St Joseph’s Nudgee College

Imagine being tasked with building the first ever playground at the prestigious, St Josephs Nudgee College. After 133 years, the college wanted to create an awesome and inspiring outdoor play space to match the school’s reputation for excellence. The brief was to design a space where calculated risk taking is encouraged, where nature sparks imagination and supportive friendships are fostered.

The Challenge

The first challenge of this project was to come up with a design that is worth a 133 year wait. With collaboration and the endorsement of key College leaders, that challenge was successfully met. The chosen location for the playground was a stunning setting amid established trees and a full canopy of branches and leaves. Tree root systems had to be carefully navigated during ground works to ensure the trees remained structurally sound.

The Solution

Nudgee’s first playground is a show stopper. It is nestled underneath a lush tree canopy, with towers and walkways woven within branches.

High hardwood towers are connected by rope bridges and hard mesh platforms with a fireman’s pole, slide and climbing wall providing fun exits from height. There is a dry river bed with balance beam logs and a water pump for students seeking nature play.

The playground features a full timber parkour course with a double warped wall to satisfy the competitive students. A tilted spider web net provides an extra climbing challenge alongside monkey bars and a dual zip line.

Four birds nest swings are set out to create an illusion that feet can touch as they come together.

St Josephs Nudgee College commissioned indigenous artist Bilura Watu (Ashley Hudson) to provide colour and inspiration, using the theme of the Edmund Rice Touchstones.

Historic Outcome

This playground is one of the most aesthetically pleasing we have ever built. It manages to seamlessly blend into the natural environment whilst meeting all of brief elements such as risk taking and inspiration. In our opinion, it is worthy of a 133 year wait.