Client brief:
St Werburgh’s Primary School wanted TouchWood to create a flexible and inspirational natural play space that supported their ambitions for outdoor play and learning. The School wanted a masterplan developing that incorporated the aspirations of the staff, children and parents and that complemented the design of the new main school building.
Design Response:
Having held one of our TouchWood signature Designing for Real sessions for the children and staff at the school this highlighted their desire to include within the new play area; hidden entrances, multi – level balancing and circulation routes, sand and water play, natural bounders and the use of wooden frames which could be added to by the children with loose elements, to create dens or even musical instruments.
To make the best use of the large excavating machinery that was already on the site for the School building project, our team utilised diggers to manage the play area topography. Creating a multi-level landscape including an exciting tunnel leading from the play area to a woodland glade.
Our team designed a range of locally sourced and hand-crafted play features, which were carefully designed to maximise loose parts play along with supporting collaborative interaction.
There are four separate behavioural areas, which provide a range of activities for child led play experiences, and outdoor teaching activities. We explored a range of natural materials creating a pebble beach, sand beach and water play to provide a range of changing landscapes.
