The Playgrounds Issue of Landscape Architect and Specifier News saw many firms submit their projects for feature consideration. Among several great projects, we at LandscapeArchitect.com thought Batter Playscape deserved to be showcased online.

At the tip of Manhattan, where city, land and water meet, a new play area promotes ecological literacy in children. Designed in response to the destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, Starr Whitehouse's vision for The Battery Playscape weaves the narrative of ecology and climate resilience into a challenging and exuberant natural play environment. Five play zones reference local ecotypes, using custom play structures, planting and programming to teach children about daily life in a briny marshland, or the hardy plant communities of a rocky bluff. Integrated with ecology is a second narrative about climate change and environmental stewardship. Meandering through the site, a verdant bioswale and raingarden crisscrossed by foot bridges collects runoff - placing stormwater at the heart of the play experience.

 
Designed by Starr Whitehouse and BKSK for The Battery Conservancy and NYC Parks, the Playscape is inspired by the idea that early exposure to natural processes fosters environmental stewardship in adulthood. Each of the Playscape's five zones is designed around a habitat native to the Hudson River Valley: Bluff, Meadow, Riverbed, Marsh, and Dune. These zones represent ways that land and water meet, foregrounding the importance of water in environmental stewardship.

Environmental, infrastructural, and accessibility challenges shaped key elements of the design. Preserving the existing mature London Plane trees made incorporating topography a challenge, but also inspired the playhouses, allowing children of all abilities to climb into the tree canopies and look down at the rain gardens, out to the harbor, or up at the sky. The Bluff is built over a transit tunnel, requiring a lightweight fill and geofoam buildup. The concrete walls framing the Bluff lead up to an observation tower and enclose underground storage, granite slides, and stone scrambles. An accessible ramp leads through sloped plant communities to a "play bowl" where kids and caretakers rest, roll, and look up at a cloud-shaped canopy reflecting the activity below.

Beyond ADA, access at the Playscape means supporting mixed-age play and social/neurological diversity. Zones are divided by horticulture and activity rather than age group, fostering intergenerational play. Strategic subdivisions accommodate different playing styles, from "introverted" spaces for quiet play, to competitive romps on the Bluff and Dunes, to theatrical play at the ShowBox Theater.

Starr Whitehouse conceived the overall ecological story of the Playscape, integrated the plant communities and their physical characteristics with play, and articulated the circulation, ADA access, materials, and narrative of water that underpins this low-lying landscape on New York Harbor - the birthplace of New York City.

To see more Playgrounds projects, go to https://landscapearchitect.com/landscape-articles/lasns-playgrounds-issue-34717#article1
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