design to create a signature playground. Smart design that combines eye-catching aesthetics with built-in play value. Custom design that can be as simple or as detailed as you like.
Discover how custom can put your playground on the map. Request a copy of our 2019 PLAY Book, or browse the virtual publication.
From fully themed wonderlands to palettes that span oceans and deserts and everything in between, see a few of the signature playground designs from our 2019 PLAY Book in action below.
Last weekend, we were in Philadelphia for the American Society of Landscape Architects’ Annual Meeting and Expo. First thing on Saturday morning, President Pat Faust introduced the speakers of the Opening General Session, Susan Stamberg and Laurie Olin. Following, we welcomed visitors to our booth space, which featured the Alpha® Tower and Friendship® Swing.
On Saturday night, we hosted an event for customers at NOTO. It was great connecting with all of the landscape architects, hearing about their amazing visions and sharing how, together, we can create word-of-mouth legendary play spaces. We’re already looking forward to next year in San Diego.
Client: The City of Hawthorne, From Lot to Spot and the Trust for Public Land
Designers: SWA and Jonah Scholen, Landscape Structures custom playground designer
Goal: Convert an unused concrete space into a community-designed green space including playgrounds for children and recreation activities for all ages
Solution: The City of Hawthorne collaborated with SWA, their local playground consultant, RecWest Outdoor Products, and Jonah to create an aviation-themed playground design. The PlayBooster® and Netplex® playstructures encourage kids ages 5 to 12 to climb higher and higher until they reach the clouds, while 2- to 5-year-olds explore the twin-prop plane-themed playstructure.
Get more details about how the playground at Bicentennial Park encourages kids of all ages to go sky-high.
Exceed community expectations by creating amazing playground designs. Our innovative new playground products will deliver engaging and educational play experiences that will keep kids safe. Even more, we’ll ensure that your playground project stays within budget and is delivered on time. Collaborate with us in 2018 and bring your playground visions to life.
See the new 2018 playground and shade products offered exclusively from Landscape Structures.
Alpha™ Tower & Alpha™ Link Towers
Bring height to the playground with the geometric design of these 20-foot towers.
Centre
Engage developing minds and bodies with language-rich conversation prompts while little ones play.
Friendship™ Swing
This face-to-face swing delivers a great way for individuals of all ages and abilities to swing together.
Facet™ Forms
This collection of modular forms is inspired by natural geometries found in nature.
DigiRiders™
Created using digital artwork, these updated spring riders produce an experience that excites the eyes and body.
FitCore™ Extreme
High-intensity strength training challenges kids, teens and adults to get and stay fit.
SkyWays® Shade Products
Provide cool and reliable shade for playgrounds, dog parks or pickleball courts, and everything in between.
Learn about even more new products for your playground projects by visiting playlsi.com. Then contact your local playground consultant to get started on an amazing playground design today.
Is your head in the clouds when it comes to unique design?
Perfect. We can help you shape sky-high visions into just-right solutions.
From playful post toppers to concrete-sculpted climbers and colorful palettes to DigiFuse® panels, we can help you turn sky-high ideas into amazing realities. Let’s collaborate.
Request your copy of the 2018 PLAY Book, or browse the virtual PLAY Book. And to see these amazing playground designs in action, watch our video below.
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: We are all shaped by play. We feel so strongly about this message that we took it on the road to the 2017 NRPA Annual Conference in New Orleans and ASLA Annual Meeting in Los Angeles.
Our booth spaces at both shows perfectly illustrated how we are all shaped by play. From showcasing those three words front and center to the photos of kids on our playground equipment, shade structures and aqua play products, the tree featuring artwork from local school kids and fun swag, we encouraged all visitors to consider how they were shaped by play.
Continue to share how you’re shaped by play and how you’re helping to build the leaders of tomorrow through play using #shapedbyplay. For a little inspiration, check out our video below.