So this morning Andy forwards me a link to a very promising blog, Playscape, which will focus on the art and science of playground design. And one of the first posts is the Playgoda, an awesome, slot-together laminated plywood play structure by Los Angeles architect/designer Gregg Fleishman.
Fleishman has been designing elegant geometric structures for play and habitation for almost forty years, heading out from the geodesic domes of Buckminster Fuller in his own unique direction. Most of his designs are slot-together plywood, which gives them a feeling of simplicity, humility, and portable, DIY freedom.
I'd actually emailed with Fleishman last year, and then I lost his information. I was trying to identify the maker of this cool, 1970's-era playground set that was featured in the NY Times last summer. [Neither the NYC Parks Dept. nor the Times had any information on the location, the designer, or the manufacturer. And the playground gurus I spoke with had no idea, either. It's not Mr. Fleishman's design, though; this much we now know.]
Anyway, great stuff. And if you know anything about this green & yellow playground...
Playscapes: a blog about playground designs [playgrounddesigns via stork bites man]
M-4 Playgoda, by Gregg Fleishman [greggfleishman.com]
Previously: The 100-Year, 5-Min. History Of US/NY Playgrounds
try emailing the photographer who took the picture. if there is no photo credit on the picture ask the times who took it and to pass on a message (if they won't give you the person's email) from you.
[I actually spoke to the person who runs the NYT photo morgue, who pulled the original for me; it had no information on it at all. The guy running the archive at the Parks Dept. said that no one there thinks it was a NYC playground. And none of the designers quoted in the article recognized it. -ed.]