Riverfront Park North Bank and Ice Age Floods Playground
This week we are reflecting on some of the highlights from 2021 – one of which is the completion and opening of the North Bank Regional Playground in Riverfront Park. The North Bank Regional Playground project is one of five major park elements identified in the Riverfront Park Master Plan that was funded in 2014 with a $64 million bond to redevelop the park. The site includes a themed regional playground, splash pad, open play area, specialty basketball court, wheels park, landscaping, lighting, new maintenance and operations/public restroom facility, and parking with innovative stormwater solutions. The one-acre Ice Age Floods Playground was designed as an outdoor learning and play experience that tells the story of how the Ice Age Floods shaped our region. Because of the dynamic nature of the Ice Age Floods and the rich imagery of its components, the story was transformed into an exciting play environment that also offers, multi-generational learning opportunities. It aims to provide a completely interactive and fun way for children, families and interested people to learn about our region’s unique geologic history.
The goal of the playground was to create an adaptive, safe, dynamic, high-quality nature-based play/learn environment for children of all abilities and their families. Bernardo Wills Architects led a large consultant group that included our in-house architecture team.