Two weeks.
One great organizational partner.
Seventy teens and young designers from five universities and seven high schools.
Hundreds of kids and their families.
A few power tools and $2000 worth of materials.
One awesome pop-up adventure playground at the very center of Downtown Philadelphia that begins to redefine our conceptions of risk, play, and the role that young adults play in the design of our city.
It’s going to be a few months before we really have the time to deeply share our experiences and insights from our Tiny WPA pop-up adventure playground that we design-built in early October at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Pop-Up Garden. Suffice it to say, without a hint of hyperbole, it was awesome, we are truly excited by the response (to Tiny WPA and the playground), and we couldn’t be more excited about what this means for the future of play, public space, education, and youth in Philadelphia……and elsewhere.
‘Want to see more pictures from the project? Visit our Facebook page.
In the meantime, we would like to thank everyone who made this such a success–through money, time, sweat, or cheerleading.
Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
Design Philadelphia
Science Leadership Academy
El Centro
Next American City
Hidden City
www.playgrounddesigns.blogspot.com
The Village For Arts And Humanities
Students from the Industrial Design Department at the University of the Arts, Drexel, Penn, Rutgers, and Philadelphia University
And special thanks to our core team of Mike Darfler, Jeb Lewis, Thuy Tran, Tyler Scholl, Ila Kumar, Renee Schacht, and Matt VanKouwenberg. AND our Interns, Christian Stefan, Alice Gunn, Santini Basra, and Ken Mascaro. We simply couldn’t have done it without you guys. You were incredible.
Kristin B. Eno
10 years ago
WONDERFUL!!!! Let’s do one in Brooklyn! Red Hook, to be exact. We’ve got tons of vacant lots here, and Sandy had her way with us. It’s obviously time to build a playground!! You all rock, love this project so much. Thank you.
Emily Stevens
10 years ago
We need this at our school in Kigali–I want to be a building hero, too! Thank you so much for doing good work and sharing it with all the rest of us!
publicworkshop
10 years ago
Emily. Thanks so much for your message. We would love to do one in Kigali with you! I wonder if there is an opportunity for us (your school and Public Workshop) to partner with MASS Design and Partners In Health to do one? I actually have a couple of connections with them and another organization doing work in Rwanda. Send me an email and let’s explore some possibilities.
Thanks so much for your kind words.
Alex
publicworkshop
10 years ago
Kristin.
We would love to do one in Red Hook. Both because of Sandy–to put youth at the forefront of rebuilding–and because Red Hook is generally the perfect spot for one.
I will send you an email. Thanks so much for your kind words.
My best,
Alex
Gabriel P.
10 years ago
I would have killed to been a part of this as a kid! If a project in Red Hook is going to be organized, I’d love to be a part of it!
publicworkshop
10 years ago
Gabriel.
Us too. If you have any ideas about Red Hook, send me an email.
Best,
Alex
alex@publicworkshop.us
Lauren
10 years ago
I don’t have kids of my own, but I do work at a children’s museum; that explains how I stumbled upon this article. Coincidentally, there has been a concerted and arduous effort to put a playground on the block over from my apartment. I am inspired now to share this information with that group and maybe help get the project off the ground.
Rock on!
publicworkshop
10 years ago
Thanks so much Lauren for your kind words. We’d love to hear more about your playground project. Send us an email sometime.
-Alex
alex@publicworkshop.us