As a child my favourite place in the whole big wide world (or at least, what I'd seen of it) was Blackgang Chine on the Isle of Wight. Blackgang Chine was basically a huge playground, with dinosaurs, and a maze, and a pirate ship (with an actual captain's cabin and rigging, the works!) and a wonderful cowboy town with a saloon with swinging doors you could swagger through, and a jail, and a post office. There was a crooked house, and a Jonah's whale you ran through, being squirted with water the whole way - it was a land of wonder to a small girl with an active imagination.
Most playgrounds, in contrast, are pretty basic, a rudimentary slide, a couple of broken swings, a roundabout that barely turns. I've often suspected they're so awful because they're designed by adults, but Danish designers Ole B. Nielsen and Christian Jensen send a torpedo through that theory. The Daily Mail ran an article featuring pictures of their work, their website, of course, shows more. Check them out, and then take a look at your local playground and just imagine!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2139062/Giant-spiders-wobbly-castles-rocket-ship-slides-Introducing-best-childrens-playgrounds-world.html
http://www.monstrum.dk/en
That looks so fun! Can we go there please ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking of asking them to design something for the back garden. I wonder what they'd charge for a pirate ship! Or a lighthouse! :-D
ReplyDeletehehe, sounds like a plan to me!
ReplyDelete