Starting school this year was exciting for students at the Genazzano FCJ College Early Learning Centre as the 2013 group was the first to experience this amazing new purpose-built facility that includes a completely new outdoor play environment, new play rooms and a refurbished library.

Jeavons Landscape Architects collaborated with Genazzano staff and H2o Architects to design this rich and complex outdoor area that supports the early learning program. This is a constrained site with complex site levels, and the Jeavons team aimed to maximise the natural qualities of the space for children’s engagement while allowing as much room as possible for running, climbing, sand play, sensory play and play with loose materials.

We worked closely with H2o Architects to ensure that the outdoor area complemented the building and connected seamlessly with the indoors. The construction of the building and outdoor area was managed by 2Construct.

The quality of materials and workmanship has created an outstanding end result. Benjamin Gilbert designed and built the galvanized cubby which is a centre piece of the area.

Jeavons recently completed two playgrounds in Karratha, Western Australia. 
 
The first project, Bulgarra Public Open Space, was part of a Masterplan to improve the play facilities in the reserve. The playground added value to the existing sporting fields, tennis and netball courts. Custom designed play structures and cubbies were constructed by Earthcare, Living Iron and Forpark.
 
The second project is located in a new sub division and is tagged as the new outdoor space for locals. Baynton West Adventure Playground is located adjacent to a park with a running track, exercise equipment and ball courts. The accessible play space caters for all
ages and boasts a custom designed (near full sized) dump truck, artwork, sand  play areas, net structure, multi-directional swing and a 30m long double flying  fox. Planting will add character and shade to the play space over time, whilst  shade and communal areas are plentiful. The playground was officially opened by Regional Development and Lands Minister Brendon Grylls on October 7 2012. The playground has been officially called Mara Guthurra Adventure Playground. 

Jeavons designed and documented both play space designs and was well supported by Emerge &
Associates during the construction period  on the Baynton West Project.

Glenallen school have just celebrated the opening of their very special new playground. The school caters to students with a physical disability or health impairment and many of the students are in wheelchairs. The new playground has been custom designed by Jeavons to be accessible to all.  It is a place for learning and play with the aim that all students have the opportunity to experience fun & friendship.
The design is based around a story called “Let’s Play …” and features many different areas where children can let their imagine run wild – driving the train & pulling the whistle, inside the helicopter , exploring the cave, camping in a tee pee, at a beach or even flying to the moon.   
The school has pursued their vision for this project for many years so it was a great joy to see the students finally enjoying this wonderful space.

Interactive musical sculptures were created by Herb Jercher and quirky imaginative artworks by James Cattell including the interactive rocket ship. Customised play equipment was constructed by Allplay and the head contractor was Gemcan Constructions.

We had the pleasure of working very closely with Whites beach community as well as the team at Surf Coast Shire in creating this very unique playground.  The design team from Jeavons Landscape architects who collaborated closely with artists, community groups, Council and the Wathaurung Aboriginal Corporation to create an accessible foreshore play space for children of all ages. 

The community embraced the project right from the start and were instrumental in bringing together the cultural heritage of the site, indigenous themes and the beauty of the existing landscape.

The playground has many layers of information expressed through beautiful art works created and designed by local artists and the community. In particular we would like to recognise YUM Design (Kirsty Manger and Lee Goller) who created all of the ceramic installations, Kyla Vinton for the mosaic installations and Glenn Romanis for the timber turtle and egg sculptures.

Take a trip to Torquay and try out the unique play elements as and explore the educational art trail.