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Tag Team at Seattle Center: Collaboration and the Design of a Rich and "Risky" Playground

11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Location: Lynnwood Convention Center - Room 2BC
Speakers: Clayton Beaudoin, Site Workshop, Principal; Peter Tammetta, Highwire; Eric Higbee, Pomegranate Center; Judith Caldwell, Caldwell Sculpture Studio

Description:

In recent years, playground design has come under fire. Many complain that pressure from safety advocates and cautious, cash-strapped municipalities have created dull playgrounds lacking the qualities critical to children’s development. Things like risk taking and nature are designed away, beauty and comfort are discounted, and the play environment is contained to a sea of woodchips. Designers find themselves caught in the middle of these pressures and are seeking new ways to create rich, meaningful and safe places for children of all ages to play. This panel will discuss how the collaboration between landscape architect, artist, playground equipment providers and end-users resulted in a successful playground at Seattle Center, and will explore the benefits and challenges of early, sincere collaboration. HSW-Yes

Learning Objectives:
  • Acquire a basic understanding of the opportunities and challenges associated with designing a playground in very public, high-use spaces.
  • Gain an understanding of how the design team’s unique approach to collaboration - with each other, the public and the contractor’s – affected the project outcomes.
  • Compare and contrast collaboration amongst design team “experts” and collaboration with users.
Speaker Bio:

Clayton Beaudoin
Site Workshop, Principal
Clayton takes many things seriously, but perhaps nothing more seriously than play. Whether leading volunteer-based neighborhood projects or some of the region’s largest, most technically complex open space development’s, Clayton instills playfulness in his work that never fails to yield fruitful surprises. To that end, he has led the development of more than 15 PNW parks and playgrounds including Seattle’s Kirke and Northacres Parks and Wright Park in Tacoma. Clayton received his MLA from University of Washington and is a registered landscape architect in Washington State.