Press Release
Blue Block Playground Transportation Set by Imagination Playground Wins the Bronze A' Design Award in Playground Equipment, Play Structures and Public Park Design
Imagination Playground honored for playground equipment, play structures and public park design by the international grand jury of the 2023 - 2024 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 21, 2024 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has announced that Blue Block Playground Transportation Set by Imagination Playground has been granted the Bronze A' Design Award in the Playground Equipment, Play Structures and Public Park Design category. The award was conferred within the 2023 - 2024 A' Design Award & Competition and was determined through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who assessed anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
The Bronze A' Design Award Explained
The Bronze A' Design Award is given to outstanding designs that showcase a high degree of creativity and practicality. It recognizes the dedication and skill of designers who produce work that stands out for its thoughtful development and innovative use of materials and technology. These designs are acknowledged for their professional execution and potential to influence industry standards positively. Winning this award highlights the designer's ability to blend form and function effectively, offering solutions that enhance people's lives and wellbeing.
Regarding Blue Block Playground Transportation Set
The Blue Block Transportation Set is the newest creation by Imagination Playground, home of the iconic Big Blue Blocks. This innovative play system is made from a proprietary, durable foam and introduces new block shapes, like the Main Frame and various designs of wings and wheels that inspire vehicle builds while staying true to the loose-parts play philosophy. Designed for 3+ builds at a time, young minds' work together to create, imagine, and assemble boats, planes, and other vehicles.
Award Record
Imagination Playground is a winner of 1 A' Design Award, including this recognition.
About the A' Playground Equipment, Play Structures and Public Park Design Award
The A' Playground Design Award is an international industrial design competition recognizing good playground designs by best playground manufacturers worldwide. The competition is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to playground equipment designers, play structure engineers, public park planners and landscape architects from all countries. Entries typically include swing sets, slides, climbing structures, seesaws, merry-go-rounds and sandboxes. Awarded playground equipment designs are published at https://desingers.org/design-category/playground
About A' Design Award & Competition
A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade organized annually since 2008. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The A' Design Award has a philanthropic mission to advance society through good design by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Entries are peer reviewed and anonymously evaluated by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. The A' Design Prize granted to eligible laureates includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, the upload of a work and the preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. Further information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://desingers.org/153057
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/153057
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!153057
- Laureate Profile: https://desingers.org/d/346856
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://imaginationplayground.com/
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Blue Block Playground Transportation Set
- Function
- Playground Transportation Set
- Category
- Playground Equipment, Play Structures and Public Park Design
- Discipline
- Industrial Design
- Industry
- Kids and Architecture
- Colors
- Deep Sky Blue, Dodger Blue, Black, Royal Blue and Dark Slate Gray
- Images
- 5
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Imagination Playground
- Country
- United States of America
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2023 - 2024
- Design ID
- #153057
Credits
- Image Credits
- Photographer Davista Photography, 2022
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- The Transportation Set is the newest creation by Imagination Playground, home of the iconic Big Blue Blocks. This innovative play system is made from a proprietary, durable foam and introduces new block shapes, like various designs of wings and wheels that inspire vehicles while staying true to the loose-parts play philosophy. Designed for 3+ builds at a time, young minds’ work together to create, imagine, and assemble boats, planes, and other vehicles. The Blue Blocks are waterproof and suitable for play, both indoors and out.
- Inspiration
- For the last 15 years, the Big Blue Blocks have been played with by millions of children in more than 75 countries worldwide. Watching creations come to life and friendships built through the stacking and connecting of the handcrafted blocks has inspired the design of this newest addition to the product family. Vehicles have always been one of the most popular structures created using the Blue Blocks and this set allows for builders to expand and advance these designs.
- Research
- The original Big Blue Blocks were conceptualized by architect David Rockwell. The original set underwent various play studies, emphasizing the importance of interacting with loose-parts for developing minds. The Transportation Set that is being nominated for this award is an add-on set that is complimentary to the existing Big Blue Block sets, while also being an independent play set for those who may not already own the Big Blue Blocks.
- Challenge
- One of the most difficult aspects of the design process was creating shapes that were vague enough to be used for various vehicles, while still being recognizable to young children. Additionally, the first set cut and tested, the kids had difficulties fitting some of the pieces together. This was fixed for sets being cut going forward.
- Realization and Technology
- Imagination Playground is a patented loose-parts play system made from a closed-cell, proprietary foam formulation. Each block is handcrafted in Providence, Rhode Island.
- Operation and Interaction
- Children use the lightweight. life-sized foam blocks to design and recreate vehicles of their choosing from a variety of block shapes and parts. Create a motorcycle to zoom through adventures on curving mountain highways, or a submarine for two sailors to explore under the sea. The loose-parts easily integrate with one another to build whatever the child can imagine! The are two sizes of holes throughout the design for connecting pieces together, along with rectangular cut-out areas that allow for the wings to be attached when building an airplane.
- Project Duration and Location
- The initial design process for this specific set began in Spring 2021 and finished in Fall 2022, with the official launch of the set in Spring 2023. All of the Blue Block process happens in Providence, Rhode Island, USA - from the design, to the cutting and quality control. The first version of this set was launched in Panama City Beach, Florida, USA.
- Specifications
- The Transportation Set comes with over 100 block pieces of varying shapes that interlock for the construction of vehicles. Some of these shapes include straight and curved wings, steering wheels, seats, varying sizes of plugs and connectors, and blocks in hexagon, trapezoid, and chevron shapes.
- Keywords
- Imagination Playground, foam blocks, playground, construction set, vehicles, loose-part play, portable playground
