Very Cool Playgrounds

Image via Wired

Over on Wired, Liz Stinson profiles Monstrum, a Danish design studio that specializes in fantastic wooden playgrounds.

Monstrum was created in 2003 after founder Ole Nielsen realized that his child’s school needed a new playground. He began searching for possible replacements and found the designs were lousy and expensive. Instead, he decided to make his own — a tall Rapunzel-esque tower with an adjoining spaceship. The playground was strange (a rocket ship and a princess tower?) in the way children appreciate and left plenty of room for imagination. It was an instant hit.

There’s a gallery of Monstrum’s designs too. We love the owl playground pictured above, but a very close second is the Moscow playground in the theme of a ship sunk by a giant squid.

Want more crazy playgrounds? Check out John Foster’s gallery right here on Design Observer.