Halve It Component:
My design project focuses heavily on the Wellness pillar of our school’s framework.

• Wellness is the active, conscious pursuit of activities, choices, and lifestyles that lead to holistic health and well-being. Unlike health, which is a state of being, wellness is a continuous, self-directed process of evolving, self-stewardship, and maximising your personal potential. This is essential for students in Middle School. Because it establishes a vital, reciprocal foundation for academic and personal success. When students feel physically healthy, mentally supported, and emotionally connected to their school environment, they possess the resilience and focus required to thrive.

Sustainable Development Goal:
SDG 3: Good Health And Wellbeing
The Ultimate Play Space meets SDG3 (Good Health and Wellbeing) . It changes an average boring playground into a Middle School haven that will make the students have fun and explore a new type of play that will engage adolescents. It’s proven that by creating spaces where teens can play in ways that feel authentic to them, helps them build resilience, develop critical problem solving skills, nurture healthy relationships and decrease stress and anxiety. 

School Context:

If you look closely at our new school design, there is a big problem, there are no adolescent play spaces. This is forcing Middle School students to be bored, having nothing to do. Play spaces help up to 73% of adolescents to interact with peers and decrease stress and anxiety.

While we’re in Middle School, where our brains are developing faster than ever, is a main reason to have adolescent play spaces because play spaces also promote the growth of new brain cells  so the brain can absorb and retain new information and it primes brain cells to change when new information is included.

Liveability:

How do we increase the school´s liveability using play spaces? 

Before we learn about that we need to know, what is liveability? Liveability is the degree to which a place, community, or property supports the wellbeing, health, and overall quality of life for its residents.

So how do we increase the school´s liveability using play spaces? 

 We would design to increase high capacity and active play, designing it with dedicated high-speed zones (like climbing towers and agility webs) to keep intense movement separated from slower-paced foot traffic to prevent injuries. Painted asphalt tracks, hopscotch, and horizontal climbing walls encourage continuous movement, helping hundreds of students burn energy quickly during short recess breaks. Open synthetic turf or rubber zones allow for spontaneous, unstructured games like tag or touch football without the need for strict sports field boundaries.

We would also design it to improve social connection and emotional reset. So we would design it with shaded pods, built-in timber amphitheatre steps, and "buddy benches" that offer safe spaces for students to chat, rest, or de-escalate if they feel overwhelmed. Features like nest swings, commercial-grade musical instruments (e.g., outdoor xylophones), and giant strategy games (e.g., four-square or chess) invite students of all physical abilities to interact. Sensory areas using sand, water-play pumps, smooth boulders, and log balances allow students to disconnect from screen-based learning and ground themselves in tactile play.

Blue Zones:

How do we connect Blue Zones in our play space? First we need to know what Blue Zones are. Blue Zones are five specific regions around the world (Italy, Greece, Japan, Costa Rica and the United States) where people live measurably longer, healthier lives, frequently reaching the age of 100 with low rates of chronic disease.

 So how do we mix Blue Zones with our play space?

Firstly, by connecting Blue Zones with play spaces would mean designing environments where students can move naturally so we would replace the flat, boring concrete with grassy mounds, climbing logs, and boulder scrambles that force the students to use core strength and balance naturally. Provide stumps, branches, and blocks that students must lift, carry, and build with, mimicking the functional daily labor of Blue Zone centenarians. Ring the play space with a dedicated walking or running track for students and teachers to use for quick movement breaks.

Secondly, we also would design the play space to reduce stress and increase mindfulness. So we would design calm corners with native plants and soft seating where overstimulated students can regulate their emotions. Build shaded seating circles using logs or stones to easily transition traditional lessons into the fresh air, reducing cortisol levels. Incorporate low platforms or sit-spots that require kids to squat and sit on the ground, promoting joint mobility.

Thirdly, we would design the play space to help increase social connection by choosing wide slides, basket swings, and group spinners that require cooperation and help isolated students find a peer group. Creating welcoming shaded seating hubs designed for conversation, allowing students to practice empathy and build social networks.

Finally we would design the play space to help increase healthy food connections by placing raised vegetable beds and fruit trees right next to the play space so students interact with growing food. Install highly visible, filtered water-refill hubs to make choosing water over sugary drinks the easiest option.

How might we design a play space for adolescents that decreases student’s stress and anxiety, builds resilience and nurtures healthy relationships?

The Ultimate Play Space is an idea to build a play space for adolescents to feel like they belong and are having fun.

There are a number of features of The Ultimate Play Space. Firstly, it would feature a large, grassy area. This would let the students run around and have lots of space for free play and movement. In the area, there would be a rope climbing tower and climbing webs so students can climb, providing crucial developmental benefits for the students by promoting physical strength, cognitive problem-solving and emotional resilience. This will be made out of rope and recycled, spare or donated metal mainly steel.

There would also be a fort that looks something like the image to the left, but a bit taller with a slide and monkey bars added.

A fort like this would offer more than just play, it will provide a crucial environment for physical, mental, and social development, especially for adolescents who are navigating through puberty and increased stress and anxiety levels. This would  be made out of spare, recycled or donated wood like timber.

We would also add a balancing log to encourage physical growth. This would be made out of recycled or donated timber or any spare pieces of wood.

 We would also add some hammocks providing students with a place to just sit down and chill if they feel overwhelmed. This would be made out of spare, recycled or donated fabric and ropes.

Another element would be swings to help students with balance and spatial awareness. This Nest Swing would provide students with a sturdy, comfortable space to relax, decompress, and regulate their sensory systems and allow students to swing with friends. The materials to make this would be spare, recycled or donated tyres and some rope.

There would also be a rock climbing area under the ramp in the rainforest where students could rock climb along the underside of the ramp. This utilises a space that often becomes wasted in buildings, repurposing it for a fun, engaging activity. The materials to make this would be recycled or donated climbing studs and some recycled, spare or donated polyurethane foam.