Pleasant Playground
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

After more than 10 years of city and neighborhood planning, the revitalized Pleasant Playground has come to fruition. Based in part on the Holmesburg Recreation Center, also designed by BKP, the flexible Pleasant Playground building – featuring durable and brightly colored structural glazed facing tile on the exterior and vandal-resistant fixtures and energy efficient HVAC systems on the interior – has become a cost-effective and sustainable prototype building for the city’s recreation program. The Pleasant Playground community recreation complex includes a new enclosed activity center, outdoor playground, improved walking trails and paths around the playing fields, with a phased plan to add a future gymnasium. The design captures the corner of Chew Avenue and Slocum Street to give the building a better street presence and connection to its East Mount Airy neighborhood. Future plans for the complex include a new forecourt and pedestrian entrance to the park on what is now Slocum Street. As part of this project, BKP worked with the City of Philadelphia’s Percent for Art program to commission Benjamin Volta to create Coordinates of Play, a site-specific public artwork.

Cost: Size: Year:

$2.75 million 4,200 square feet 2014