Page 10 - Landscape-Issue154

PROJECT
ST KATHARINE’S SCHOOL:
REIMAGINING PLAY!
St Katharine’s is a primary school for girls in Parktown, Johannesburg. It was founded
in 1916 as a small community school, placing emphasis on the arts, music, sport
and excellence in academic endeavours. These core values still hold true today.
Views of the new play area, named the
Wonderscape by the school. It was designed with
fun, adventure and education in mind, as well as
the children’s strength and sensory development.
8 Landscape SA • Issue 154 2025
Project Team
Client: St Katharine’s School,
Johannesburg
Design and Project Facilitation: Design
Studio @ Talborne Urban Organics
Project Installation: Plant Elite Group
Steelwork: Mango Sootoo Trading
Play and Sensory Motivation: Tom
Jordi, Specialist Wellness Counsellor
and Certified Trauma Practitioner
ecently, the school undertook an
upgrade of its play area. The design
Rbrief was entrusted to Grant Gove
of the Design Studio @ Talborne Urban
Organics, who was tasked with creating a
natural, adventure­inspired play space.
Gove was specifically asked to avoid the
usual ‘plug and play’ style jungle gyms,
plastic elements and primary colours.
Instead, the focus was on a more subtle,
earthy palette with an emphasis on
“cappuccino colours.”
The client’s and Gove’s vision was
clear: to create something “out of the
ordinary” that had never been seen before
and to offer a completely different play
opportunity to the students. St Katharine’s
wanted to redefine the concept of play
and to offer a large scale ‘Wonderscape’
that was also appealing to the older girls,
thereby not only catering for the pre­
primary age group.
The play area was designed with a mix
of sand, climbing, sliding and swinging
features, complemented by bridge links
winding through the trees.
Design concept
Gove explains that the site offered the
opportunity to design the project over
two different levels, and the current
installation is Phase 1, on the lower level.
“When designing the space, I wanted
to ensure fun, safety, well thought­out
interactions and accessibility between
the two distinct levels of the space,” he
says. Aerial elements such as tree houses,
a crow’s nest, rope tunnel and bridge
links were included to connect the levels,
provide height, scale and mass, as well as
the opportunity for teachers and students
to view the play space from multiple levels.
Check us out www.salandscape.co.za