The playground at Elizabeth Ziegler Elementary School has a popular new addition thanks in part to a group of four UW Architectural Engineering students from the class of 2023. Recently a new play structure was installed in the schoolyard based on the custom design created by UW students Jocelyn Cao, Rayen Feng, Jake Gu and Michael Hioe. The design was completed as part of their AE 125 Structural Design Studio course held during Spring term 2019.
For the studio project, the class was tasked with designing a new playground for 5- to 12-year-olds at Elizabeth Ziegler Elementary School on Moore Avenue in Waterloo. The AE class visited the school twice - initially to interview their clients - the school's students - for input on what features were wanted for the new play structure, and subsequently to present their preliminary designs and receive client feedback. The collection of 20 final design proposals completed by the AE class were narrowed down by the school's parent council to a shortlist of finalists. The shortlist was then put to a final vote involving the entire school population. The winning design was Groundbreaker.
A fundraising campaign began for the 2019-2020 school year, successfully concluding earlier this year and leading to construction in November. Since construction finished, the new play structure has been a very popular destination for the EZ community!
