Lions Park | Tamborine Mountain, QLD

The intention was to create a playground that provided a variety of equipment pieces in natural materials that blended into the surrounding parkland and provided a series of challenging and engaging play opportunities for a variety of age groups.

Client: Scenic Rim Regional Council
Location: Tamborine Mountain, QLD
MODE Expertise: Landscape Architecture

AWARD
2019
Parks & Leisure Australia
Regional Awards of Excellence
Playspace Award (<$0.5M)

Lions Park | Tamborine Mountain, QLD

The playground and park upgrade at Lions Park, Tamborine Mountain was Scenic Rim Council’s most recent project as part of their 10 year, $2.5 million Playground Strategy.

Scenic Rim Regional Council approached MODE to collaborate with Playscape Creations to deliver an integrated nature-based playground that was incorporated within an existing open parkland. The intention was to create a playground that provided a variety of equipment pieces in natural materials that blended into the surrounding parkland and provided a series of challenging and engaging play opportunities for a variety of age groups. Collaboration with Council’s Access and Disabilities consultants has ensured the design meets the wide-ranging needs of members of the community with sensory processing and physical disabilities.

Being a sloping site, managing landform, levels and overland was always going to be a challenge. To reduce the cost and requirement for cut and fill, MODE carefully arranged the playground to build up organic soft fall depth instead of excavating. This reduced the need for costly and wasteful removal of soil from the site. This design approach also meant the playground could be split over a series of levels, breaking the overall space into a series of smaller ‘rooms’, giving children a sense of discovery and privacy. A dry creek bed, included aesthetically for nature play value, also ensures overland flow is captured and diverted around the playground rather than becoming an erosion hazard. Planting and sightlines were carefully considered, and large sandstone blocks were installed to allow surveillance and seating opportunities for parents and carers.

The success of meeting the brief is evident from the roadside where the playground sits comfortably within its surroundings and has proven a success in Council’s goal of delivering healthy active lifestyle opportunities for its communities.