Call for Artists for City Playground
The City of Philadelphia's Public Art Program announces a competition to commission permanent public artwork for the new Sturgis Playground on 65th Avenue between 2nd and 3rd Streets in the East Oak Lane neighborhood of Philadelphia. Several large trees must be removed from the site as a part of this construction project, and the resulting wood presents a unique opportunity to create site-specific artwork from materials derived directly from the site. This call for artists invites the creative reuse of the trees as material for artwork, however this is not a requirement. Citilog will cure and store the logs until ready to be used. Several types of wood will be available.
Background: The 5.7 Acre Sturgis Playground is an intensively-used park enjoyed by residents from the East Oak Lane, Olney and Melrose Park neighborhoods. Half of the park is composed of active areas - baseball/soccer, basketball, tennis, volley ball and children's play areas. The other half currently consists of passive environments - with two play areas located in a large wooded area running along the north and east edges. The grove is an important amenity to the neighborhood and nearly every square foot of the park is either programmed or landscaped. Along the long west side is a City reservoir and the former Cardinal Dougherty High School is across 2nd Street - a busy thoroughfare to the east. A 2,000 SF recreation center building is centrally located on the site, but can no longer accommodate the recreation needs of the community. SMP Architects are the design team and the Sturgis Advisory Council has been actively involved in the planning process.
Project Scope: The Department of Recreation plans to demolish the existing building and construct a new 5,000 SF recreation center in the vicinity of the current building to provide supervision of all of the active play areas. The new building will provide two activity rooms, computer room, restrooms, office and staff kitchen. The exterior finishes will be similar to other recreation department buildings, and will include masonry, protected windows high quality floor finishes and high use fixtures. In addition, the neighborhood has requested a new football/soccer field to replace the existing baseball field. New trees will help screen the field from the neighbors to the south and restore the wooded area. Improvements to the playground areas, paved walkways, inaccessible paths and site drainage all will be addressed as the budget allows. A new spray ground and landscaped seating area will be constructed as well as a new previous volleyball court.
