Computer Animation of Design For Trumansburg Playground
I found this recently-uploaded animated tour of a design for the Trumansburg schools playground, which is indeed being replaced.
My impression, after watching this tour, is that although this animated design gives children a great deal of space, it certainly doesn’t have the character of the playground castle that’s currently in place. The equipment looks quite generic and uninteresting to me, although of course I’m no longer a child myself.
I admit that I don’t know a great deal about the legalities or the politics behind the playground redesign at the schools. I’d love to hear the insights of other parents in the school district.
I was in elementary school when the playground was built and I recall we all “brainstormed” to help add certain elements to the playground that WE (the kids) wanted to see. Then we were involved in the building process itself. So,I have a degree of sentiment attached to the existing playground,as I’m sure others who grew up with it do. Plus,I love that it was created based on children’s imagination and creativity instead of a Cookie Cutter Structure.
BUT…
I have had many,many occassions where I’ve met other parents on the playground who drove from out of town specifically to go to OUR playground. I doubt it will have the same appeal now.
As a parent now, I won’t miss the tiny crawl spaces I am too small to fit into and the closed design that prevents me being able to see my little ones easily. Also, I like that the area for smaller children will be enclosed.
Other than that, I will miss the old one
According to the youtube comment
“SketchUp animation of my design for the Trumansburg Central Schools playground. Created for LA 201 & LA 494 during the Fall of 2007 at Cornell University.”
This is a student project. Not necessarily a real design. Hopefully the public will have input. Our existing playground has CHARACTER and hopefully the community will rally behind a replacement having the same.
Does Bob Leathers still do community builds?
The current playground does make it difficult to see kids sometimes, and that does make me anxious as a parent sometimes, but at other times I think it’s great for kids to have such a mysterious, evocative place that shuts out prying eyes. There’s the part of my mind that’s aware of all the legal liability problems, and then there’s the part of my mind that cringes at the idea of a childhood led within the safe parameters of no legal liability.
I’ve gone to other communities, such as Ossineke, Michigan, where the same organization produced playgrounds, and everywhere I see them, I talk to people that are proud of the distinctiveness of their playgrounds. In these times of entertainment, eating, and shopping that’s uniform across the USA, it’s important for children to see their home town as a little different, and to have cues throughout the community confirming that perception.
I wanted to get this video up on Finding Ulysses to encourage people to think about what they want in a playground – not to comment on a specific final design.
“I wanted to get this video up on Finding Ulysses to encourage people to think about what they want in a playground – not to comment on a specific final design.”
Perhaps so Jonathan, but as usual you’ve not provided clear disclosure or context and led people to believe something other than the truth – via strategic omission. You could have easily pointed out that this design was by a student and for a class, but you didn’t, and you didn’t for a reason.
“wanting to get it up” is not an excuse for unclear labeling. Is it?
Or in other words, you wanted people to see this lame design so they would get upset and fight it? Do you really think that manipulating the users of this blog is the best way? We’re all educated people here. Don’t try to pull one on us – we can safely leave that to the politicians.
X, I think if we want to understand what manipulation looks like, we might look at the way that you have transformed, through quick and easy “in other words” paraphrasing, my intention of having people discuss a design (which I never said was the final design) into a nasty manipulation to try to trick people into fighting against the new playground.
You seem to read these short postings with the assumption that I’m trying to trick people into going along with some nefarious agenda. Even when I don’t say something, you accuse me of not saying that thing in order to try to deceive and twist.
Has it not occurred to you, anonymous X, that I may merely have found an interesting, relevant video at 9:00 AM on a Saturday morning that I thought was worth sharing and might provoke healthy discussion about the playground at our local schools? If I did not write down every detail about this video, X, it’s because my three young children wanted to get outside to play with their visiting cousins on a warm, sunny springtime day, and I had several perennials waiting that needed to be planted before the sun got too hot. “Or, in other words,” I have a rather busy life outside Finding Ulysses.
I’m really not a very subtle person. If I thought that the new playground design was an unjust attack upon the integrity of our community, and everyone ought to come out to defend the old castle, I’d say so. I haven’t said anything of the sort, and that isn’t because I’m trying to be sly. It’s because, although I see a great value in the old playground, I’m open to the possibility that some factors may make it necessary to replace the playground.
In other words, I haven’t formed a definite opinion on the subject, X. I’m certainly not sneaking around under the anonymity of a pseudonym such as “Y” or “Z”. I don’t have anything to pull over on you.
Calm. Relax. Breathe deeply. It’s a playground design. Do YOU have an opinion about it?
Jonathan,
what is the purpose of the new playground?
To update for safety? Aluminum construction with powder coated materials?
I suppose there are several disadvantages of the present playground but I know that my own Grandchildren love this castle when they visit. It seems that the new design if indeed that is it in the video is quite unimaginative though it is very difficult to perceive what equipment is included. A friend of mine has been building i.e. assembling these aluminum types around the state and they have become very popular. I guess the treated wood systems require some updating especially since treated wood is now rather obsolete if made using arsenic. So I suppose that is one concern. Are you aware of the reasons for update?
To be honest, no. I’m not. I’m hoping that someone will enlighten me on this subject. I had suspected that there may have been a concern of toxic pressure treated wood, but I’m not certain that’s what’s going on.