HERO Playground

This project was the first in a long series of works completed in conjunction with the burgeoning Greensboro non-profit, HERO. The playground was meant to act as a community “backyard,” specifically due to its proximity to the Hale County Department of Human Resources. With the intent of making the space not only fun but also functional the team worked hard to research what material decisions would allow for children to feel most comfortable. They found that elements that appeared to occur naturally would instill both a sense of ease in their safety, and excitement in their experience. Thus the site was thoroughly graded to create grass-covered rolling mounds, whose valleys and peaks define circulation. The mounds were then tunneled through with industrial cylinders large enough to for children to crawl inside of. Finally, an array of telephone poles, wood slatted walls, and even a tire swing organize the playground around a central activity core. As HERO continued to grow, it became important that this facility was able to accommodate that expansion. For this reason, a large city block was left to the south of the site towards downtown. This later became home to another Rural Studio contribution, the HERO Children’s Center.

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