Over the course of only six months JKLA helped to develop a playground and learning garden for a daycare and community center at the Lt. Col. Matt Urban Center on Broadway in the City of Buffalo. The Matt Urban Center serves a community where most families live below the poverty line and open space for children is non-existent. The center received a grant from the NYS Dormitory Authority to build this play space, but as with most grants, though generous, it was not enough to complete the project as designed. JKLA donated hundreds of hours of time for design, donation solicitation, and construction administration to ensure that the project was able to be built to meet the needs of this deserving population.

The design aimed to add richness and opportunity to the small site through varying textures, colors, surfaces, and levels. Older children can play actively on the more traditional climber, or run around in the open space. Learning elements were incorporated subtly, like the clock face in the rubber surface at the base of the slide and the rainbow gradation applied to the structure’s parts. Small children can retreat to the rear of the park where low-key natural elements preside. Touchable plants surround a gravel digging box with a lookout boulder and an old stump that provides discovery opportunities. The transition between these two spaces holds intermediate equipment with a “woodcarpet” surface and a curved pathway inset with shapes. A grass berm bridges the distance to the upper level and can be used for running, rolling, and sliding in winter. Large boxes allow children to grow vegetables and gourds. Plants were selected for variety and unique characteristics that most urban dwellers never experience, like colorful berries, stiff pine needles, and fragrances. The intention is that the children are allowed to interact with as many “non-city” qualities as they can discover.

The United Way agreed to help build the project as part of their annual “Day of Caring” and on August 15, 2007 more than 100 volunteers from Wegmans and other local businesses including Gleason’s Nursery and Parkitects, converged on the small site to wage a massive build effort. The enthusiastic workers erected the playground structures, installed the fence, planted trees, hauled soil, mulch, and stone. Carpenters constructed the arbors and the large deck designed to make future doorways into the day-care center accessible by ramp.