Venture Centre Notting Hill

London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

In close consultation with staff and children at this playground, APES designed and built under- and over-8 play areas. The site includes a wheelchair-accessible wobbly bridge, slides, towers, walkways, a tango swing, lookout points, plus a high Wendy house with perspex windows for under-5s. One of the bridges is made from an old quarry conveyer belt. We also repurposed a Dauntless-class sailing cruiser that we had found derelict in a River Medway boatyard. We stripped it, turned it upside down and polished it to create a shelter. The shape of the boat lent itself to a round door, and it typically and lovingly became known as the “Hobbit hole”. Peter Jackson, eat your heart out.

Year
2009

Location
London Borough of Kensington & Chelsea

Build Time
16 weeks

Price
£120,000