Many people remember the days of freestanding slides, swings and monkey bars. But in 1967, that idea of playground design advanced to interconnected play components. Cofounder Steve King created the continuous play concept, the revolutionary idea of combining playground activities. As his final thesis project at Iowa State University, Steve developed a system that linked play activities together to provide a continuous challenge for children. His premise was that if kids are together on one structure, they’ll learn things that they will use in real life like social and conflict-resolution skills.
While his thesis only scored him a C+ grade, Steve took his continuous play concept to his first job as a landscape architect specializing in park planning. In 1969, he put his approach in action in a playground design project for the City of Minneapolis. His first playground was a success, which lead to more interest. And in April 1971, Steve and Barb obtained a $1,000 loan and incorporated Landscape Structures to design and build playground innovation. See our company timeline here.
Landscape Structures’ commitment to playground innovation
Landscape Structures is committed to innovation. Hedra®, one of our more recent inventions, allows kids to safely navigate via their own intuition and curiosity, and invent routes, games and imaginary environments. Our long-standing commitment to inclusive play is breaking barriers with the new We-Go-Swing™, the first no-transfer inclusive swing that can be integrated directly into the playground setting. Even more, the use of innovative materials and the development of colors that are truly inspired by nature is changing the world of playgrounds.
Reflecting on the power of play
As Landscape Structures moves into its 50th year of business, we’re taking time to reflect on the power of play. We know that play and recreation has far more value than just being fun; it is essential for the health and wellbeing of communities. And that’s why our team—nearly 500 employees and the network of more than 200 playground consultants worldwide—is proud to provide unique play opportunities for all ages, abilities and backgrounds. Because no matter what’s happening in the world, we will always come back to play.
Earlier this year, the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) awarded more than $100,000 to 17 outstanding students for its 2020 scholarship season. The scholarships and fellowships support the next generation of designers by rewarding superior student performance, encouraging diversity, supporting original research and assisting students with unmet financial need.
One of those awards is the Steven G. King Play Environments Scholarship, which was created by Cofounder and Chairman of Landscape Structures, Steve King, FASLA, and the inventor of the continuous play concept.
The purpose of the scholarship is to recognize a student who has high potential in the design of play environments. This student must show an interest in the value of integrating playgrounds into parks, schools and other play environments and understand the significant social and educational value of play. Key qualities in the student receiving the Scholarship are creativity, openness to innovation, and a demonstrated interest in park and playground planning.
This year’s recipient of the Steven G. King Play Environments Scholarship is Allyson Fairweather. This past May, Allyson received a Master’s of Landscape Architecture from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and is working part-time at Wright Ostermier Landscape Architects. We were happy to sit down with Allyson earlier this summer to hear more about her interest in landscape architecture, and the project she submitted as part of her scholarship application.
Last spring, Allyson took a research class and was interested in studying if there was a relationship between an adult affinity for nature and how much time that adult spent playing in nature as a child.
“I was excited to discover that there is evidence to suggest that children that play outdoors in nature exhibit more environmentally responsible behaviors, greater nature inquiry, great awareness of ecological process and greater environmental stewardship,” Allyson explained.
In her research, the term “nature playscape” popped up a lot. She learned that a nature playscape is an outdoor play space that is specifically designed to connect children to the natural environment and included elements such as water, plants, soil and incorporated wild life.
“As a child, I played outside all the time,” Allyson shared. “I was always on my hands and knees in the dirt playing with bugs, collecting flowers and leaves, and running around in my parents’ garden. I have more memories of that than I do hanging out on a swing set. And now as an adult, I love the outdoors. So that’s what sparked my interest in this subject.”
Through her connection to adjunct professor and Principal at Wright Ostermier Landscape Architects, Emily Wright, Allyson was made aware of a playground redesign project at The Bement School, a small, co-ed day and boarding school for kindergarten through grade 9 in historic Deerfield, Mass. The school, nestled below the Pocumtuck Range and flanked by the Deerfield River, has a beautiful, rural environment. Their existing playground was outdated and disconnected—scattered throughout campus. And upon further conversations, Allyson learned that the playground equipment wasn’t challenging enough for the range of students using it.
Allyson met with the playground committee—two school administrators and a teacher—a few different times. Initially, she visited the site to understand the space. Then she held two workshops—one for the playground committee and a second one for a small group of students in grades 3, 4, 5 and 7.
“The ultimate goal of these workshops was to understand how the play space was used, what the school community liked or didn’t like, and their vision of how it could be improved,” explained Allyson. “We prompted the adults with questions for discussion, but for the students we planned a more interactive exercise using a printed map of campus and inspirational photos. The students used stickers to vote for favorite pictures of nature play spaces.”
Allyson explained that the kids’ favorite photo was a playstructure embedded into a hillside because it appeared challenging and the students could imagine many creative ways to play there.
“A large part of this project was engaging with The Bement School community,” Allyson said. “They loved being a part of this project and kept asking when we were going to come back.”
After compiling all of the feedback into a report, Allyson started laying out the design of the nature playscape.
“One of the first things I did with this design was start with a continuous accessible path that circulated through the entire play space to create a boundary that unifies the play area. I tried to accommodate a range of ages and abilities in the play equipment. We imagined the playground would be created out of locally sourced black locusts because it’s really strong, sturdy wood that doesn’t splinter.”
Of course, they were tasked with blending the nature-inspired elements with more traditional playground features like foursquare and basketball courts, and swings. They included those elements but oriented them at angles that give different views of the soccer fields, the play area and the surrounding landscape.
“The committee wanted to include a tire swing as it helped demonstrate one of The Bement School’s core values, collaboration,” Allyson explained. “Older kids help younger kids up onto the tire swing so it presents an opportunity for different age groups to interact and build friendships. We really appreciated their observation and positioned the tire swing in the space between two different play zones so both age groups can meet in the middle.”
In addition, it was important to include quiet areas for older kids. Picnic tables and boulders were positioned throughout the play space to offer hangout spaces. Integrated plantings, boulders and rain gardens were woven throughout the play space to extend learning to the playground.
“We presented the nature playscape to The Bement School in January 2020, and they loved it,” said Allyson. “They hope to invest in the project in the future.”
We hope to see this project come to fruition, and to see what types of playscapes Allyson completes in her future career. Congratulations, Allyson, on your scholarship!
Our cofounder, Barb King (1946-2008) was recently inducted into the Minnesota Women Business Owners Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame was created to honor women entrepreneurial leaders and the first of 25—20 living and 5 posthumous—representing 150 years of Minnesota business history were inducted on April 25. Barb was honored for her business innovation, leadership and the legacy she left for future generations of Minnesota business women.
Barb was the president of Landscape Structures until her passing in 2008, and was committed to children throughout her life. She was passionate about showing them how to lead healthier lives and to appreciate nature. In addition to cofounding Landscape Structures with her husband, Steve King, Barb founded and was the benefactor of the Säjai® Foundation. The Foundation is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to working with local communities to educate children about how to live a healthier life by encouraging them to get outdoors, be active and make smart nutrition decisions.
Landscape Structures employees at Barb King Inspiration Park in Delano
All of us employees are proud to have known Barb. She was our passionate colleague, friend, mentor, confidant and much more, and we constantly strive to celebrate her inspiring life. Learn more about Barb here, where you can read past articles written about her, browse photos of her in professional and personal settings, and watch a video to get a sense of who Barb was and see the positive impact she had on so many people.
Steve King, our cofounder and chairman, released a book titled, A Legacy of Play, in January. In A Legacy of Play, readers take a journey through the unusual history of Landscape Structures, and learn how the company helped the playground industry evolve while keeping in mind the most important aspect of play—child development across all ages and abilities.
When Steve was a landscape architectural student at Iowa State University in the mid-1960s, he was eager to learn more about play and went to the Child Development Department to observe kids. Their behaviors—kids didn’t like standing in line to use the swings or slides; they wanted group activities—got him thinking. For Steve’s final project he designed a playstructure using the continuous play concept, which combines traditional playground equipment into an endless stream of activities.
Landscape Structures’ first sold playstructure.
In 1971, Steve and his late wife, Barb, cofounded Landscape Structures. We are headquartered in Delano, Minn., and proud to be a 100-percent employee-owned company. Since opening, Steve and Barb were committed to enhancing children’s lives by creating inspiring play experiences, a mission that all of us employees connect with and work towards.
Landscape Structures corporate headquarters in Delano, Minn.
Steve continues to serve as chairman of Landscape Structures and is a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects (FASLA). He served as chairman for the task group of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) that worked to develop accessibility standards to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), is a Certified Playground Safety Inspector, and a founding member and past president of IPEMA (International Play Equipment Manufacturers Association).
A Legacy of Play is available for order on amazon.com. The cost of the book is $14.95, and proceeds will go to the SEBA Foundation, the King family charitable foundation dedicated to environmental and children’s causes.
We are very excited to introduce our 2013 Park & Playground Equipment Catalog. With more than 200 pages, our new catalog features many new products and offerings that are designed to inspire your upcoming playground projects.
2013 Park & Play Equipment Catalog
The catalog opens to a letter from Cofounder and Chairman Steve King on behalf of all 300 employee owners at Landscape Structures. We are all honored to be a part of children’s lives, and are constantly inspired by their imaginations and drive to have fun. Every employee here puts his or her heart and soul into creating innovative playgrounds that kids flock to and become community gathering spaces.
Pulse™ Tempo
Next, you’ll see our new product offerings for 2013 like Pulse™, which offers a multisensory way to add light, sound, touch and more movement to the playground. We’re excited to show off our new site furnishings collections—Designer, Vivid and Nature-Inspired—which will match your new or existing playground. We’ve also introduced new freestanding play components like the We-saw™, our multi-person seesaw that welcomes children and families of all abilities; the Flywheel™ Spinner that encourages social interaction; and the Log Stack Climber, which will expand your nature-inspired playground design and offer various levels of challenge.
Mobius® Boat
In addition to our new products, we have a section of signature playground designs that highlight our custom design and manufacturing capabilities. Our artists, designers and engineers look forward to collaborating with customers to help bring their ideas to life, and our focus on the details makes each playground an exciting destination for children who visit it.
These are just a few of the highlights in the new 2013 Park & Playground Equipment Catalog, so take some time to page through the entire thing. You can browse our Virtual Catalog or request a copy be mailed to you at playlsi.com.
