This article was taken from the January 2014 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
One way to get kids to learn about something is to let them play with it -- or in it. That's why, in June, Melbourne architects Taylor Cullity Lethlean opened the Pod Playground at Canberra's National Arboretum, an area that contains 94 forests filled with endangered tree species. "We wanted the design to reflect the surrounding forests, so the story of the arboretum could be told within the playground," says Simone Bliss, the lead architect for the project. The $1.4 million (£870,000) play area, which can accommodate 1,000 children a day, was envisioned as a forest filled with giant seeds. Pea gravel, sand and eucalyptus mulch replace hard ground so children can dig and get dirty. Scattered about are six giant acorns and six cubbyholes shaped like banksia, a native Australian plant with pod-like flowers with seeds that "look like small mouths", according to Bliss.
The acorn-pods are connected by rope ladders, swirly slides, tunnels and a fireman's pole. "Some have portholes with real insects embedded in resin, others reference weather using machines to create rain and hail pattering and a thunder board," says Bliss.
The playground's design was the result of a competition held by the local government, following a bush fire in Canberra in 2003 that wiped out a heavily wooded area. In memory of these forests, the arboretum was opened and the park crafted from local woods. "The acorn shingles are made from western red cedar and the bodies from macrocarpa," says Bliss. "The shingles change colour from brown to black to silver over time, so children can witness how nature ages."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
