Charrette for new natural play space at RRMC planned for Oct 28-29
Over the course of two days in October, a plan for a new natural play space, to be constructed at the Rutland Regional Medical Center, will begin taking shape with input from the Rutland community and landscape design students from SUNY.
Carpenter and Costin, Rutland Regional Medical Center, Come Alive Outside and 802GO! have come together to craft a vision of designing nature back into the lives of Rutland community members. The next step is gathering input from the community and creating initial design concepts.
“We’ve invited teams of Landscape Architecture & Design students from SUNY-Cobleskill and SUNY-School of Environmental Science and Forestry to spend three days with us in Rutland, working closely with the community to create initial design concepts for a natural play space at RRMC.” said Russ Marsan of Rutland landscape designer Carpenter & Costin. “The work begins with our vision and will add the benefit of community input and the creativity of landscape design students, to result in renderings of concepts for consideration.”
Marsan continued, “The current generation of young people in Vermont spends less time outdoors than any generation in history. This growing disconnect between people and nature results in a host of social, health and environmental issues that we’d like to mitigate with this vision. As we look to the future and work to reverse this trend, the importance of creating engaging outdoor learning environments and natural play spaces will provide increasingly essential points of connection for young people and nature.”
The events kick off on Friday morning, October 28, when the college students will begin working closely with Rutland elementary and high school students, in order to gain the perspective of the young people who will ultimately be using the space. In the afternoon, the SUNY students will participate in a design charrette with key stakeholders in the Rutland community, including leadership at RRMC, Rutland Parks and Rec and Wonderfeet Kids Museum. In the evening, the students will render the day’s ideas into initial design concepts to be presented back to the community the following morning.
In an event open to the public on Saturday, October 29, the work of the design teams will be presented to the community at the Paramount Theater from 9:00-11:30am. The public is invited to attend this event to see the designs that have been created.
802GO! is a collaboration of Carpenter and Costin, Rutland Regional Medical Center, Wonderfeet Children’s Museum, Marble Valley Grows and Rutland Rec, promoting healthy lifestyles by connecting children and families with the unlimited possibilities available outdoors in Vermont’s towns and cities. For more information contact Russ Marsan at [email protected] or (802) 342-6416.
