Alphabet Playhouse
Our goal as designers is to create accessible playground environments where kids are free to play flexibly, naturally, and experientially. The “Alphabet Playhouse” was our February, 2017 entry for the sixth annual “Life of an Architect” Playhouse Design Competition!
We cut out openings out of a five foot cube so that each wall spells one letter of the word, “PLAY”. Then we patterned the walls of the cube d with the entire alphabet. As you walk around the structure you will understand the word, “PLAY”, in a new way.
Kids literally enter the house through the alphabet. When children play in the Alphabet Playhouse, they are inhabiting the alphabet literally, surrounding themselves with knowledge. This is Heuristic learning, a teaching method that encourages students to discover answers to questions and solve problems on their own. The word “heuristic” comes from the Greek word “heuriskein“, which means “to find out”.
We laser-cut the letters, which measure 3”x3” each, from 1/8” thick material and then glue them to a 3/4” structural substrate. A client can order the the object either in lacquered wood or painted acrylic, depending on the required level of durability. We clad the roof with galvanized metal.
At Fisher ARCHitecture, we’re writers as well as architects, so we’re a bit obsessed with words. For other Fisher ARCHitecture projects that involve text, check out our William and Mary Slavery Memorial and our Text Vase
Read More >Playground Design
Playgrounds these days look the same wherever you go, filled with generic plastic
equipment that you can only use in one way. Up the slide. Down the slide. Over and over.
Bea and I share the goal of providing the same thought to the design of playground equipment
that we give to our homes and public buildings.
There are as many potential playground designs as there are children. Architects who design for adults have lots to learn from kids. One thing about children: They are great at figuring out how to have fun! However, adults also love challenging, experientially powerful environments. At Fisher ARCHitecture, we say “no” to boring, generic architecture and “yes” to play and adventure!!!
