Playrise provides a modular timber playground for children in refugee settlements and disaster relief locations, starting with a pilot planned for Aysaita camp in Ethiopia. The system treats play as part of the built environment of care and is designed to travel, adapt, and be built with basic tools. The structure uses repeated timber beams and perforated panels with circular-hole grids that enable multiple functions, such as holding ropes, receiving bolts, supporting fabric shades, and framing climbing routes. Panels can act as walls, balustrades, climbing surfaces, or enclosures. Flatpack components reduce shipping volume, while repeated parts support easier repair and reassembly as conditions change.
"Playrise brings a modular timber playground to children living in refugee settlements and disaster relief sites, beginning with a pilot structure planned for Aysaita camp in Ethiopia. Founded by Alexander Meininger, the project is designed by architecture studio OMMX, engineers Webb Yates, and fabricators SetWorks. It treats play as part of the built environment of care, shaped through a system that can travel, adapt, and can be built with basic tools."
"The first impression is direct: a raised field of timber frames, perforated panels, rope bridges, climbing holds, canvas roofs, and hammocks. In the London prototype, the structure sits among mature trees and brick buildings, with orange, green, purple, and yellow fabric stretched across a framework of warm hardwood. With the scale of a small piece of architecture, its purpose is immediate and physical."
"The Playrise system is built from repeated timber beams and panels, each drilled with a grid of circular holes. Those holes give the modular structure its flexibility. A beam can hold a rope, receive a bolt, support a fabric shade, or frame a climbing route. A panel can become a wall, a balustrade, a climbing surface, or an enclosure. The logic is simple enough to read at a glance, which gives the playground an open, workshop-like quality."
"That legibility matters in the context of displacement. The project is conceived for places where logistics are complex, budgets are tight, and long-term conditions can change quickly. Flatpack components reduce shipping volume, while repeated parts make repair and reassembly more manageable. Playrise avoids the feeling of a fixed object dropped into place. Its design allows co"
#modular-design #timber-construction #refugee-and-disaster-relief #playground-infrastructure #adaptive-architecture
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