 |
| View of seating around trees, all weather music drums for the hearing impaired, and one of the hill slides. |
 |
| Overview of playground. The four light colored trees on far left are existing. All other trees will be added. |
 |
| Aerial view of blacktop in relation to playground |
 |
| Another aerial view that shows the topography change and view from neighboring homes. |
 |
| Playground showing relationship between Rock Boulders/Spiderweb Climber to the far hill. |
 |
| Stumps and logs will be near front path. Lots of trees for shade and relaxed play. |
 |
| Good view of valley between hill slide and tunnel. Bridge over tunnel is a destination point as well. |
 |
| Far right of design showing tunnel top as well as extra tables/seating area. |
 |
| Shed will contain all teacher materials necessary for an outdoor classroom. (Rolling white board, etc.) There will be seating for 30 children outside at the tables so classroom work may be done. |
 |
| Nice view of extra boulders/stones to climb/sit on and view of winding paths throughout design. |
 |
| View of the Amphitheater that will be graded down behind the first hill slide. Outdoor classroom potential as well as imaginative play for the children and seating for adults after school. |
 |
| Additional seating around tree and graded sand pit area at the far left of design to minimize sand exposure in the school. |
 |
| Entrance to playground. Upside down tree as well as a fence border that will be able to be climbed on and used as play. |
 |
| View of tunnel for the children. |
 |
| Close up view of Spiderweb Climber/boulders. |
That is AWESOME
ReplyDelete-Peyton Koltz
What a fantastic idea. It looks great and I know the kids will absolutely love it. Great job putting the photos together and showing us your plans. Thank You
-Dayna Mastalir
I have a few questions concerning this project such as what would be the cost of this project? Would more money need to be put into this project every year to keep it going? I’m all for education for kids but with this economy I’m sure that the money could be used elsewhere inside the school for upgrades (computers, tv‘s, educational fieldtrips etc.). Several years ago when my school did upgrades to their playground/park area, the school purchased the products (via donations) that they wanted put in the area and volunteers throughout the community came forward to make it all happen. This saved thousands of dollars and educated the kids that were helping if they put forth something they want, they can make it happen. To this day (over 20 years later) I still drive by the school and know that I made a permanent impact on the school. The school then used the extra money that was going to be spent for labor costs and purchased other upgrades inside the school. Don’t get me wrong, the pictures look very nice but with other countries already taking our jobs why is the Bienenstock Design and Consulting, Inc. from Canada designing this instead of a local company? There are several companies in the Green Bay area that would love the business and live in the area to admire the work than an out-of-country business.
ReplyDeleteGreat questions! First of all - thanks for looking at our project!
DeleteThe project will end up costing around $130K with no additional expenses for upkeep. (It will simply be part of the Green Bay public schools maintenance budget, like every other public school playground currently is.)
This will be like you mentioned for your other school. We will purchase the items we need to, and the community will install. This is unlike any other project currently in a Wisconsin public school. Almost all of the materials will be donated/purchased within a 45 minute drive of Green Bay, so very much local! We could not have a Natural Playground with materials that were not local! All of the construction/labor we hope to have donated by local construction companies. We only purchased the design portion from Bienenstock, which we have already paid for in full from previous fund raisers. (I believe the total was less than $7K.) That portion is set and done, but we needed their expertise because of the safety standard, ADA compliance, and issues that needed to be applied because we are a public school. There was no local company that had experience in something of this magnitude. The design blueprints are quite specific and will meet all standards. A local landscaping business, while probably designing a beautiful park, would not have been familiar with any of the requirements of a public school playground and a vote was taken and the PTO decided to pay Bienenstock for their consultation, design, and construction plans.
Now we busy raising funds, gathering local businesses, and putting all of this together. Some pieces will most definitely need to be ordered, for example the special mats that will go under the grass on the hills to make it handicap accessible. The grass will actually be grown through the mat, so the roots are protected. (It will allow lots of kids going up and down the hill while running/tromping/wheelchair access/etc. while protecting the hill's grass so it will remain grassy and not have worn spots or become a giant dirt pile!) But most material will be local, don't worry. If you know of someone/companies that are able to help, please, email me! One parent in our school has connections with a lumber company, so hopefully the two fallen trees will be donated and hopefully the wood for the tables/stumps/etc. We might also have a quarry donation, so hopefully our granite rocks to climb on will be donated as well. But please, if you have business connections, we'd love your help! Unlike a traditional metal playground, our plan LENDS ITSELF to the community giving donations and making it truly our own and unique. But please email again and if you want more specifics and to see the plan, let me know! We'd love to have more volunteers as our plan becomes reality.
Your Playground Plans look Awesome. I just wanted to let you know if you are ever in a need for some other sort of Fundraising Ideas I may be able to assist. Feel Free to request information and I will send it out to you. I donate 90-95% of my comission to organinations. We had a afterschool study group in Aburndale raise $875.00 for their group.
ReplyDeleteThank You and Good Luck on Your Playground.
Barbara Volkema - WicklessinGreenBay@gmail.com
920.435.5550
November 13, 2012 7:00 AM