Julius Kahn Park
Carducci & Associates, Inc. worked with the City of San Francisco, playground neighbors, Presidio preservation and development groups, and the park's Grantors: the Helen Diller Family Foundation, to create this playground within the historic Presidio in San Francisco. Accessibility and respect of the surrounding neighborhood and cultural and landscape histories of the Presidio were important aspects of the design. The many neighborhood and local school children who use the park necessitated a durable design.
Enabling Narrative:
Sand and water are central characters in interactive play within the park, at the sculptural and tactile fountain in the sand play area. Children are encouraged to pile sand in the fountain, to splash, and even walk, in the shallow troughs running along the fountain's length. By opening new avenues of play to children, we encourage their creative development, and the park becomes an active force in the creation of playtime narratives that help children to socialize, learn, and develop as thinking individuals.
Julius Kahn Playground
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Dear Vince:
...The playground is absolutely spectacular. Your caring architectural artistry is a personal gift that will bring so much happiness to this and future generations of children...I will always treasure...those joyous young faces and screaming voices exhibiting such unabashed excitement and glee.
Sincerely,
Sanford N. Diller
President and CEO
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Site Plan
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The [ Recreation and Park ] Department is doing well in a number of areas. Most notably, the recent re-opening of Julius Kahn Playground in the Presidio is an example of what this department is doing right. The rebuild of this playground was done with community input, and, more importantly, $800,000 was leveraged from private sector donations. The looks on the faces of the children as they stormed the park for the first time, told me this was clearly something that the department had done well.
— Gavin Newsom
as quoted by The Friends of Recreation and Parks |
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Athletics & Recreation 
