YMWHA Rooftop Playground

The YMWHA Rooftop Playground is a testament to the transformational power of urban spaces. Perched atop a Young Men's and Women's Hebrew Association (YMWHA) of Washington Heights and Inwood building in New York City, this project embodies the commitment to reimagining the rooftop as a dynamic extension of public spaces for the community.

Central to the design ethos is inclusivity and accessibility, ensuring that young children of all levels of ability can enjoy the space. The rooftop highlights a diverse array of recreational amenities, including play structures, seating areas, and sensory installations, carefully integrated to promote physical activity and exploration. These elements work with the geometrical and textural design features created in the poured athletic flooring that visually creates zones of activities.

The bright colors of the playground floor are a sharp contrast to the brown and grays of the urban landscape, and we hope channel the vitality of the culturally diverse surrounding neighborhood. The bright hues of the flooring take their cues from elements found in nature as a counterpoint to the subdued context beyond. The colors of the walls of the bulkheads and play equipment equally saturated to blend into the datum provided by the flooring.

At its core, the rooftop playground serves as a dynamic multifunctional space, blending recreation, nature, and social interaction. An engaging feature of the design is the herb garden. The garden, occupying a sun-drenched corner of the roof provides visitors with an outdoor green room surrounded by the cityscape of Upper Manhattan and vistas of nearby cliffs of Fort Tryon Park.

The YMWHA Rooftop Playground represents more than just a physical space; it serves as a dynamic perch for recreation for children and an example of the possibilities for intensive use of oft-ignored spaces in urban environments.