New Book, Design & Play, Seeks Funding Via Kickstarter

Design Museum Foundation, a national nonprofit design museum, is excited to announce a Kickstarter campaign to support Design & Play, a book about design and the importance of outdoor play featuring the amazing content from their nationally-traveling Extraordinary Playscapes exhibition.

After 3 years of research, and installations in Boston and Portland, the exhibition is now on-view at the San Francisco Public Library - complete with 40 playscape design case studies from around the world, the history of outdoor playground design, the science of play, and more.

The museum is funding and launching the publication through a 30-day Kickstarter campaign which launched on May 31 at midnight. To date they've received over $9,000 in pledges toward their $30,000 goal. The campaign ends on June 30 at midnight.

They hope the book inspires kids, parents, designers, civic leaders, and more to think differently about outdoor playscapes - and endeavor to get this book to every school, library, and city hall so that it can help inspire the next generation of extraordinary playscapes.

The book features full-color photos, images of the design process like sketches, renderings, and site plans, as well as the stories behind what makes these playscapes unique places for kids and adults to play.

"When you look at the past 20 years, kids are playing outside about half as much as they used to, 1 in 3 American children is considered overweight or obese, and only 1 in 4 kids get the recommended 60 minutes of outdoor play time. We hope this book inspires new thinking about the importance of accessible, well-designed playscapes" says Sam Aquillano, Executive Director of Design Museum Foundation and co-author of the book.

"I've never seen such an amazing collection of playspaces from around the world in one inspiring place. There is an international interest in designing children's play environments. I learned a lot walking through the show, it's truly an incredible exhibit on the design for play going on around the world" said Richard Dattner, architect and designer of the PlayCubes playscapes.

The Design & Play Kickstarter campaign runs through midnight on June 30, 2017 with the goal of raising $30,000.

Design Museum Foundation is a nonprofit museum of design with branches in Boston, MA; Portland, OR; and San Francisco, CA. Their mission is to bring the transformative power of design everywhere, to inspire a world full of creative problem solvers. More info: designmuseumfoundation.org

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