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ABOVE: An
aerial view of the entire playground.
ABOVE: A sandbox isn't just a sandbox anymore. This is part
of the paleontological "dinosaur dig" at the playground.
ABOVE: Students at the school demonstrate how to unearth the
dinosaur beneath the sand, and get first-hand experience of what paleontologists do when
discovering fossils.
ABOVE: This is the section of the playground enclosing the dinosaur
dig.
ABOVE: Students also have an opportunity to practice their
horticulturing skills in the landscape bed near the playground equipment. Note the
signs posted on the edges of the flower bed, one of which is featured below.
ABOVE: This sign at the edge of the flower bed reads, "Roses
are Red, Violets are Blue, You Wouldn't Like it, If I Stepped On You!" Students
who spend weeks nurturing their plants make a point to warn others who might trample the
plants.
ABOVE: This is a sample of some of the concrete detail found at the
playground. These heiroglyphic-type impressions adorn the end of the amphitheater.
ABOVE: The sundial and ampitheater in the north section of the
playground serves as an astronomy education tool. See below.
ABOVE: This snaked path of colored concrete includes each letter of
the English alphabet, along with simulated footprints of different animals such as
raccoons (shown above).
ABOVE: Part of the sundial display helps students learn the
astronomy of the different phases of the moon.
ABOVE: The planets of our solar system are represented by these
brass inlays. The inlays are proportionately located inside the sundial in relation
to their distance from the sun
ABOVE: The center of the sundial is this display showing the four
seasons in Spanish. |
OWNER
Poudre School District R-1LOCATION
Fort Collins, CO
PROJECT MANAGER
John Sinnett
PROJECT SUPERVISOR
Jeff Sinnett
PROJECT VALUE
$379,000
ARCHITECT
RB+B, Inc.
ADDITIONAL FACTS
This project included a remodeled computer lab
inside the school and a spectacular new playground: the first of its kind in the Poudre
School District. The entire playground is oriented towards educational purposes;
students play and learn at the same time.
To begin this project, the old playground
consisting of log-type playground equipment and gravel was completely removed. The
Team at Sinnett Builders started from scratch to complete the new playground in an
astonishing 10 weeks. The project integrated new
playground equipment from the Denver-based Miracle Recreation Equipment Company, requiring
careful coordination efforts from Sinnett Builders to help install the equipment into the
total playground foundation and design. The area near the playground equipment is
also designed for access by handicapped children, which includes rubberized surfaces
(built into the concrete) in some areas.
Other features of the playground include
grassed areas and other landscaped beds where students grow flowers and other plants.
Part of the learning experience for
students at the playground involves the geology exhibits. Giant boulders near the
dinosaur dig were specifically requested. To teach students about Rocky
Mountain-area geology, especially as it pertains to Colorado's rich paleontological
history, the playground includes five specific specimens of rock each weighing at least
two tons:moss rock, black monsonite (from Golden), red glaciated granite, white glaciated
granite (a seven-ton specimen from Wheatland, Wyoming), and red sandstone.
Part of the playground is designed to teach
astronomy. A giant sundial and amphitheater is the center of a myriad of
demonstrative exhibits. These exhibits include inlays in the colored concrete for
different phases of the moon, the changing seasons, and the planets of our solar system.
The sundial features the names of the four
seasons in Spanish, while different phases of the moon are shown in coordination with
their location around a twelve-sectioned arc. Other features include brass inlays
for each planet in the solar system spread among the sundial in proportion to their actual
distance from the sun.
A curvy, colored-concrete walkway
connecting the overlook and the amphitheater features each letter of the English alphabet
and "footprints" of various Rocky Mountain wildlife including bears, elk, deer,
moose, turtles, snakes, raccoons, grouse, and others. When veiwed from a distance,
the curved pathway with its different shades of colored concrete takes on the shape of a
diamondback rattlesnake.
Another section of the playground serves as
the paleontological exhibit where students can unearth a scaled-down version of a
stegasaurus in a sand pit "dinosaur dig." Around the dinosaur dig are live
tree species selected for their known existence in the Rocky Mountain region during the
Jurassic and Mesozoic periods.
Other features of the playground include
lessons in the color wheel, as the benches located near the basketball courts are painted
in primary colors and having supports painted with the secondary colors in between each
primary color.
In all, the Harris Bi-Lingual Immersion
School project is the most original and integrated learning playground of its type.
Sinnett Builders, having been given only ten weeks to raze the old playground and
complete the new one, finished the project on-time, on-budget, and without having missed
any of the numerous details included in this unique project.
This project for our repeat-client, the
Poudre School District R-1, is one of which we are especially proud. |
