Land Use Consultants

£40,000

Private Funding

October 2011

King Alfred School is a progressive independent co-educational school based in Hampstead, North London. The school campus originally sat within woodland and has developed into a community of individual buildings within a landscape setting. The special relationship between buildings and landscape, and educational ideas and practice is fundamental to the character of the school. The lower school play space was to be designed for children from Years 2 to 3.

The design concept was based around the idea of bringing the ‘Village Green’ found at the centre of the school into the lower school play space. Key to this concept is the idea of softening the play space. It was important to create a magical series of linked spaces which lead into the wet play area. Linking the space was achieved by using the existing planting. The children had already created tunnels through the hedge and the existing mature cherry tree allowed the play equipment to be built on multi levels. Given the natural elements within the school, the choice of our high quality Robinia timber was instant. Especially using this for the bespoke multiplay unit provides an illusion to the children they are climbing in the rooftops.

Working alongside Land Use Consultants we were able to successfully create a dynamic and challenging play space which provided a variety of play options for children of all abilities. The play elements incorporated into the site include; climbing, balancing, bouncing, hopping, imaginative and informal play. The interaction between the units and the surrounding environment created an intrinsic character for the site.

• Fantasy Play • Adventure Play • Sand Play • Robinia Timber • Natural Landscaping • Bespoke Tree Canopy

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