This playground project is located at the 352-acre Morgan Creek Park in Linn County, Iowa. The park is managed by the Linn County, Iowa, Conservation Board and borders the west side of the city of Cedar Rapids. The playground conceptual development began in 2015 as part of a new park master plan.

This new park development included paved roads, parking, a new major trail and access, natural resource enhancements (wetland cells), a large open shelter, a new enclosed lodge, restrooms, and most significantly, a large "destination" playground. The new entrance infrastructure was designed by Shive-Hattery Inc. The day use area and facilities were designed by Linn County Conservation's Landscape Architect, Randy J. Burke.
Conservation staff began playground design by developing a list of potential features for a new destination playground, which included incorporating a footprint of 12,000-15,000 square feet. Another significant item included a poured-in-place surface. Final conclusions were to create a playground that has never been previously experienced in the county system or the adjacent Cedar Rapids metro community.

 
Linn County Conservation created a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the playground based on research done by staff on potential equipment options, which included input from a previous public survey. The Conservation Board chose Landscape Structures new "Hedra" systems. Conservation Staff worked closely with Outdoor Recreation Products and Landscape Structures to develop the final layout. Linn County Conservation developed a multi-color pattern layout for the surfacing, along with an 8' sidewalk around the entire 15,000 square foot playground that contains glow stones. The playground site also includes two small picnic shelters on the perimeter along with benches, and new plantings.

The Hedra system consists of three major pieces, including a covered climbing system for ages 2-5. The second piece is a large, multi-activity climbing structure for ages 5-12. The third major piece is a three-tower system, each with an enclosed pod over the structures with connecting enclosed elevated tunnels with various play activities. Two "fast" stainless steel slides exit from the towers. One slide is a spiral connected to a lower pod. The second slide is semi-circular and connected to the tallest 25' pod. The spiral slide stands 18' above ground with a length of 32'.

All three towers are connected and accessed below by a large triangular climbing ground net with play equipment. An additional three-bay swing set, three-bay zip-glide, and multi-person spimming apparatus are included within the playground.
The new day use area was dedicated June 3rd of 2022. The playground had a soft opening a week prior to the dedication and from early morning until after dark, the playground was packed with anywhere from 100-200 children playing at one time. This playground is well known in not only Linn County, but surrounding areas within the region. This Hedra playground system, only the fifth in the world at the time of construction, has received significant local news and social media coverage while it continues to be a popular travel destination within the community.

The upcoming Playgrounds Issue of Landscape Architect and Specifier News saw many firms submit their projects for feature consideration. This project was not chosen for a Feature in the issue, but we at LandscapeArchitect.com thought the project deserved to be showcased online . . .

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