Every city needs a place where children can play and explore, but not every community has the resources to create innovative spaces. The Richard Krajicek Foundation seeks to address this issue by hosting an annual competition to reward innovative, sustainable playground concepts. The winner of the 2012 Richard Krajicek Founation Playground Award, “Into the Wild” is a concept created by OpenFabric and dmau, which marries the wilderness with a man-made play area for a playground with something that will stimulate every mind.

The Into the Wild playground features an urban exterior enveloping a natural interior. The exterior includes structured play areas for sports, games and exercise. This exterior forms a ribbon-like border around the interior, which is left in a more natural state with trees, dirt and natural formations. The result is an area that allows children to “move between the natural world and the man made world,” according to OpenFabric, who feels that forming and understanding about the juxtaposition between nature and the man-made world is essential to sustainability and important for every child to experience.

Into the Wild is the brainchild of Francesco Garofalo and Barbara Costantino from Openfabric and Daryl Mulvihill at dmau. As the recipient of first prize, Into the Wild will receive a 5000-euro grant and construction assistance.

+ Richard Krajicek Foundation

+ dmau

+ OpenFabric