Wednesday, November 3: Grounds For Play
With Mariana Mogilevich, Julia Jacquette, Marie Warsh, & Chat Travieso
How does the design of your childhood environment affect you?
Does it help to shape how you think?
Does beautiful design teach us?
Can it embody ideas that extend beyond aesthetics?
This coming Wednesday at 7pm, we are excited to announce we will be gathering three authors to discuss the design and experience of public space through the
prism of the playground in New York, specifically through the story of the
experiments with groundbreaking adventure playgrounds under the Lindsay
administration.
Each has written about this topic in their books:
Mariana Mogilevich, the Editor in Chief of Urban Omnibus, wrote about the landscape architect Paul Friedberg and his work on adventure playgrounds such as Riis Park Plaza (demolished in 2000) in her book The Invention of Public Space (read Palmyra Geraki’s review of the book, from Issue 16)
Julia Jacquette, an artist, wrote a graphic novel, Playground of My Mind, about growing up with adventure playgrounds - including one that her father, an architect, helped design. The questions at the beginning are pulled from her book, which was also reviewed in The New York Times.
Marie Warsh, the Historian of the Central Park Conservancy, wrote the authoritative history of adventure playgrounds in Central Park, Central Park’s Adventure-Style Playgrounds (interview by the Gotham Center here).
Chat Travieso, an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Columbia GSAPP as well as co-founder of the multidisciplinary collaborative practice Yeju & Chat, will be moderating.
We are co-hosting the event with Urban Omnibus at Head Hi Bookstore in Brooklyn at 14 Clermont Ave.
For those further away, you may also join by zoom.
Please register here: nyra.nyc/rsvp
And we look forward to seeing you!
ps
Here are a few replies from the registration form so far on their favorite playground memories and aspirations...
“I wish there were more spaces for adults to utilize the city like kids are able
to on playgrounds and splash pads!”
“Running around with my kids on the OUTSIDE of the short stone walls at
"Wood Playground" at 110th and Lenox.”
“As a kid I really enjoyed Riverbank State Park. It was not just a playground,
it almost felt like a theme park. There are fields, playgrounds, a skating rink,
a pool. Enough room to really spread out from the usual confines of the city
block.”
Four desk editors run NYRA: Alex Klimoski, Phillip Denny, Carolyn Bailey & Nicolas Kemper (who also serves as the publisher).
To pitch us an article or ask us a question, write to us at: editor@nyra.nyc.
For their support, we would like to thank the Graham Foundation and our issue sponsors, Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, Thomas Phifer, and Stickbulb.
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