Holland Park Playground is the largest park in Kensington and Chelsea and provides a high-quality play experience linking to the nature abundant, woodland surroundings. Within the park is Kyoto Garden, donated by the Chamber of Commerce of Kyoto in 1991.
Architecture and Landscape Design
Holland Park Playground
Our design is inspired by two principles of Japanese garden theory: Dry Mountain Water and Borrowing-View. It borrows from the character of the surrounding woodlands and maximizes the interest and play value of the existing topography whilst integrating Holland Park’s water run-off, which presented a flood risk to lower residential properties.
The site is steeply sloping and surrounded by mature woodlands. We re-sculpted the landscape to create terraces, zoned by rain gardens and centred around a newly created play valley for the younger age group. All elements of the design, play structures, seating, bridges and the boardwalk were designed for longevity and with ease of maintenance in mind.
The design brings together innovative, bespoke play with playable sustainable drainage design to create an inclusive, all-ages and all-weather play landscape that comes alive when it rains.
At the top of the site the Hill-coaster structure snakes and winds around an existing tree. The sprawling structure offers play value for large groups of children.
The Fishermen’s Towers (including a dome constructed from site won earth) mark the start of the play valley and provide a vantage point over the site.
The textured bank and play valley offer sand, water play and motoric play for younger children with adjacent areas for parents to relax. The network of planted swales and granite channels collects and guides rainwater through the site. The rainwater feeds a newly created wetland landscape which can be experienced from a winding boardwalk.