Coeducational intervention in the playground of the Pia Balmes School, Barcelona

In this project, developed jointly with Vira, we have conducted  a participatory assessment on the use of the playground from a gender perspective and the design and construction of different elements for the school’s 4 playgrounds.

The objective has been to apply feminist strategies to rebalance the use of spaces, breaking with inequalities, hierarchies and segregation in the use of spaces and in the activities developed.

Prior to the assessment and transformation of the playground, Vira Cooperativa conducted training and awareness-raising activities for several years that facilitated feminist interventios on the playground.

We began by reviewing the current uses, in order to propose a change in functionality and relationships. A group made up of teachers, staff and families participated in the co-creative design process. We then designed a set of natural or treated wood structures, which diversify the uses of the playgrounds to promote inter-gender and inter-generational relationships.

The challenge of this project has been to rebalance the 4 spaces that are used from kindergarten to high school and are distributed in a 7-story building. Due to this complexity, the process has not incorporated self-construction, but the different elements have been built outside the school and then assembled inside with our collaborating team.

Some of the structures we have designed and installed: a wild structure for movement and tranquility, a wild hut, a balance circuit with platforms, corners for exploring symbolic games, experimentation tables, rest and quiet areas and some gardening elements.

This project has given us the opportunity to explore different solutions to resolve the spaces. As in other playground projects, all physical actions are accompanied by functional and relational recommendations, from a feminist perspective, since only physical interventions lose their capacity fofor transformation.