Playground Design

Lesson Structure: Playground Design BHT216

There are 8 lessons:

Overview of Parks & Playgrounds
Playground Philosophy
Preparing a Concept Plan
Materials
Park & Playground Structures and Materials
Local and Neighbourhood Parks
Community Participation In Park Development
Special Assignment.
Learning Goals: Playground Design BHT216

Determine the procedure to plan a park development, including a playground and other facilities.
Prepare a concept plan for a park or playground.
Assess the design of park components, including materials and equipment used in parks and playgrounds.
Determine appropriate design characteristics for a local or neighbourhood parks.
Determine legal implications involved in the design of a playground.
Design facilities to cater for movement throughout a park or playground.
Manage appropriate community participation in development of a park or playground.
Practicals:

Explain how an understanding of play theory can be applied to the design of a playground.
Explain how the concept of recreational planning may influence the design of a specified park.
Determine factors which distinguish park design from home garden design.
Compare different planning processes used for developing designs for public landscapes, including: advocacy planning, strategic planning and community participation.
Explain historical influences upon park design, in your locality, including:
local history
national history.
Evaluate the functional depreciation of a specified playground over a period of at least ten years.
Explain the significance of demographic considerations on park design, in a specific locality.
Evaluate the designs of two different established parks, and two established playgrounds, visited by you.
Develop a brief for a park plan, through an interview with management of a specific site.
Collect preplanning information for a proposed park design; through surveying the site and interviewing both managers of the site, and intended users of the site.
Develop three alternative concept plans for a proposed park development; in accordance with a real design brief, either prepared by you with a client, or obtained as a brief for a job being put to tender.
Compare three alternative concept plans in an interview with a client, or prospective client, for a proposed park development; recording the interview session on audio tape.
Describe the design features of four different items of outdoor furniture intended for use in parks and playgrounds.
Compare the suitability of different barriers, including bollards, fences, plantings and walls, used in three different parks and/or playgrounds; visited and inspected by you.
Assess the design of garden constructions inspected by you in a childrens playground.
Compare various ground surfacing materials in terms of their application in park or playground design.
Explain design considerations for earth forming, in a specific park and playground.
Design a park plan for a specified site of 1,000 to 10,000 square metres, incorporating a themed play area.
Prepare a costing for the construction of a themed play area, designed by you.
Compare the appropriateness of fifteen different plants for use in a playground in terms of different factors including:
play possibilities
hardiness
toxicity.
Determine appropriate design criteria for the use of water in playgrounds.
Determine appropriate functions for neighbourhood parks.
Determine inappropriate functions for a neighbourhood park.
Analyse two neighbourhood parks by both; surveying users and observing users.
Evaluate the design of two different neighbourhood parks, visited and studied by you, against different criteria including:
Function
Aesthetics
Maintenance requirement
Environmental sympathy.
Recommend design modifications for a surveyed neighbourhood park.
Explain the significance of danger to the childrens learning experience.
Determine how two different specific playground designs have been influenced by concerns about legal liability.
Conduct a legal risk analysis of a playground which has been established for more than ten years.
Develop guidelines for minimising legal liability in playground design, for an authority responsible for a specific playground.
Determine design criteria for different types of trails in parks including: *Fun and fitness trails
Environmental interpretation trails
Cycle paths
Linkages between parks
Roadways.
Compare the construction of three different specified paths within parks with reference to:
Durability
Safety
Function
Maintenance requirements.
Prepare a concept plan for a "specialist trail" in a park, such as; a fun and fitness trail, a cycle path or an environmental interpretation trail, following design standards in the industry.
Determine factors which impact on the success of a park/playground development which involves community participation.
Analyse community attitudes to a park or playground development, which has used community participation, by either:
survey
discussion with local Parks Department management.
Explain how to promote community involvement in park development in a way which will optimise the chance of success.
Determine a procedure to involve a community in the development of a park/playground facility, on a site visited by you.