A Jewel Once More

In 2013, after years of deferred maintenance, San Francisco's Lafayette Park was no longer the crown jewel of Pacific Heights that it once was. The existing playground, prominently located in the center of the park, was decayed and non-compliant with current accessibility and safety standards. A public bond initiative was passed, and the entire park was slated for renovation by the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department. Friends of Lafayette Park, a neighborhood advocacy group, offered additional funding to sponsor development of a new, custom-designed playground that would meet the needs of families and the general public. After an extensive search, the group selected Miller Company Landscape Architects, who proposed a unique, nature-based play environment.

There are two features that are adjacent to the playground including a 3300 square-foot picnic terrace and a 3000 square-foot picnic lawn. The project scope required numerous public meetings to solicit feedback on the design and included coordination with public agencies to secure approvals from the Recreation and Park Department, Mayor's Office on Disability, Planning Department, and the Arts Commission. Miller Company provided a full scope of design services for the playground, illustrative drawings to foster private fundraising within the community, budget management, and intensive on-site assistance with installation.

A Place for Families
With an awareness of the larger civic context of the park, where multiple uses were desired, the design team extended their concept beyond the limits of the expanded play area to create supportive social settings useful to the community. The team envisioned an expanded picnic area framed by a belvedere sitting wall to the south of the playground and a social gathering area to the north featuring a curved, wisteria-covered arbor that links the character of the neighborhood's classical architecture to the central setting of the park. Caregivers and park users have a place in the design, both inside the playground and in adjacent social gathering spaces. Configuring the expanded footprint of the playground within a stand of existing mature trees and adding new perimeter plantings provides a shaded setting and reinforces the historic and natural ambiance of the park.

The starting point of Miller Company's design concept was generated by the desire to create a place where children could experience the personal and shared power of play, connected to the act of touching stone, wood, and water. It was intended to promote social possibilities within the playground, offering the potential for large group play and social negotiation as well as spaces for more intimate interaction.

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