pod playground

Doesn't Pod Playground, by architects and urban designers Taylor Cullity Lethlean, makes you want to be a kid again?

A play space designed for Australia's new National Arboretum in Canberra, Pod Playground's fanciful structures are inspired by the 100 forests of rare and endangered trees from around the world that are the focus of this important cultural institution. As TCL explains:

The opportunity to design a play space as part of the 100 forests facility offered an opportunity to creatively engage children with the beauty of trees and we hope, foster a life-long connection to this remarkable environment.

Using the idea of seeds as the beginning life amongst the forest, children and their families can enter a fantasy world of exaggerated scales. A play space with giant acorns floating in the sky, and enormous banksia cones nestled on the forest floor.

The design recognises that play is a vital social development and educational tool for children of all ages, and is particularly important when it assists in forming relationships to its landscape, climate and surrounding context. The world amongst the giant seeds aims to stimulate spontaneity and creativity, to foster the imagination and to challenge and encourage confidence with growth.

(Photography by Brett Boardman and Gemma Fennell. Via Contemporist)