2008 Woodie Awards
Playground upgraded, raises questions about cost
The Child Development and Family Center has new equipment for children to have fun and learn next to the Health and Occupations Building
Kathy Bray
Issue date:
10/24/07
Section:
News
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the Child Development
and Family Center's new
playground on the Olympic
College Bremerton campus
opened just in time for fall
quarter.
CDFC Director Rhodes
Lockwood said the destruction
of the Math/Science Building
necessitated the move since
the playground was adjacent
to the building. Lockwood
requested the move to Mike
Connolly, former vice president
of administrative services, who
quickly agreed to it before his
retirement in 2006. Connolly's
replacement, Barbara Martin,
took the project over from its
beginning stages.
The question then became,
where on the Olympic
College campus should the
new playground be built?
Lockwood said that in order
to submit a proposal, three
prospective sites had to be
identifi ed: the front parking
lot to the day care center, the
back parking lot, or the Barner
property - a home owned by
the Bremer Trust north of the
Health Occupations Building.
The Barner property was
quickly ruled out due to the
expense of developing the
property that included rolling
hills and in depth landscaping.
"The front parking lot was
critical to construction," Martin
said.
"Trucks needed that
road to drive up next to the
Math/Science Building."
This left the back parking
lot to the daycare center as
the prime location for the
new playground.
Martin headed the department
in charge of funding
what would become a large
investment in play-based
learning - priceless in the
eyes of the children who
play there.
S.M. Stemper Architects
in Seattle designed the playground.
Lockwood worked
closely with them to come
to an agreement on the
design.
"When designing we had
to think of risk issue and
prevention. Two ways to
teach risk: protect children
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