Vertical Play Farm

So you’re going to improve your local playground. What’s your great idea?

Since 2010, Architecture for Humanity Chicago has been hosting an annual design competition, ACTIVATE!, challenging designers to re-imagine public space on a $1,000 budget. The Vertical Play Farm is the winning entry from our 2012 competition. It blends typical playground equipment with vertical gardening. By combining these two elements, a new type of interaction is created between children and gardening, making gardening fun and learning hands on. We also envision the Vertical Play Farm will create excitement and interest within the local community. Kids, parents and grandparents will visit the Vertical Play Farm together, to not only play but also check on the fruits, vegetables and flowers they planted.

Which local nonprofit, school, or park district will you work with, and how will you work with them to choose a playground for the project?

Legends South is one of the largest revitalization efforts ever undertaken in the City of Chicago. Central to this ambitious and comprehensive plan is the integration of the development site with the surrounding community. Working with nonprofit Michaels Development and the Legends South residents, Vertical Play Farm is the iconic place-maker of a community garden that has been planned by the residents and will help establish the first phase of public green space for this development.

How will you involve local volunteers in the playground project?

Residents have been part of the garden planning, development and construction process since the inception and assisted with the selection of Vertical Play Farm as the winning entry. The residents will contribute to the build weekend in late summer 2012 which will erect the structure in the community garden. We anticipate the residents will maintain the structure; watering the plants and tending to the vertical greenery, while the children we be playfully engaged with the structure and slides.

Tell us about the kids that will be using the playground.

The youth that will be using the playground come from a cross section of Chicago socio-economic backgrounds, from below the poverty line to solidly middle class and will be predominately African-American. A communal gathering space where families of all types can gather, play and grow is necessary to reverse the stigma and segregation of this former notorious public housing site.