Botanic Garden Children’s Center Playscape
A nature-based playscape extends the center's Reggio-Emilia-inspired philosophy beyond the classroom, encouraging curiosity, creativity, and child-led exploration.Located on Harvard University’s Cambridge campus, the Botanic Gardens Children’s Center was looking to transform its 5,000 SF outdoor play areas for toddlers and preschoolers into a more natural play space with more opportunities for the 62 children to explore. Our landscape department worked with the staff and director to reinvent the play area as a place to discover nature and explore, bringing their Reggio-Emilia-inspired teaching approach outdoors.
Client
Harvard University
Location
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Services
Landscape Architecture
Size
5,000 sq ft
Reimagining the Existing Play SpaceThe Botanic Gardens Children’s Center was built for Harvard in 1999 on a site that was once a botanical garden for Harvard University. Prior to renovation, the outdoor space included play elements for climbing, riding trikes, and sand play but did not encourage in-depth sensory or creative play. A chain-link fence divided the space, creating circulation issues and inhibiting its free flow.
The renovation transformed the play area into a natural environment for toddlers and preschoolers, integrating play structures seamlessly and creating more opportunities for creative, messy, child-centric play.
Bringing a Reggio-Emilia-Inspired Approach OutdoorsReflective of the center’s Reggio-based program, a central pergola provides a gathering space for school gatherings and outdoor classroom activities while supporting clear teacher supervision of the entire play space. A natural “dry stream,” filled with sand and fed by a water pump, is shaded by birch trees and encircled by a trike track loop with an arched bridge over the stream.
An additional water spray feature within the sand play area provides a place to cool off during the summer while allowing for continued exploration of water, sand, and mud.
In 2021, our team also designed a sensory and natural play environment for infants and toddlers on the Center’s upper deck.
