Covered Children Playground

For this three weeks project my tutor asked me to design a "Covered Children Playground". I found it interesting because I would love to work in the social area in the future. Designing something for children would be something I would actually enjoy doing.
The challenge was to design the cover as there is few covered playgrounds.
During the first week I talk with my peers and there are the words they think about when it comes to children playground :

I, then, went to different places around London to find inspiration. Unfortunately as I said before I didn't find any covered playground.

Dulwich Park

London Fields

Playground in Westminster

 Playground in Peckham Rye

I couln't find anything relevant after visits around London. At this time I went to an exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts : Sensing Spaces 

"how do spaces make us feel? What does architecture do for our lives?"

In this exhibition you are invited to touch, climb, contemplate, sit and reimagine the world around us. 

I really think that architecture, as much as any other kind of art, can influence people's mood and feelings. I found this exhibition amazing and I found there inspiration for my project. I loved the works of architect Li Xiaodong, he created a big bamboo maze. 

I've also been inspired by the work of playgrounds specialists architects : Erect Architecture
http://www.erectarchitecture.co.uk/
It is a London based practice that mainly designs children playground. Here are some that I found particularly original:

 clapham common

Evelyn Court in Hackney

Kennington Park model

Maze is such a complex structure. It may become a perfect game for children. You can hide, wander, run, look for, imagine, be scared... It influences lots of emotions.

The idea behind a covered playground is that it can be used all around the year. So during every periods, every seasons. 

I gathered the maze idea and the seasons idea and this is what I found. I would design a maze like Li Xiaodong's one with 4 different rooms. Winter, Spring, Summer and autumn. 

Seasons inspiration sheet

The maze and the 4 rooms will be the playground. Then there will be a cover, on top of the maze, made of glass. It will house the winter room. The back will be formed of 3 colorful slides. 

The cover will allow kids to play in the maze in all weathers and as it is transparent, the parents will be standing on it and will look after their children, while chatting together. 

You can access the cover by the winter room, there is a spiral staircase near the ice rink. 

There is also another "cover" in the spring room. It is a little grass shelter, children can rest/hide inside or go to the toilets. 

Here is a photoshop drawing I've done so we can better understand the idea. 

The perfect location for me would be Marseille, my home town. I would like to redevelop my primary school's playground. I used to go there every day after class, except when it was raining. 

It is really old and damaged now I think it really needs some improvement. 

With the covered areas, children will be able to play whenever they want to, 365 days a year. 

Final Sketchup Model :