Pequossette Playground

Revitalized Neighborhood Playground / Belmont, MA

The Friends of Pequossette (PQ) Park, a local community group, successfully applied for Community Preservation Act funds to revitalize their neighborhood playground. Tucked behind dense rows of houses, the park was re-envisioned by WDG as a communal ‘big backyard’ in a town where private yards are very small. The playground design established multiple loops that provide ‘soft separation’ between toddlers, older kids, and adults, to make a truly intergenerational park. Natural materials such as wood climbers, log scrambles, grassy hills, and embankments slides strike a balance between organic nature play and the durability needed for a publicly-maintained park. PQ Park is regularly flooded during large storms, and WDG drafted land use scenarios providing underground stormwater storage solutions for storms of varying intensity. WDG worked closely with the Friends Group, the Town DPW, and the community through public meetings to reach a consensus design, which was then used to fund construction of the project.