Shoreview Commons Destination Playground

Shoreview, MN USA

MN - Shoreview Commons Destination Playground

Video features a Landscape Structures nature themed playground at Shoreview Commons Destination Park in Shoreview Minnesota.

[video: scene fades into a full elevated view of the large play area of Shoreview Commons Destination Playground. Families fill the large open play area enjoying all the different play activities. The camera slowly pans to the right showing more and more of the large play space. Scene switches as children walk up pod steppers on an small artificial grass hillside. Scene switches to a young girl as she slowly spins on a seat spinner. Here grandmother stands nearby. Scene switches to a boy as he jumps to sit on a disc swing. He rides down a zip line track towards the camera smiling and laughing. Scene switches to a mother as she pushes her son on a large circular swing. A group of children play at leaf shaped play panels. They run their hands over marble balls, ring bells, and play with other sensory items on the panels. Scene switches to a view of the bottom exit of a large blue tubular slide. A boy slides down and sits at the bottom of the slide. Scene switches to a young boy as he slides down one of the lanes of a dual landed slide set on the side of a small artificially grassed mound. Scene switches to a girl’s walking down a curved board walk lined with giant blades of grass shaped play panels. Other children climb across a branch balance beam. Scene switches to a view underneath a bridge with hanging vertical ropes with evenly spaced climbing knot foot and hand holds. In the background children play on wiggly lily pad shaped wobble pods. Camera switches to a view of a boys feet balancing on one of the rope knots while in the background a boy slides on his bum down the artificially grassed hillside. Scene switches to a view of three large swing set bays. Two girls swing together in the center bay on a two seated swing. The camera moves closer to the girls as they continue to swing. Scene switches to a girl sitting on a pod stepper as she speaks to the camera about the playground.]

Girl: Umm, I think my favorite thin would eb those wiggly lily pads.

[video: scene switches to the girl and her friend as the sway back and forth while standing on the wiggly lily pad bouncers. Scene switches to a boy as he speaks to the camera.]

Boy: My favorite thing is I think the lily pads and that.

[video: the boy posts off camera. Scene switches to a view of a cargo net climber arched with the shape a small hillside. Children take their time climbing up the cargo net. Scene switches back to the girl sitting on the pod stepper as she continues to speak to the camera.]

Girl: And the giant play place over there.

[video: scene switches to a view of a large two towered play structure designed like a tree house. A girl slides down a large green slide from one of the towers. Scene switches to a group of children taking turns climbing up a unique rope climber up into one of the playground towers. Scene switches to a group of children looking as the base of the playground tower designed like the base of a large tree with a tunnel going through the center. The children shout what animals they see designed into the tree trunk.]

Girl 2: Caterpillar, butterfly…

Boy 2: Oh wow that’s a bug!

[video: a child points up to the tree trunk, the camera pans to the left showing a bright blue butterfly designed into the tree trunk. The camera follows a group of excited children as they walk through and explore the tunnel of the tree trunk. Scene switches to a girl playing a chimes panel up in one of the playground towers. Camera switches to a ground view up to one of the playground towers. A girl stands on the tower decking wave down to the camera while her friend climbs up a rope climber. Scene switches to a boy as he swings across the rungs of a monkey bar set. The camera pans and focuses on a girl as she climbs down through the center of a cylinder like climber. Camera switches to a view up to a boy pressing his face to the bubble panel at the top of the play tower. Scene switches to two girls as they sway back and forth on a spring seesaw like play activity. Scene switches to a view through a connecting crawl tunnel of the two playground towers. A girl smiles as she crawls through the tub towards the camera. A second girl fallows behind the first crawling through the tunnel. Scene switches for a full view of the large treehouse play area at the park. Scene switches to a secondary play structure at the large park. Children run and play all around this rope inspired play structure. The camera switches angles a few times showing the different rope climbing activities on this other play structure. Scene switches to a full side view of a suspended belted walking way. A girl walks down the tired like steps of the belted pathway. Scene fades out and back into a full elevated view of an area with workout inspired activities. White text at the bottom of the screen reads “FitCore Extreme”. Scene switches to a ground view up to a boy as he swings from the rungs on a large, inclined monkey bar set. Scene switches to a different boy as he reaches the end and descending side of the monkey bar set. Scene switches to a girl as she walks across inclined balance beams. Scene switches to a full view of the three spaced out inclined balance beams. A group of woman and girl’s stand on the side lines as a woman makes her way across the balance beams. She shouts as she works to keep her balance. Camera switches to a full elevated panning view around the work out area of the park. Camera switches to a view down two angled walls. A boy jumps up between the two walls supporting himself with his feet and hands as he stays wedged between the two walls. He hops slowly to move himself down the two walls, jumping down to the ground as he reaches the other side. Scene switches to a boy running and jumping of a small ramp and grasping onto an inclined cargo net. He swings and sways as he gets control of his body. He then slowly climbs to the opposite side of the cargo net. Camera switches to a ground view up to the cargo net as a girl continues to make her way to the lower portion of the net. Scene switches to a girl as she jumps up and begins climbing the rope climb challenge activity. A group of families stand in the background cheering and watching as the girl climbs. The scene switches to a boy as he climbs to the top of the rope climb. Scene switches again to a second girl as she holds herself at the top of the rope climb and rings the accomplishment bell. Scene switches to a view down five separate sharply angled large foot steppers. A boy runs and jumps from one foot stepper to the next. Scene switches as a girl does the same jumping from one stepper to the next till, she reaches the end. Screen fades to black and back into a group of children as they smile and excitedly wave to the camera. Screen fades to white. A vertical black line draws itself in the middle of the screen. The Flagship Recreation logo slides out from the right side of the black line and the Landscape Structures logo slides out from the left. Text fades in below both logos reading “For a better tomorrow we play today”. Screen fades to black and video ends.]

Playground Details

Age Ranges

  • 5 to 12 years
  • 13+ years

Play Styles

Min Area Required

  • 343' x 242' (104,55 m x 73,76 m)

Max Fall Height

  • 144" (3,66 m)

Design/CAD Files for this Playground

Design files are not available for this custom design. Contact your local playground consultant for additional details.

Design Standards

astm
Contact your consultant to verify that this playground design meets current design standard requirements or to modify for other design standards.

Price Range (USD)
$200K-$500K+

Pricing for custom playground equipment varies. For international and exact pricing, please contact your local playground consultant.

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A community destination decades in the making

In the early 1990s, the Shoreview City Council acquired 40 acres of land in central Shoreview. It was then that they started putting together plans to create a central community gathering space—something the council felt was lacking as the city didn’t have a typical downtown area.

A joint venture with the city council and staff resulted in the creation of the Shoreview Community Center at Shoreview Commons complete with city staff offices, ball fields, a regional library and more. Since then, the team has been working together to make improvements.

Serving community families

By the early 2000s, the city was focused on capitalizing on the popularity of the community center. They incorporated fitness facilities, community rooms and a pavilion to the outdoor space.

“We wanted to make sure our facilities all worked together,” explained Terry Schwerm, recently retired city manager for the City of Shoreview. “The community center was becoming a popular place to be, and we needed a plan to bring our long-range vision to fruition.”

And that’s why they developed a master plan. Schwerm and his team realized they needed a strategy to help guide the future growth and development of Shoreview Commons. The community was becoming increasingly more diverse—in age, ability and background—and the city wanted to meet the needs of everyone.

“Our goal from the beginning was to serve all ages with a keen focus on families,” said Schwerm.

Creating a regional play destination

After completing a renovation of the community center in 2018, the city began working on the master plan and focused on how to execute the first phase. The city connected with LHB, a full-service design firm located in Minneapolis, to assist with the overall master plan updates and the first phase improvements.

In addition to working with LHB, the city’s project team toured a lot of facilities around the metro and state to share examples of what they liked and how it might work for the Shoreview Commons project. Their focus narrowed to a new skatepark, gardens and decorative pond, trails and a nature-inspired playground.

“Our main goal was to create a playground that would become a regional destination,” said Schwerm. “We wanted to bring people to the Commons campus year-round, and the park and other recreational opportunities helped complement the activities we already had happening inside the community center.”

Creating an immersive playground experience

The vision for the playground design was inspired by what Shoreview is—woods, water, marsh and wetlands. And Nikki Schlepp, senior landscape architect, and Jess Vetrano, project landscape designer, both from LHB embraced it as a desired design element. The two wanted to create something unique that delivered an immersive experience.

“We looked at design precedents throughout the world and were inspired by wooden forms based on a variety of woodland creatures,” explained Vetrano.

Their design process, which began during the height of the pandemic, included passing sketches back and forth, collaging everything from playground design elements, plants and site furnishings. And once they had a final concept in hand, they began reaching out to design and manufacturing partners.

“It was clear that Flagship Recreation and Landscape Structures understood our vision,” said Schlepp. “The team offered a ‘yes, and…’ approach to our project by lending their expertise in how each playground zones could be built out to deliver the best experience for kids.”

The result is a fully inclusive playground with multiple zones for various age groups linked by pathways. Upon entering the play space, visitors are met with a monumental piece—the tree house tower. This zone offers a fully ramped PlayBooster® playstructure, two custom-designed tree house towers and various climbers, slides, bridges, panels and more.

Further down the path is a zone filled with thrills for all ages and abilities. A Double ZipKrooz® with an accessible seat delivers the feeling of flying across the play space to everyone. Plus, more traditional playground swings offer high-flying fun. Across the way is a zone with a ninja-like obstacle course for teens and adults. The FitCore® Extreme course is perfect for any fitness level.

The marsh zone is where the original vision for the playground design is apparent. Sky-high cattail climbers, mushroom and log steppers, leaf-themed wall climbers and activity panels provide a variety of play experiences for kids of all ages and abilities. Even more, climbers, bridges and slides are built into mounds for additional fun and challenge. Nearby is a zone dedicated to hillside climbers and slides.

And the final zone is the climbing forest, which is a play space positioned at the top of a hill to provide a birds-eye view of the other play spaces. This zone delivers additional challenge in net climbers, another tower and other nature-inspired playground components. It is nestled into the surrounding trees to give kids the feeling of climbing through the treetops, while also delivering additional natural shade cover.

Best of all, there are plans for a wide variety of landscaping including six planting beds with native grasses and flowers that will help capture rainwater.

Attracting visitors near and far

On Saturday, Nov. 13, 2021, the playground at Shoreview Commons opened to the delight of many community members. Shoreview children and families took advantage of the unseasonably warm weather throughout November and early December to test out all the new features. 
 
“We’re happy with the end result of this project,” said Schwerm. “The design really allows kids to be creative and explore.”
 
The wide variety of activities available at Shoreview Commons already draws people from all over the metro, and the City is hoping that the new destination playground helps bring even more. While there’s still a few finishing touches to complete the project including the plantings and landscaping, the playground is open to the public. The city is planning a grand opening for spring 2022.
 

Installed: July 2022

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Playground consultant for this project

Flagship Recreation
4940 W 35th St
St Louis Park, MN 55416
Toll Free 877-550-7860
www.flagshipplay.com

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