Tempe, Arizona
Splash Playground, located at Tempe Beach Park, is a distinctly unique water playground offering a playful and educational recreational facility for children of all ages. Spanning over 1 acre in size, the playground demonstrates the natural cycle of water from the large cloud like shade structure equipped with thunder, lighting, and rainfall, to cascading waterfalls flowing into creeks and streams bordered with plants and metal animals and eventually emptying into oceans littered with whale spring toys. Also introduced is the use of water as a resource to people and communities. A concrete dam functions as a water play table, and a lake is formed on the upstream of the dam fully equipped with boats and interactive water cannons. CRE provided innovative approaches to the site lighting and special effects of the cloud shade structure. Our design of the 25 foot tall rainbow colored light poles which each arc with 20 foot radius’s over the playground, added further uniqueness and character. CRE also provided the design of electrical power distribution and controls for the playground pump station, and prepared a detailed ground grid to meet all National Electrical Code requirements for this type of installation. Existing site conditions were addressed in the early phases, and installation challenges were identified and resolved without compromising the original concept of the playground. CRE received an Honor Award for this project from the Arizona Council of Engineering Companies of Arizona at the 22nd Annual Engineering Excellence Awards. Services included design and construction administration services.
