Hse Thoo Lei School

While living in Thailand I was fortunate enough to work with a nonprofit organization and for them I designed and built three playgrounds that were sustainable and used recycled materials for Burmese refugee and migrant schools. Building in Thailand was an incredible experience, because not only was I able to see my designs come to fruition, but I knew that these playgrounds were benefiting a group of children that most needed them. Building for the refugee population in Thailand was an eye opening experience and changed my whole perspective on design and architecture. Living and building in Thailand showed me how important it was to build for under-served communities and how the built environment can profoundly alter the way one perceives their surroundings. Thailand helped to give me a direction for my architectural career and taught me that I want to dedicate myself to helping under-served communities around the world.

For Hse Thoo Lei I was allowed to be completely in charge of the design and the construction of the middle to high school playground. For Hse Thoo Lei I was able to design new elements for our playgrounds which ultimately culminated in the creation of the “Castle”. The Castle was the first fully enclosed play space we created that could be used from all angles and could be navigated completely without touching the ground. The Castle ended up taking hours of trouble shooting to get even the simplest of things- such as how to make a swivel out of nuts and bolts- right. I love the vibrant colors on this playground and the way that each child was able to find a new way to play with the space.

Hlee Bee School

The three playgrounds I designed ranged in ages from nursery school to high school and in size from fifty children to three hundred. For the Hlee Bee and Hsa Thoo Lei schools I was also one of the construction managers and dealt with construction trouble shooting as well as material acquisition. Each school had its own particular challenge that need to be over come. For Hlee Bee School it was building the “Ham-Burger Gym” and the central cubbyhouse. The “Ham-Burgler Gym” was a new featured that we wanted to implement and it took way more math and test trials to create than I ever would have imagined! The central cubby house produced a unique problem since it had to be built into an existing bamboo tree. We came up with the tee-pee design as a way to give more support to the backside of the cubbyhouse. Getting that tee-pee to go through the bamboo tree and be perfectly perpendicular to the ground was difficult stuff.

Morning Glory School

When building our playgrounds we tried to use recyclable materials as well as sustainable woods, like yucca wood (which naturally grows in Thailand) and bamboo. One of the best recycled materials we used were old tires and they went into most of our pieces. For Morning Glory School we used 114 recycled tires- all of which were found in and around Mae Sot, Thailand.