Community Corner
Central Park's Safari Playground On Verge Of Reopening: PHOTOS
The new playground, located on the west side of Central Park near West 90th Street, features new ADA-accessible play structures.
UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — After nearly one year of construction, Central Park's Safari Playground is on the verge of reopening, Central Park Conservancy officials said.
The playground, located near the West 90th Street and Central Park West entrance, may open as soon as this week if weather permits workers to conduct final touches. The renovated playground will feature completely redone surfaces, a new layout and a new ADA-accessible entrance and play structure.
One of Safari Playground's most beloved features, a series of hippo structures, were 3D scanned and completely recreated.
Find out what's happening in Upper West Sidewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
"The spirit of the hippos lives on," Central Park Conservancy's Studio Director in the Department of Planning, Design and Construction Bob Rumsey said. "We kept those and added to the playground's creative play elements."
The original hippos, created for the playground's previous renovation in the 70s by artist Bob Cassilly, were donated to the City Museum in St. Louis. Cassilly, who is now dead, founded the museum with his wife Gail.
Find out what's happening in Upper West Sidewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Safari Playgrounds' biggest addition in the renovation is a play structure that features a number of climbing elements and a slide, Rumsey said. The structure features a ramp that meets ADA-accessible codes and was custom-built for the Central Park Conservancy by Oregon-based company Timberform. The structure is designed to represent a hill or mountain leading down to the water element and hippo structures, Rumsey said.
Safari Playground is ideal for children between 2- and 5-years-old because it emphasizes creative and imaginative play, Rumsey said. The new playground's new layout builds on that emphasis by replacing what was once ground with scattered mounds and ramps made of soft playground surface material. The playground's design team also worked meticulously to color the playground surface so that it reflected a landscape of hills and rivers, Rumsey said.
In addition to adding play structures and making the playground more accessible, the renovation will also make sure Safari Playground is better incorporated into Central Park as a whole. The original seven-foot iron fence border was reduced to four feet and is now made out of a thinner material, allowing great views of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir from inside the playground.
Safari Playground is the 15th playground in Central Park that has received a complete renovation through the Central Park Conservancy's Plan for Play initiative, Rumsey said. The conservancy manages all 21 playgrounds in Central Park and plans to renovate all of them. Funding for the Safari Playground project was raised through the conservancy's Forever Green campaign. The campaign raised $300 million after being launched in 2016.
Check out a photo slideshow of the new playground at the top of the article.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.