© Underdog Heavy Industries 1969-2011   Chapel Street Nursery School Chapel Street Nursery had a large rectangular area, mostly laid to tarmac, and enclosed by the large chapel building or brick walls, that they were hoping to develop into a play area for children up to the age of five. The brief included an outdoor classroom for art and craft activities, bike track, a large play structure with active and balancing elements, music and sympathetic planting.  The school was also keen to ensure that plenty of shady areas would be available as the area tended to be a sun trap. We felt that the site really needed a lot of different routes to break up its rectangular nature as well as the addition of plants and colour to make the space more inviting.  The centre of the site we filled with an activity tower, with many different pathways running through and over it, including a long climbing ramp and a tunnel right through the structure.  Music elements, role-play counter and seating were also included.  We thoroughly decorated the tower; in some places using the children’s designs. We also designed and built a shelter to provide an arts space.  We really went to town with this as we wanted it to be inviting and inspirational whilst containing all the practical elements to make it useful to the staff and children.  We produced a light and airy structure with lots of colourful windows and a dramatic wavy roof.  Blackboards and whiteboards were designed and added to make the walls usable;  you can see the blackboards in the image to the right. Some of the children sculpted models of various modes of transport such as buses, trains, boats etc.  We then made casts of these to produce ceramic pieces which were added as decoration for the large mosaic planter shown below.  You can see a larger image of this planter in the structures section.