Raising Locals: Choose Your Own Adventure at the New St. Pete Pier Playground

It’s not surprising that unstructured play can nurture children’s social and cognitive development.

You know unstructured play — those increasingly rare moments when kids run free, play make-believe, and aren’t pigeonholed into any certain type of play. And yet, so many activities and play spaces leave little room for imagination.

Luckily, a new movement in playground design has tended toward the abstract, and that trend was not missed when designing the playground at the soon-to-open St. Pete Pier.

Ontario-based playground design and build company Earthscape Play led the design process and is bringing a completely custom and unique play space to downtown St. Petersburg this spring. The sheer scale and $1 million price tag alone promise a playground unlike any in the area, but the details and creative process behind it are a story of its own.

“There’s definitely a strong presence of story and storytelling here,” explains Nathan Schleicher, concept designer for Earthscape Play. The design process, with Nathan at the helm, began in mid-2017 with sketches that look much different than the finished product.

The Design

The original design started as a garden scene. Nathan recalls the idea as being reminiscent of the movie Honey, I Shrunk the Kids with the playground setting a child’s backyard and a focal point a large Benoist plane (conceptually left behind by the child). A serpentining water hose slide also made it into the sketches, but, as plans changed, the only element of the original design to move forward was the Benoist plane.

That plane eventually evolved into a shipwreck as the concept turned marine. The new design, according to Nathan, felt more relevant to St. Petersburg as it paid homage to the shoreline and its importance to the city.

Working collaboratively with the City of St. Petersburg, architects, and engineers, Nathan and his team honed the design and developed a loose storyline that follows baby sea turtles as they make their way to the sea.

The play space transitions from a Junior Play Area for kids ages 2 to 5 set on the beach to a more vertical Senior Play Area for those ages 5 to 12 figuratively set in the depths of the sea, with plenty of space to run and play in between via the pathways and gathering spaces designed jointly with W Architecture.

An Abstract Space

While the marine theme is apparent throughout, the terms of play are limitless. Nathan ensures that kids of all ages will be “inspired by the abstraction of the space.” Elements of the playground were intentionally designed to allow playground visitors to choose their own adventures and give them not just a physical workout, but a cognitive one, too.

Take the Osprey’s Nest climbing structure — it purposefully omits any bird allusion. Here, Nathan imagines, children can pretend they are on a dome on Mars or a cave in the mountains; how each structure is played with really depends on the imagination and whims of the kids.

A Playground for All

Below the surface and mirroring the city itself, inclusivity is another important feature of the St. Pete Pier playground. Structure and pathway openings are large enough for wheelchair access, but the nuanced inclusion doesn’t end there. Safety precautions for those with visual impairments and quiet retreats for those with sensory needs are also included in the design.

Some Like it Not-So-Hot

As with anything in the Sunshine City, temperature is a major factor to consider. No shade sail is in the plans for phase one of the installation, but plenty of mature trees will give much needed respite from the sun. Other considerations, like a northern-facing slide located near shade trees and the use of natural materials in the playground, offer more safeguards.

The Next Steps

A post-occupancy study will be conducted two weeks after the anticipated late-spring 2020 grand opening date. This study will evaluate the flow of kids in the space and how they are interacting with the various elements while helping shape potential plans for phase two of the installation.

And yes, Nathan will be bringing his two young children along to test out the playground themselves during this time. If you ask him what he’s most excited to see in person, it’s the giant kraken and seaweed tower. “They’re larger than life,” he says.

To learn more about Earthscape Play’s design, visit earthscapeplay. com/project/st-pete-pier-kraken-themed-playground/. Stay up-to-date on the opening of the St. Pete Pier at stpetepier.org/.