Ralph Klein Park Natural Playground
Client | City of Calgary
Status | Complete
Project Type | Natural Playground
Ralph Klein Park is an Environmental Education Centre with a primary focus on water quality and preservation, surrounded by constructed stormwater wetlands. City of Calgary Parks, with the support of TD Bank through the Common Ground Project, initiated the natural playground project to support programming and educational activities through play. The goals of the playground were to inspire active and creative outdoor play as well as connect people to nature. The design focused on a watershed theme - telling the story of how water moves from the mountains, through the foothills and to the prairies in southern Alberta.
The natural playground components include a mountain climbing structure with slide, log climber with net, log steppers, log nests for creative play (ropes, twigs, recycled materials), a zip line, informal trails for exploration, berms and a sand play area. A new pathway alignment, picnic area and central gathering space with boulder seating were also implemented on-site.
*photos courtesy of earthscape
