February 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 26

Member to Member
Guiding the Way to
Playground Design
By Gary Sorge, FASLA, and Donna Walcavage, FASLA

W

hen it comes to designing play environments, maintaining consistent quality among facilities is certainly important but so are
creativity, context sensitivity and inspiring play. So, how do
you find that balance between prescriptive standards and expressive character? That was the challenge facing the New York State Office of
Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, which determined that a menu of
options, along with guidance on how and when to use those options, could help
its regional staff develop unique, appropriate and fun new playgrounds that still
meet the state's high standards of quality and recreational value.
The Power of Choice
When Rose Harvey assumed the role
of commissioner of the New York
State Office of Parks, Recreation
and Historic Preservation in 2011,
she recognized that the state's playgrounds needed to break free from
the somewhat formulaic, cookie-cutter approach of years past. What's
more, some equipment was now outdated and no longer the best fit for

24	 Parks & Recreation

play value or spatial quality. The department also wanted to expand the
idea of playgrounds as active space
to go beyond children, incorporating exercise opportunities for active
adults and seniors.
That's when the menu idea was
born. With the help of landscape architecture consultants, the department
expanded the menu idea into a comprehensive guidebook - called the

| F E B R UA R Y 2 0 1 6 | W W W. N R PA . O R G

New York State Play Areas Guidebook -
that provides not only prototypes for
various playground environments, but
also guidelines to help designers adapt
and implement them. The guidebook
is organized into two main components: park environment types and
implementation.
Park Environment Types
Because topography and environment varies dramatically across the
state of New York, the department
identified three main categories that
apply to most of the state's parks:
*	 Woodland - near or within a forest or naturalized setting;
*	 Waterside - near a stream, river or
body of water; and
*	 Urban - located in a city or town
center.
The guidebook steps through each
of these environments, presenting a
vision for each context, including potential features, style of play and play
amenities, and considerations for transitioning between the play area and its
surroundings. Each section contains
numerous project examples and potential equipment and components.
Again, these suggestions and descriptions are not meant to prescribe
a particular design or piece of equipment but rather to guide designers
in creating an aesthetic that complements the surroundings and appeals to current and prospective use
groups. For example, the woodland
playgrounds section describes how,
in years past, brightly-colored, plastic



February 2016 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February 2016 - Parks & Recreation

February 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 1
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