Background/Similar Work
As I had mentioned before, the idea of an adult playground has been done before. This is easily seen in the initial example of Mesa Riverview Park, but it is also similarly seen in places like St. Louis, Missouri’s City Museum, which features large play structures within a museum setting.
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2015/06/city-museum/
This location is unique because it incorporates all of the features of a museum (history, learning, etc.) into an interesting and playful environment. And, Like Mesa Riverview, this location is designed for people of all ages to participate in its enjoyment.
These play structures, however, are far from perfect, thus this project. Mesa Riverview is open and inviting, but playing on the structures (to me) is a short fulfillment. You simply climb to the top of the structure, and then descend the structure. There is definitely more to do if you have the creativity and experience, but it’s not dynamic or engaging. While the City Museum fulfills a more creative aspect, it’s still a museum that requires paid entry. It is not a location that is easy to access on a regular basis because of this, so it does not continue long-term returns.
There are multiple ways that this can be combated, one of which is through the addition of more stimuli (in this case, sound). This can be seen through several studies, most notably in the popular project in Sweden that turned a set of stairs in the subway into a piano. In the video they posted to Youtube, it is easy to see that the stairs received far more use after being converted into a keyboard.
Similarly, Meagan Combs from DePauw University performed a similar study within her university. In her experiment, Combs discovered that her set of stairs were used far more frequently when they made music (either guitar strums or piano notes) than when they were silent.
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