Interview with Peter Trend on Seaside Estate

Beautiful new destination playground at Seaside Estate

Working closely with Plan E Landscape Architects, adventure+ designed the playground to complement this vibrant new play space. We interviewed Peter Trend, the senior landscape architect involved in the project to find out the thought behind the space. Read on to learn more!

A+. What were the key outcomes you wanted out of this project, and did you achieve it?

PT. To provide a combined primary school and community facility which could provide immediate recreation facility to the school and growing community, whilst allowing challenges to enable kids to advance further fine motor skills over time.

With ever shrinking backyard spaces, the large shade structure and BBQ facilities between the play space and oval enables families to spend longer outdoors and allowing the kids freer range to explore the space. The advent of COVID lockdowns revealed to the broader community how important these facilities are for our collective mental health.

A+. What is your favorite part of any or each of these playgrounds?

PT. As a community facility, the playground offers play opportunities for a range of age groups, primarily from toddlers through primary school ages, which allows smaller children to challenge themselves and grow every time they visit. The main tower structure is representative of this, with slides at three different heights, enabling children to work their way to the top as their confidence develops.

Being rewarded with the view over the POS, all the way to the Darling Scarp, and the enjoyment of the large twisting slide once they reach the top. I’ve tested this a number of times, in the name of quality control of course!

A+. What were some of the key challenges faced when designing the park?

PT. The site is co-located with the Madora Bay Primary School and as such need to facilitate school recreation requirements, along with providing amenity for the broader community. The retention of large mature Eucalyptus gomphocephala at the north and a vegetation buffer to the east the site challenged the design of a full sized junior AFL oval and cricket pitch, however these were orientated to ensure sufficient space for a range of school activities. The retention of trees provided a shaded space to incorporate a small informal pump track facility.

A+. Why did you choose to work with adventure+ on this project and how was your experience?

PT. We have previously undertaken projects with the adventure+ team with great results, and being Australian-owned and manufactured play components was an important consideration at the time of design and procurement. The uncertainty of availability and delivery of internationally manufactured items during initial Covid outbreaks posed added risk to an already impacted local market which we looked to avoid. The items were procured to ensure minimal project delays, and the result was items ready for installation almost simultaneously with site programme requirements.