Themed Environment
Where is it?
The National Maritime Museum, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the world’s largest maritime museum telling stories of Britain’s epic relationship with the sea – global exploration, cultural exchange and human endurance.
The brief
With play and education at the very heart of the museums culture, the aim of a new outdoor play experience was to further increase the offer and create a destination for families that will not only be a highlight of their first visit but work as a major draw to return to the museum time and time again.
Introduction
Fabled creatures and monsters are never far from a child’s imagination, so in this new adventure play space we created a scene straight out of a swashbuckling adventure!
During our research phase, we found stunning early maps in the museums collection. Where places were still ‘unexplored’ a sea monster was drawn to signal a warning for explorers. We built on this theme to create ‘The Shanty’ – On its perilous journey, discovering new lands which has sailed into the path of two giant sea monsters.
Accessible theming
With 85% of the finished play fully accessible to wheelchair users and more to those with additional needs, it’s our most inclusive adventure play yet. Over 100 hours of consultation with over 200 individual stakeholders from local SEND schools and groups helped design the play throughout.
The Play – The Attack of the Kraken
The theming starts as you cross the beach to face the dreaded Cutty Shark. A tyrant of an early years area, providing opportunity for small children to slide and climb through the sharks mouth into the belly of the beast! They can also make mystical music on the bespoke Xylo-bone – designed to look like a fish skeleton, leftover from the beasts’ lunch!
Giant Compass
This fully accessible roundabout uses Greenwich to strike a meridian across the play area. With colourful markings set into the surface of the roundabout and the safety surfacing beyond, fully integrating the theme.
Ship’s Wake
Using the ship’s wake, we created an accessible ramp to allow access to the upper level of the ship with play hot spots along the route. The Starfish Parade, a game designed for repetitive task-based play, for those with profound needs and a British Sign Language game.
The Shanty
Climb aboard the ship and explore play spaces above and below decks. With climbing, sliding and SEN play opportunities, The Shanty allows swashbucklers of all abilities to team up and repel the attack of the fabled Kraken!
A key feature is the multi-sensory captains table – an entirely bespoke interactive game – designed to match the layout of the play area itself, it caters for all abilities. Conceptually bringing an old maritime map alive in 3d, it has finger mazes, braille dominoes, to explain the table to those with partial or no sight, a sailing ship slider allowing visitors to plot their course from port to maritime destinations and every navigation aid any explorer could need.
The cargo hold below has pipe drum cannons, and a wall of barrels filled with a selection of contents to create depth, intrigue and excitement in the perfect place to hide from other explorers.
Tentacle Tube Slide
Feature porthole / sucker sized windows are present along the length of the slide as you descend to the turmoil of the wild seas below through the giant steel tube that mimics an attack on The Shanty from one of the Kraken’s tentacles. Once on terra firma visitors can return aboard via the barnacle climbing wall.
The Kraken
Rising from the depths to attack the explorers vessel, this giant beast provides tons of opportunity for physical and imaginative play. For the ghoulish, there’s the Krakens brain to play on. It’s 4ft long with neon blue blood vessels and hanging brain tentacles that visitors can swing on!
Tentacle Towers
An extension of the Kraken are the giant tentacled towers, where you can climb and wind your way through the multiple limbs.
Welcome to The Cove at The National Maritime Museum.
Inclusion
This is our most inclusive adventure play build to date, with 85% of the finished play accessible to wheelchair users and more to those with additional needs. There were more than 100 hours of consultation with over 200 individual stakeholders from local SEND schools and groups to help design the play.
Where is it?
The Royal Museums Greenwich. This is home to the Royal Observatory, the historic sailing ship Cutty Sark, the beautiful Queen’s House and the National Maritime Museum.
What makes it inclusive?
The stakeholder engagement touched every part of the design on the micro and macro scale. Wide design themes such as number, characteristics and location of access points to site right down to the smallest touches. We baked their thinking into the fabric of the playground making the SEN features inherent to the narrative of the play.
The whole ethos of the Royal Museums Greenwich is inclusivity and they challenged us to push new boundaries. The first six months of working on the project were all about listening, learning and understanding the needs of an amazingly diverse audience.
More than inclusive – Enjoy the journey AND the destination
One of the key feedbacks was that inclusivity can often mean token or inclusivity as an afterthought. A wheelchair user may access areas, but there is literally nothing to do on the way, or even when they get there.
Our aim was to overcome this to make the accessible ramps far more than dull straight motorway routes to the destination, but make the journey an integral part of the fun.
We’ve created play hot spots on the way, throughout the ramped areas. On the pirate ship, there is The Starfish Parade, a game designed for repetitive task-based play, for those with some of the most profound needs. There’s a ships bell, a giant ships wheel to allow you to take the helm and telescopes to watch for invaders amidships.
The surfaces change too, with a mesh floor to look down to the cargo hold and the players beneath, talking tubes between levels to give them instructions and do your bidding. And, the multi-sensory captains table. A super interactive game, designed to match the layout of the play area itself, it caters for all with every type of ability. Styled to bring an old maritime map alive in 3d, it has finger mazes, braille dominoes, to explain the table to those with partial or no sight, a moving sailing ship to take you from port to approach the Kraken and every navigation aid an explorer could need.
The Cargo hold in the bowels of the ship is every bit as accessible with pipe drum cannons, and a wall of barrels to create depth, intrigue and excitement in the perfect place to hide.
In addition, we’ve installed a fully accessible roundabout and a sunken trampoline, all beautifully themed. You can climb the Kraken and even the handholds are ultra high contrast yellow on grey. There’s a BSL (British Sign Language) game that introduces a non binary character to interact with.
The whole space has been co-created with our own design and build teams and the people who we’re hoping will love it and use it week in, week out.
As one final touch, We created the sea creatures that the stakeholders from the special school designed themselves and each of them are named on the sensory planting boxes, so they genuinely own the play. And for when it becomes too much, or you just need to chill, we used the alcove to become a chill out quiet space, where we have engraved sea shanties into the benches so everyone can have a sing song together.
Inclusive play is incredible. Children don’t see disabilities, they see that we have created the ability to play together with everyone, whatever their ability. Everything has been designed to get all abilities playing together. To be truly inclusive, everyone must come away with the same play experience, which means a playground should offer a level of challenge to ALL abilities including SEN users.
Welcome to The Cove at the National Maritime Museum.
