Transforming Asphalt to Living Schoolyards
Here at Siegfried, we are currently undertaking a project in collaboration with the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) to transform outdoor spaces into living schoolyards. Our firm is committed to supporting our local communities and their passion to deliver high-quality education and environments for kids.
We are proud to partner with the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) to help transform nine school campuses from hot asphalt play yards into vibrant living schoolyards. Through a grant from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), OUSD was awarded funding to design and implement living schoolyards for 16 school sites. Our team, including Shah Kawasaki Architects (SKA) and Pine House Edible Gardens, is responsible for nine of the 16 schools.
Siegfried is providing landscape architecture and civil engineering services to OUSD, led by Thais Del Castillo, our Lead Principal Landscape Architect and Paul Schneider, our Lead Principal Civil Engineer. Additional partners include SKA, who are overseeing the project as well as Pine House Edible Gardens, an Oakland-based landscape design firm, who are providing edible garden design and plant selection suitable for the local environment.
The project aims to reduce the urban heat island effect by removing asphalt paving and replacing it with landscape spaces and shade trees. Other nature-based program elements are also planned including natural exploration areas with decomposed granite paths surrounded by native and pollinator plants, and edible gardens that feature raised planting beds, fruit trees and outdoor garden classrooms.
Two of the nine school sites, Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary and Manzanita Community School are planned for construction during the summer of 2025. Students arriving at these schools in August of next year will enjoy learning and playing outdoors in the enriching and engaging environment of a living schoolyard!
The other seven school sites include West Oakland Middle School, Piedmont Avenue Elementary School, Dewey Academy, Bella Vista Elementary School, Lockwood Steam Academy, Coliseum College Preparatory Academy, and Fruitvale Elementary school. Together with SKA and Pine House Edible Gardens, we’re excited to revamp the school sites to foster a wide range of play and social opportunities while also enhancing health and well-being for kids.
“We’re grateful for the incredible team we’re working with to create such meaningful projects for the deserving students and staff at OUSD. These are dream projects that are both professionally and personally rewarding for me.” -Thais Del Castillo
The Benefits of Outdoor Play Areas & Green Spaces
Our goal is to not only provide OUSD with an exceptional project result that meets their needs, but to also enhance the lives and development of the students at these school sites. After all, outdoor playgrounds and green spaces are incredibly key for healthy growth in kids! Let’s look at some benefits of outdoor play areas to better understand why they’re more important than you think.
Playing outside and being in nature can improve children’s mental health and wellbeing.
According to the Open University’s OPENspace Research Centre, there is considerable evidence suggesting that time spent outdoors, in nature, increases life expectancy, improves well-being, reduces symptoms of depression and increases a child’s ability to function in school. In addition to better physical health, teachers report improved concentration, better ability to focus and learn, increased productivity, better behavior, and the fostering of more positive relationships between adults and children and amongst peer groups, when children are more active and spend more time outside during the day” (Homan, 2023). Children develop stress and fatigue at a young age, but being in green spaces and play areas with other kids their age can heighten their emotional wellbeing.
Outdoor play leads to increased appreciation for nature among kids and students.
When kids can go outside and engage in creative freedom and games with their friends, it increases adrenaline and endorphins, leading to increased happiness. Based on the Outdoor Classroom Day 2017 Survey, “88% of teachers say that children are happier after playing outdoors” (Prisk, Cusworth, 2018). But a playground isn’t enough; including green spaces is just as key. “The researchers found that in children, feeling connected to nature had positive associations for sustainability practices and behaviors, and also led to children reporting higher levels of perceived happiness. This suggests that children who perceive themselves to be more connected to nature tend to perform more sustainable behaviors and therefore also have greater levels of happiness” (Neuroscience News, 2020). Our design for the school sites aims to include more green spaces than the initial sites to further increase the connection between young children and nature that that may otherwise not get the opportunity to do.
Outdoor areas improve kids’ language, communication and social development.
“There is increasing evidence that demonstrates the benefits of nature to a child’s language, communication and social development. For example, children use five times more words when playing outdoors compared to indoors. They have a greater sense of wellbeing, higher self-esteem and confidence and they laugh more” (Scott, Gray, Charlton, and Millard, 2022). Being around other children their age helps them to grow socially, make new friends, and get more involved in games and activities they may otherwise be afraid to partake in.
One of the most common benefits of outdoor play areas is the potential for lower BMI, better physical health and a lower chance of health defects.
There’s no doubt that being more physically active is a healthy habit to get into and it’s no different for kids in school. According to Glassy & Tandon, “Children play harder outdoors than indoors and they need daily opportunities to do so. More outdoor time is linked with improved motor development and lower obesity rates and myopia (nearsightedness) risk. Safely getting some sun also helps us make vitamin D that our bodies need to stay healthy and strong” (2024). Having access to more playgrounds will help kids get more active and lessen any health risks they may get!
OUSD Design team: Pine House Living Schoolyards (PHLS), Shah Kawasaki Architects, and Thais Del Castillo. Photo provided by PHLS.
Living Schoolyards: A Landscape for Opportunity
Playgrounds and green spaces are fantastic ways for kids to further their development! Implementing outdoor play areas and green spaces have proven to have positive long-term effects for healthy growth in students and kids, which is why Siegfried and SKA are committed to completing this project designing nine school sites for the Oakland Unified School District. Our team is committed to providing spaces for students to grow physically, and mentally, as well as form new relationships. We’re aiming to have Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary and Manzanita Community School ready for construction during the summer of 2025 and the remaining seven to follow soon after. Keep an eye out on our Portfolio page, LinkedIn, and instagram to stay up to date on this project!
