Architect Matthew Springett and educator Fiona MacDonald, who collaborate as Matt + Fiona, have worked with children with autism to design and build a sensory playground.
Matt + Fiona collaborated with children at the Phoenix School in south London to create the Phoenix Playground Room, a structure made from dark blue folded triangles, for the school's new location.
Photo is by Matt + Fiona
Although the project resulted in a useable play space, equally important was to involve the children in the process of design and creation, to help add continuity during the school's move.
Students designed the playground in their final term at the old school building, then built it their first term at the new school.

"Familiarity with environment is particularly important for young people with autism," said MacDonald. "Phoenix School is expanding and is moving twice in the next two years. Therefore the teachers were keen that there should be something recognisable in the new school's grounds, that the students felt ownership of."

To create the playground, every student at the Phoenix School was invited to design a structure that could be built from a series of simple triangles.
These designs were assessed by a small group of students, who acted as curators, and amalgamated to construct a paper build at half scale. This model was used to determine the final design.

The actual playground, which was constructed with the help of volunteers, is built from a s...