By Nicole Breskin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MEATPACKING DISTRICT — A unique new playground-in-a-box designed by the architect behind JetBlue's new JFK terminal and Robert De Niro's Nobu restaurants is coming to the High Line at 15th Street this Saturday.
David Rockwell's “Imagination Playground” allows kids to create their own play space using biodegradable blue foam blocks.
"I wanted to explore a way to create a play space that would encourage creative, child-directed free play,” Rockwell said. “The result was Imagination Playground, which focuses on an assortment of loose parts like wagons, fabric, and traffic cones, and biodegradable blue foam blocks that we designed in all different shapes and sizes."
Rockwell, who has done set designs for the Academy Awards and Broadway’s “Hairspray,” loaned the $7,600 park-in-a-box to the High Line. His firm is also working with the Parks Department to bring an Imagination Playground to the park at Burling Slip in lower Manhattan. That park will feature sand, water and the trademark movable parts, and is scheduled to open on July 27.
“This is a fun and creative way for kids play in this new public space," said Danya Sherman, the deputy director of programs and education at Friends of the High Line, the nonprofit that runs the park.
The High Line is getting the "standard," cheaper model of “Imagination Playground” — buyers can get the "rugged" version for $11,700.
Rockwell Group has paired with nonprofit KaBOOM! to bring the playgrounds to sites across the country in the near future.
