Designing for PlayBarbara Hendricks

Children, Youth and Environments Vol. 13 No. 1 (2003) ISSN: 1546-2250 Designing for Play Hendricks, Barbara (2001). Aldershot, UK and Burlington, VT: Ashgate; 267 pages. $75.95. ISBN 0754613208. On the back cover of this volume, the author ispresented as a "specialist play area designer" with 30 yearsexperience. The book itself is presented not as a “how to” book, but asa radically new approach, applying cutting-edge thinking from childdevelopment and child psychology to find innovative design solutions.By challenging the established notions of play provision, and coveringkey sociological, public policy, environmental and design issues, thisbook intends to provides designers with an exploration of, and guideto, designing from a "child's eye" view of the world. As a designer of children's play environments myself, I turned thecover with high expectations, especially as it promises the reader abook that is "beautifully crafted and copiously illustrated withnumerous examples of recently designed playgrounds." The first eight chapters (of 14 in total) of Designing for Playdiscuss a variety of design-related topics, such as play, designhistory, aesthetics, design criteria of society, children anddesigners, and other design issues. Further chapters addressplaygrounds in the context of early childhood institutions, publicparks and schools, as well as current trends in playground design.Closing chapters address the broad topics of "Magic in the Playground"and "Playing with the Future." This leaves only four chapters, lessthan one-third of the book, to deal with the design of specific typesof playgrounds. Moreover, with such an all-encompassing title, one might have expected Designing for Playto cover more than the design of outdoor play areas. Indoor playenvironments such as toy libraries and children's museums areneglected, as are those in 249 public facilities such as airports, railwaystations and shopping centers. Play design in children's institutionssuch as hospitals and special education facilities is a further topicneeding exposure. The book contains no discussion of play design in thedomestic realm where the design message can really come across toparents. Even in the outdoor realm, the book ignores relevant “old”models of contemporary practice such as city farms and adventureplaygrounds. Leaving aside the mismatch between the book's title and content, what does Designing for Playaddress? The book's basic premise is that the field of designingchildren's outdoor spaces not responded to the dramatic culturalchanges of the past 30 years. However, changes in play space designhave occurred, some of which Hendricks indeed discusses, such asadvances in playground safety. Additionally, the author criticizes theinclusion of commercial play equipment on public playgrounds ascontributing to the commercialization of childhood, yet she apparentlyconsults for one of the best known manufacturers and writes sometimesas if she were a lobbyist. The astute reader will deduce early that Designing for Playis a Scandinavian book (translated from the Danish) and its scope doesnot extend beyond Northern Europe apart from occasional references toplayground developments in the United States and Canada. The manyamorphous generalizations made in the book presumably apply to thiscontext; however, there is no explicit reference to the geographiclimitations of the volume. The most interesting project presented inthe book is the Four Seasons Play Garden, the outdoor space of akindergarten in Ring, Denmark. The layout was designed by the authorwith Tom Lindhardt Wils, a Danish artist, play equipment designer, andfounder of Kompan. The kindergarten appears to be an example of theprogressive "outdoors-in-all-weathers" Scandinavian model. However, theauthor does not explain this even though she worked with the teachingstaff to convince them to install an unconventional play environment. 250 I wish Hendricks had devoted more space to such examples. Three and ahalf pages of general description including a single photograph and asmall sketch of the layout tantalized more than delivered useful designinformation- but then, the book was not intended to be a "how to"guide. This is unfortunate. What designers such as myself crave arespecific, technical details about physical design. What was the widthand length of that circular trike pathway? What was the surfacingmaterial? How was surface runoff treated? How was snow clearancehandled in the winter? Which design features supported winter use? Whatprinciples governed the planting design and choice of plant species?How were planted areas protected from foot traffic? How was the kitchengarden laid out? How did children...

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