Instead of a flat playground with swings and roundabouts we wanted to design a dynamic landscape that encouraged children to play together and make up their own games.

Mounds and valleys create the impression of a much larger space than there actually is; a slide connects the top of the 2m high mound to the rest of the play area; an 8m oak tree makes a bridge between two hills; five huge boulders form an area for sitting and climbing on. Unifying the whole space is a colourful pattern of safety surface with a blue path running throughout that connects the different elements.

Writer Chris Meade worked with local primary schools to compose a poem for Evergreen Square. The full text is laid into the central paving and single words and phrases are cast into the stone benches and laser cut into steel panels at the four entranceways.

We worked closely throughout with LB Landscape Architecture who designed the Square as well as with London Borough of Hackney, Circle 33 Housing Association and Higgins contractors.