The ‘Crown’ is a play structure built around a raised mound on the site at the Go Flourish charity garden for North Kessock Primary School, Inverness. Timber tree posts are placed at semi-regular spacing in two concentric circles with diagonal and horizontal connections between them. Some uprights extend higher than others and some small structures are nested within the collective.
The structure has been designed as an open-ended divergent series of timber pieces and places that allows for creative interpretation and imaginative play on the part of the children. By not over-specifying the character of the play spaces, the crown opens itself up for imagination, encouraging the creative faculty of the children. There are multiple routes through and around the crown, these conceptually parallel the principal of divergent thinking, where there are multiple answers to every question, aiding the practice of design-thinking and creativity. This contrasts with convergent thinking where there is only one right answer to every question.
In this way, the ‘crown’ is a prompt for free play, inviting tactility, chasing, exploration and inhabitation.
Go Flourish is a charity that puts gardens into local authority primary schools in Scotland, advocating for nature-based learning and placing growing and understanding the natural environment at the centre of education. The Charity is sponsoring research into the impact of these gardens on child attainment and teacher and pupil well-being, forming a case for these to be rolled-out across the Scottish education system. Croftworks also designed a tool shed on the same site.
