The brief was deceptively simple: design a playscape for a small parkette that feels like it’s been there all along. Achieving that kind of effortless belonging is harder than it sounds. It cannot be bought off a shelf or borrowed from a catalogue – it has to come from a genuine understanding of the place itself.
Having operated out of Banff for two years, Real Life brought lived experience to the design. The Windfall Log Climber drew from hikes through dense forest, where the natural path of least resistance is to balance across wind-felled trees, zig-zagging through the trees. Rundle Drift translated the snow billowing off Mount Rundle into a climbable stone with steel sliding bars. Real Life sourced local materials, hand-peeled every log, and was on site training Rockyview's crew in the craft of log playground construction – ensuring the build was as rooted in place as the design.
