The original playground had two aging play structures, edged by trees but surrounded by a sea of asphalt, and the new design maintained these trees as functional elements of the play space.
The Sara Jackman Playground is simultaneously featured in the current issues of Canada’s national architecture and landscape architecture magazines. In her September 2025 Canadian Architect review, Julia Jamrozik says that this PLANT project advances best practices around education and play and embodies the independence-fostering philosophy of our clients at the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study “to magical effect.” We are honoured to receive such high praise from someone who is both an expert in the design of playful spaces and an associate professor at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Department of Architectural Science. Meanwhile, the Sara Jackman Playground won a National Award of Excellence earlier this year from the Canadian Association of Landscape Architects (CSLA); the current issue of CSLA‘s Landscapes|Paysages magazine highlights 2025′s winning projects. The jury praised our design team’s “masterful use of functional materials” and the project’s “varied and inclusive play spaces.” Click here to see the playground’s CSLA Award coverage.
