COLLECTION NAME:
Undergraduate Thesis Collection
Record
Title:
Designing Play: The Architectural and Moral Development of American Playgrounds
Creator:
Dinning, Hannah
Subject:
Thesis (B.F.A.) -- Architectural History
Subject:
Savannah College of Art and Design -- Department of Architectural History
Rights:
Copyright is retained by the authors or artists of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Abstract:
"From the 1870s until the 1920s the American Playground Movement was motivated by reformers across the United States. Although their initial motivations were to remove children from the streets, their motive changed over time to remain pertinent to the evolving needs of children and adults. Reformers used concerns over health and morality to gain traction in the early part of the American Playground Movement. Health concerns over fresh air and disease in the industrial city was the immediate target, but their desire to Americanize immigrant children and provide adults better spaces for recreation to reduce immorality in the streets continued throughout the playground movement. Reformers' needs to reduce immorality led directly to an increased desire for order and surveillance initiative, adding programming and lessons for children and adults, as well as superintendent's and matrons. Reformers successfully established an architectural influence on play and recreation in the United States and altered the way children were able to interact in the built environment as playgrounds evolved. This thesis focuses on the development of the American Playground Movement in Boston, Massachusetts, using the Parmenter-Street sand garden, Charlesbank, and Brookline as case studies with the East Fairmount Smith Memorial Playhouse and Playground as a supplemental study." --Abstract
Publisher:
Savannah, Georgia: Savannah College of Art and Design
Date:
2024-12
Format:
1 online resource: 1 PDF (Thesis, 89 pages, color illustrations, maps, plans)