Overview
schoolyard
Client
The Hague Municipality
Assignment
Design a schoolyard for the Daltonschool De Vijver in The Hague, The Netherlands.
Design
The ultimate design was developed in such a way that the schoolyard has become a public space for the neighbourhood. Only a 44 metre-long, curved wooden bench separates the schoolyard from the street. The bench has multiple uses: parents can wait on the bench for their children; children play there during school time; it’s a meeting place for parents from the neighbourhood; and young people can hang out there for a while in the evening.
Underneath the bench the street runs into the schoolyard, which consists of asphalt sloping in different directions. It gives go-karts, tricycles and roller skates more speed, and the hills are fun to play on. They have been very successful at encouraging play. And, of course, no schoolyard is complete without a chestnut tree. It constitutes a green, lively element in the yard and has been chosen so that children can gather chestnuts in the autumn.
