Seniors Lara Fling, Emily Neymeyer and Brian Burtch are architecture majors and have been friends since their sophomore year at Ohio State.
The three recently collaborated to create an interactive playground using sustainable materials for the Early Childhood Learning Center in Upper Arlington - a playground with plenty of shade, an underground tunnel and lots of moveable fun.
They came in second place Wednesday in the art/architecture portion of the 12th Annual Denman Undergraduate Research Forum for their abstract titled "Early Childhood Learning Center: Experiential Outdoor Learning Environment."
They plan to use sustainable materials such as recycled plastics, synthetic wood and steel to build the playground. They said the materials are meant to evoke a natural feeling, blending into the existing landscape of ECLC and recreating the atmosphere within the rainforest ecosystem.
Neymeyer said children at ECLC range in age from 12 months to six years, and 30 to 40 percent of the kids have disabilities. They wanted the architecture of the playground to accommodate the diversity of the children at the center and address the teachers' concerns.
Fling said they have been working on the design since the beginning of the quarter under their adviser, Lisa Tilder, associate professor in the Knowlton School of Architecture.
"We actually received a grant to build it," Burtch said.
Neymeyer added that with Tilder's help they received a $50,000 excellence and engagement grant from OSU two weeks ago to fund the project.
Fling, Neymeyer and Burtch said they first researched other playground designs and structural artwork before coming up with their own.
Burtch designed what he called "In the Tree Canopy: Red Monkey Jungle," which is a treelike environment that provided ample shade and activities for the children. Neymeyer designed "Plug-in Play: Flexible Outdoor Play Center," which resembles a jungle gym and has moveable walls made of different materials to help develop the children's motor skills. Fling designed "The Jungle Hut - Interacting With the Walls," which has blocks that interact with the walls of the hut.
There were things the parents and teachers at the school liked about each project, so using Burtch's initial theme, they redesigned it to incorporate all the designs.
Burtch said this could be an ongoing project future architecture students could add to. He said they do not get a chance to do a lot of hands-on work in the architecture program.
"We don't really get to do this in the architecture program, so we wanted to start," Neymeyer said.
Diana Norwood can be reached at norwood.27@osu.edu.
Be the first to comment on this article!