Design For Play was an ideas competition for how to transform the streets of Newburgh, NY so that children, young and old, could safely play, learn, socialize and have fun in Summer 2020, and beyond. We had an incredible response to the competition and received over 70 proposals with ideas ranging in scale from individual play elements to systems that would transform entire blocks. Three winning design teams were chosen by a diverse jury for their creative response to this challenge. All winning projects were built in 2020. Click here for more information.

Images of the three winning projects are below: Paint + Play designed by Anousae Eirabie and Yaxin Jiang (photo by Brandon Codrington); makerBoards designed by downupNY; and Imagination Pavilion designed by Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects.

This competition was a community effort co-organized by Design For Six Feet / Hudson Valley Collaborative, the Awesome Newburgh Foundation, the City of Newburgh, Columbia GSAPP Hudson Valley Initiative, Dept of Small Interventions, The Fullerton Center, and the Newburgh Armory Unity Center. We would like to thank the Williams Legacy Foundation and the J.M. Kaplan Fund for providing key financial support to make this competition possible — and get Newburgh playing again!