koh rong island, cambodia
playscape
Project Length: 6 weeks
Project Team: Harrison Marshall, Alden Ching, Huan Xie, Arran Thomas, Samantha Litherland, Alastair Howard, Rosie Hanks, Lauren Maw, Ayman Khan, Andrea Zorbis, Joshua Peasley, Lily Traynor, Federico Lippi
Project Partners: Friends Of Koh Rong
Sustainable Development Goals Met:
PLAYSCAPE is a creative play and learning space that we designed and built for the local school on the beautiful island of Koh Rong off the coast of Cambodia. The design combines 3 elements: a playground, a semi enclosed space to read, relax and draw, and a shelter to protect a sculptural fish provided by Caribou through a winning competition entry. Our scheme unites all three parts into a simple and effective design.
Children from the ages of 5 - 15 attend the school and currently have no space to call their own. Everywhere that they used to spend their days playing and socialising with friends has recently been taken over by the influx of tourism, guesthouses, and the bars that come with them. The space we are creating becomes more than just a playground, but somewhere they can always go knowing they are safe.
Due to the rapid increase in tourism and the economy there is also a rise in jobs on the island. The school provides the necessary education and teaches the students to speak English so that they can obtain these jobs themselves and maintain their traditions and culture. We hope our playground will help the children to explore their own creativity through playing and learning, something that can be easily lost without a place to express their ideas.
