PlayCubes Receive Good Design Award

PlayCubes, a modular playground featured in our Extraordinary Playscapes exhibition, receives a well deserved design award!

By Thais Jacomassi

Good Design is one of the oldest design excellence programs worldwide and this past February, the Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design awarded Playworld with the Good Design Award for their PlayCubes. We’ve been partners with Playworld for years, and we’re excited to share the news of this well-deserved award!

PlayCubes express a transformation in play by reintroducing and repurposing Architect Richard Dattner’s original 1968 design. By redesigning the concept, PlayCubes were updated for the 21st century with a molded plastic form, which allows for even more interaction through a modular design. The cubes provide room for kids to climb up from different angles and to different heights. Most importantly, they explore new unprescribed ways to play and explore.

Through our partnership, Playworld and Design Museum recently brought a new set of PlayCubes to the Seaport neighborhood in Boston. Implementing this playground in our community is just one way for the Design Museum to bring the transformative power of design everywhere.

Our nationally-traveling exhibition, Extraordinary Playscapes on design and the importance of outdoor play featured our first collaboration with Playworld in 2016 with the installation of PlayCubes on the Greenway in Boston’s Chinatown Park. What started out as a temporary exhibition turned into a permanent feature in the park after a survey revealed that there was a strong desire from the community to keep the new playground. Following this success, Design Museum and Playworld felt it was only reasonable to continue our collaboration across the country. 

We’ve helped bring new Playworld playgrounds to Portland, San Francisco, Chicago, and twice in Boston. We’re proud to partner with Playworld on the importance of play in our lives, no matter what age.