The Playground Project encouraged school students to think about landscape practice by exploring their school’s outdoor space with a member of the LI and redesigning their playground.
Throughout 2016, LI members volunteering for this school-based project took children through a series of workshops covering:
- why landscape architecture matters
- what landscape architects do
- how to assess their own outside space and redesign it
- methods of designing and creating a presentations board and a scale model
- how to enter a design competition
Participating schools received a budget for materials, access to relevant online resources and a guidance pack. The 2016 The Playground Project guidance pack (PDF, 0.4MB) details what the scheme covered.
Competition to design a school playground
The project ended with a design competition, with pupils submitting their new design for their play area.
These design ideas came out of the project sessions – so children’s ideas were at the heart of the competition. The winning school received a cash prize to create their new playground.
The Playground Project launch
The Playground Project launched in London in 2016 and was sponsored by the Canary Wharf Group. Seven schools from the London borough of Tower Hamlets took part.
Pupil’s views were at the heart of the design process, and the schools held extra lessons on activities including:
- model-making sessions
- drawing bird’s-eye view plans
- using technical language and landscape architecture symbols
Winners of The Playground Project 2016
Manorfield Primary School won the design competition and received £5,000 to help implement the school’s design for its outside space. The school’s year 4 class worked with Neil Hutchins of Atkins to identify a problem space in their playground and re-design it.
The judges praised Manorfield’s simple yet effective design to enhance the school site while providing a valuable learning resource for the children. The high level of collaboration between pupils and the landscape architect, they said, was central to the school’s winning design.
This project had a really positive effect on the class. The landscape architect who worked with us had a positive relationship with the children and they couldn’t wait for him to return on Wednesday afternoons.
Ailsa Lawson, year 4 teacher at Manorfield
You can see more detail in the Manorfield School presentation board (PDF, 0.5MB).
Highly commended schools
Two of the seven participating schools were highly commended. Judges praised Halley Primary School, who worked with John Goldwyn of WATG, for the way the whole school got involved and for its inclusive design.
Lansbury Lawrence Primary School, who worked with Hanna Salomonsson of Enfield Council, was also commended. The judges praised the high standards of curriculum delivery throughout the project, the improved teamwork between the children and the extremely creative design.
From playground to ambassadors for landscape
The participating LI members have been awarded ‘Ambassador for Landscape‘ status in recognition of inspiring the students and raising the profile of the profession. Ambassadors are LI members who volunteer to promote landscape architecture through schools and educational activities.
| Participating school | Landscape architect involved |
| Cubitt Town Junior School | Claudia Ferrai of Atkins |
| Halley Primary School | John Goldwyn vice president of WATG |
| Harry Gosling Primary School | Mark Stefan of Design with Nature |
| Lansbury Lawrence Primary School | Hanna Salomonsson of Enfield Council |
| Manorfield Primary School | Neil Hutchins of Atkins |
| Stebon Primary School | Emma Reed of HLM Architects |
| William Davis Primary School | Christopher Moss of Earthenware Landscape Architects Ltd |
Tell us about your ambassador experience
If you have participated in the Playground Project or any other volunteering activity to raise the profile of the profession, or if you want to find out more about how you can volunteer for the LI, we would like to hear from you. Get in touch at contact@landscapeinstitute.org.
