Industry

Parks & Recreation

Key Collaborators

Kinsol Play, Hapa Collaborative, The District of Squamish

Website

The Concept

Sp’akw’us Feather Park sits at the tip of Squamish’s Oceanfront Peninsula – a community gathering space shaped by the land, the water, and the people who have called this place home for generations. The playground was conceived through a collaboration between Real Life, Kinsol Play, and Hapa Collaborative, with the District of Squamish as owner. From the outset, Indigenous youth were active participants in the visioning process, ensuring the design reflected stories and traditions belonging to the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw.

The Challenge

Local students built physical maquette models as the conceptual starting point for the play structures. Real Life’s challenge was to honour the integrity of those student-led designs while engineering them into safe, CSA-compliant structures. Working from Hapa Collaborative’s landscape plan, Real Life also developed the playground layout to a schematic level – balancing creative fidelity with the technical demands of a public park installation.

The Solution

Real Life proposed log and timber frame construction as the primary building method – an unconventional approach that grounded the structures in local craft tradition. Alaskan yellow cedar sourced from Vancouver Island was selected for its durability and regional resonance. The result is a series of custom play structures, including a wooden tunnel, that feel native to their setting and faithful to the student visions that inspired them.