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Photo by Marvin Greenbaum.
Nurture with Nature: Bringing Big Ideas to a Small Playground
At the Philadelphia School, Viridian transformed a postage-stamp-sized asphalt lot into an immersive, interactive playground that grows along with students.
Supporting Play that Isn't Just
Fun & Games
The Philadelphia School creates lifelong learners by helping students in grades 1–8 develop intellectually, emotionally, and physically. Play is integral to that development, but the school's outdoor playground —a tiny asphalt lot—offered little stimulation. To support the school's mission, Viridian reimagined that space by crafting a purposeful and delightful natural playground that inspires imagination and encourages kids to create their own spaces as they find new ways to play.
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The "treehouse" offers multiple levels for kids to meet, play, and explore. Photo by Marvin Greenbaum.
A Playground That Grows
With Kids
To optimize this space, we planned overlapping zones of interest across the entire landscape. Designed for all ages, the playground offers easy stuff, hard stuff, and easy stuff that can become hard stuff as students grow. Its design pushes kids to explore ways to play and make the space their own. Movable ropes, logs, and stones encourage building, and nearly every structure offers multiple levels of fun. A versatile custom-made seating area in the center of the playground conceals rolling storage and serves as a small outdoor theater, classroom, or climbing structure.
Photo by Marvin Greenbaum.
Inspired By a Favorite Philly Park
Our inspiration for the park was Wissahickon Valley Park, a beloved woodland park in Northwest Philadelphia. Our park-like ecosystem uses play structures that evoke tree trunks and canopies, rocks that kids can scramble over, and water play elements that encourage them to experiment with creating dams and rivers. The new trees and plants, selected for quick growth, durability, and color, can be found in the Wissahickon. Persimmons and other edible plants invite kids to safely forage and learn about natural food sources. We believe learning to recognize native plants will help make kids better land stewards when they become adults.
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Photo by Marvin Greenbaum.
No Challenge Too Big — Or Playground Too Small
Although the Philadelphia School has an engaging, nature-based playground for their younger students, administrators initially struggled to understand how a similar approach could work for older kids. We helped them rethink what a "playground" could mean for grade-school and middle-school students and showed them how an asphalt lot could become something meaningful. Most importantly, we showed them how to maximize their resources by helping them make decisions that make an impact.
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All surfaces have multiple purposes at The Philadelphia School Playground.
Photo by Marvin Greenbaum.
Photo by Marvin Greenbaum.
Photo by Marvin Greenbaum.
Looking for a Playground that Inspires and Educates? Let's Talk:
3868 Terrace St.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19128
215-482-7973