Back in 2018, the Conservancy’s playground committee first met to envision a revamped playground for Washington Park. The project focused on the replacement the existing equipment with a thoughtful reimagining of the playground space which had slowly fallen into disrepair after many years of use by Capital District families.
In 2019, the Conservancy kicked off the concept design phase and selected architectural landscape firm Trowbridge, Wolf, & Michaels, a Fisher Associates Landscape Architecture studio, to work with the Conservancy’s playground committee and their team of community advisors. This team, led by Sarah Read and Michaela Roberts, AICP, worked to engage local families, community members, organizations serving children, and more than 300 local school children whose creativity and excitement helped form our initial design vision. Their charge was two-fold: to create a space to engage children of all ages and abilities, while being sensitive to the original Olmsteadian design and the historic nature of the park. In short, it presented our team with numerous competing priorities and a complex process to ensure that we got it right. Even through the Covid-19 pandemic, we continued to push forward with our end goal of handing over the concept design to our city partners to see it through the construction process.
In 2023, the Conservancy board handed off our concept design to the Sheehan administration. After numerous in-person feedback sessions, multi-lingual presentation of planning information, and many meetings of The City’s departments, with landscape architects Azar from Ithaca, NY, the City is ready to commence construction with Carver Companies, who will break ground on the new playground on June 24!
This design is the culmination of years of planning and countless hours of feedback from supporters like you. This premiere playground will be wholly unique to our region – the first natural play space, of this size, in an urban park setting – and will ensure that Washington Park remains the crown jewel in the City of Albany’s Park system and will provide another great reason for residents and visitors to come to Washington Park.
We extend our most sincere appreciation to everyone who volunteered, provided feedback, and remained patient and attentive through this process. We couldn’t have done it without you!
