Hawthorne Community STEAM Playground Retrofit

Friends of Hawthorne Elementary School in Seattle had a vision for a more welcoming and engaging play space for the students incorporating natural elements and opportunities for students to learn about ecological processes. Community outreach and engagement was led by the Pomegranate Center and Herrera provided the civil engineering and permitting services for the playground redevelopment. The phased redevelopment includes a water runnel along the edge of the new play space, a creative play area with loose elements, a grassy knoll with boulders to climb, outdoor classroom space, a bioretention cell, enhanced native landscape features, and a future rainwater cistern.

Photography and renderings courtesy of Eric Higbee