Claimed as the largest known volunteer-built playground in the world
If a young boy or girl were describing Play Planet, he or she just might say, “This playground has the most.” Indeed, Play Planet might have the most of any playground in the world. Playground giant GameTime claims Play Planet, located in Westland, MI, is the largest community-built playground known to exist in the world. Play Planet is in Westland’s Tattan Park.
Just how much is the most?
The playground covers an enormous 200-by-125-foot use zone (or 25,000 square feet). Yeah, that’s pretty big.
Play Planet was a collaborative project between the city of Westland, GameTime, and GameTime’s local representative, Sinclair Recreation.
The playground was built over a three-day period—Oct. 22-25, 2008—with the help of 300 members of the local community. Led by GameTime staff and installation professionals, along with the hundreds of volunteers gathered to assemble the system, the playground equipment arrived in five semi-trucks and included 212 upright posts and almost 200 decks. Given that the average play system utilizes 5-8 decks points out the enormous scale of this project.
Humble Beginnings
Play Planet didn’t necessarily start out as the world’s largest playground during the design and planning stages. But that was the end result.
Diane Sinclair, who along with her husband Richard owns Sinclair Recreation, explained, “No one actually asked for it to be the biggest playground in the world. Once I created the design, I just could not bear to cut it back.”
Sinclair pointed out that a lot of things had to fall in place for this particular playground to come together. It wasn’t like Westland had unlimited funds. And something of this scale was going to need a lot of volunteers to see it to fruition. “GameTime was incredibly generous and offered a substantial discount to make the project possible at this size,” Sinclair said. “GameTime came through with the discount. They deserve all the credit.”
The playground features a space theme and includes ramps throughout to accommodate people of all abilities. The play area also includes swings, spinning Sky Runners, and GameTime’s futuristic Xscape play products.
Sinclair said she had a specific purpose in mind when she began the work of designing Play Planet, a name given to the playground by the city of Westland, a city of 81,283 people located between Detroit and Ann Arbor. “I started the design with the intent to make the entire structure accessible via ramps from the ground level to the highest 8-foot deck,” she said. “I have a passion for designing playgrounds where all children of all abilities, with their parents or grandparents can play and interact together. This structure allows the 7-year-old to run and climb to the highest deck height and have their 87-year-old grandma walk up there to meet him at the top. There is nothing more frustrating than taking your child or grandchild to the park and then having to sit on the side watching them play because you can’t be part of the fun.”
Personal Interest
Sinclair admits she might have had her own children in mind when she was designing Play Planet. “I got to designing and got a little carried away,” Sinclair said. “I have three kids of my own and know what they like to play on. They love to go from deck to deck to climber to slide—all without touching the ground. I wanted to do that on a grand scale. This is the largest interconnected structure I have ever designed. In fact, it was so large, our rendering software could not handle it.”
Sinclair Recreation also sent over supervisors at a much-reduced rate so I could keep the integrity of the design intact.
Designing the world’s largest playground is one thing. Putting it all together was entirely different. And while organizing such a community effort is mammoth, the benefits are obvious. As GameTime pointed out, “Community build projects like this allow community members to have a direct hand in the development and betterment of their communities.”
Sinclair explained, “The City of Westland sent out a request for proposal for a $250,000 playground with the title Play Planet. The price was for the equipment and supervision only. All other aspects were going to be taken care of by the city.” And that included organizing an army of volunteers to assemble the playground equipment.
Can Do Attitude
Some said such a project couldn’t be done in just a few days but that it would take weeks.
Sinclair begged to differ. She said, “After Westland decided to award the project to GameTime and Sinclair Recreation, one of the competitors told the city that this structure could not be built in one week. It simply could not be done. We disagreed.”
She continued, “Due to GameTime’s design with all the holes pre-drilled and engineered at the factory, the installation went very smoothly. GameTime very generously sent out some designers and engineers to help with the process. Sinclair Recreation sent over five people to help with the supervision of the volunteers from Westland. The City of Westland provided their people and the community turned out in droves. It was the perfect mix and we were done in four days. We even got the surfacing installed on Friday before it started to rain. All this and done a day ahead of time.”
A number of local businesses provided volunteer labor as well as provisions like food and refreshments. Richard Kosowski, a UPS employee volunteer said, “I can’t believe how quickly it came together. I thought it would take 2-3 weeks when I saw all the equipment lying around. I built a much smaller one in my neighborhood and it took much longer. Everything was so organized.” Kosowski has five kids and will be taking them to the park regularly.
“GameTime was thrilled to be involved with a community build effort of this size,” Anne-Marie Spencer, Director of Marketing for GameTime, said. “Many thought this project was too large to be built by volunteers, so we were excited to be able to help it come to fruition.”
Spencer added, “GameTime is excited about the build and helping hundreds of community volunteers to build this gigantic play space. This one marks the largest volunteer-built play space in the world, so we are thrilled to see it come to life.”
The Organizer
Sinclair said one of the keys to such a successful build was Bob Kosowksi, director of parks for the City of Westland. “Bob was in charge of this entire project and did a fantastic job at organizing everything and everyone,” she said.
Even months after the project’s completion, Sinclair still seems amazed at how well it all came together. “I have been designing and building playgrounds for 19 years now and I have never, I repeat never, had a project that ran so smooth,” Sinclair said. “Everyone did their part, everyone pitched in, everyone had a good attitude and it came together beautifully. The weather could have been a little warmer, but even that did not present a problem, as the City of Westland Park guys brought in portable heaters and draped tarps up to block the wind. I would gladly do this all over again.”
Sinclair, who has been in the playground business for years and owner of Sinclair Recreation emphasized that it’s not just the size of Play Planet that she is proud of, but what it represents for people of all abilities as well. “I personally hope that people come from all over Michigan to see the playground and get inspired to build a Universally Accessible playground in their community,” she said. “You don’t have to have $250,000 to do it, you can build a really nice accessible playground for around $25,000. It’s all about being creative, using the right products, and putting the time into a great design.
“It was just such an amazing playground with such great play value for all children of all abilities, it just had to be built.”
