Raintree School

Rain­tree School is a private kindergarten and preschool & Missouri’s FIRST FOREST SCHOOL. Inspired by the Reg­gio Emilia approach, a For­est School com­mit­ted to help­ing chil­dren gain aca­d­e­mic breadth while main­tain­ing their love of learn­ing through project-based explo­rations. DG2 Design helped Raintree design their new NATURAL PLAYGROUND and FOREST. Photos by Sam Fentress Photography & Triple R Photography.

For many schools a “school play­ground” no longer fits the bill — the swings with rules about direction and the slides you’ve been instructed to not climb up.  “School play­grounds”, after all, mimic nature’s play­ground, but rather poorly.  Why use monkey bars when real branches are full of crags and moss and tex­ture?  Why use stairs when boulders will get you there?  Why have a plas­tic play­ground molded to look like nature when Mis­souri is full of wood­land and prairie? DG2 Design collaborated with HKW Architects to ensure the building and playground had a seamless design.