Wheaton Local Park is located in Silver Spring, Maryland, within easy walking distance of downtown Wheaton and the Wheaton Metro station. The project is the first of its kind in Montgomery County to co-locate three separate County facilities: a public park, library and recreation center-uniting the community and promoting wellness both inside and out. The building achieved LEED Gold Certification and is used by more than 2,500 visitors each day.

The park occupies about 2.3 acres of the site and includes a large, multi-generational, destination playground, a grassy sloped lawn area, an open play area for unprogrammed play, a shaded reading circle and a multi-purpose field. Special care was given to the preservation of over 12 mature trees including a signature American Elm which anchors the park and provides shade and a feeling of longevity.

The park is located within an area that is exceptionally culturally diverse and a fundamental guiding principle in the design of the playground was to celebrate the diversity by incorporating welcoming features appealing to users of all ethnicities and backgrounds and minimizing physical and language barriers.

The playground was intentionally inclusively designed to accommodate the needs of children with various disabilities enrolled in the Department of Recreation's very popular after school and summer camp programs. The design includes a rich assortment of sensory experiences including library and music theming as well as traditional active play.

DESIGN
Music informed the ground plane geometry with bass and treble clef shapes in the concrete paving and play surface tiles. The perimeter asphalt area is painted with a piano keyboard, music stanzas, and notes. Twelve different musical instruments manufactured by three different companies were interspersed in both the age 2-5 and age 5-12 play areas. Children and adults alike enjoy making music with them.

For the age 2-5 play area, there are interactive play panels, a communication board, an oversized faux book with jokes in English and Spanish and a talk tube. An experimental sand area with a specialized fine-grain sand was introduced as a sensory experience. It was well-loved by everyone except the maintenance staff.

 
For the age 5-12 play area, there is a modern take on the merry-go-round for accessible play, a tactile roller slide for sensory play and challenging play equipment included balancing, spinning, twirling, and climbing opportunities.

The expanse of open lawn within the play area enclosure is intentional; children should be encouraged to run and experience flexible play in addition to programmed play in a safe, enclosed area. A larger open lawn area was provided outside of the fenced play areas as well.

At the hub, a shaded reading circle with circular seat walls and central platform were designed to mimic a bookshelf. They were crafted with a translucent resin material in brilliant colors to represent book bindings. The cast copings were engraved with quotes from cherished children's books, selected by the facility librarians and are in both English and Spanish. One of the inscriptions is titled Family Nest, a poem by Jorge Argueta. "Today my mama and my little brothers arrived from El Salvador. I hardly recognize them but when we hug each other we feel like a big nest with all the birds inside."

In this multi-cultural neighborhood, a treble clef in the pavement was imprinted with "Let's Play" in fourteen different languages to provide a welcome to all. Languages included: English, Chinese, Hindi, Filipino, Vietnamese, Thai, Amharic (Ethiopian), Spanish, Farsi, Hebrew, Japanese, German, French, and American Sign Language.


Co-Owner/Designers:
- Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission
- Montgomery County Department of Parks

Landscape Architect - Playground: Annapolis Landscape Architects

Civil Engineer: Charles P. Johnson and Associates

Larger Park Area Landscape Architect: Norton Land Design

Library Architect: Grimm+Parker Architects



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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