2024 has been an excited year for us, specifically in our public-use projects:

Barbara just got back from Venice CA installing her 16th play structure for affordable housing developer Thomas Safran & Associates;
We built and installed our 5th Magical Bridge Playground at Santa Clara’s Central Park (Grand Opening August 28, 2024) and are currently building the 6th Magical Bridge Playground for Mountain View’s Rengstorff Park;
Currently building a custom play structure for CCJDS, a Lafayette school and one of our favorite standards, Sunshine Theater, for the City of Brea.

The last few years have seen a dramatic increase in public-use projects, so much so that we’ve open a new subsidiary, Barbara Butler Playhouses, LLC, just to better serve the public sector, along with our new website featuring public play structures, BarbaraButlerPlayhouses.com.

Let’s take a look at the path that brought Barbara here.

Beginnings

Barbara first entered the realm of public structures in 2002 when she built a fort for One Fifty Parker Avenue School in San Francisco. Twin, two-story forts are connected by a swinging bridge. A rung ladder provides access to one fort, while the other has a rope net climb to go up and a turbo twist slide for a fast way down. Although simple in design, this fort not only provides plenty of play features, but also provides just the right tools to help kids foster their imagination, while also adhering to public play safety standards.

After 22 years, One Fifty Parker Avenue School’s fantastic fort is still the centerpiece of their play yard! Check out this mighty play fort after our 2023 maintenance:

Fort Outback in 2023 after a cleaning and restain

Fort Outback wasn’t the only public structure Barbara installed in 2002. She also built The Lighthouse and The Shipwreck play stuctures for Duck’s Nest Preschool in Oakland:

In 2004, Barbara was approached by Whittaker Homes, a Missouri developer of the New Town at Saint Charles community. It was an exciting opportunity to build five play structures: Fort Frontier, Fort Whittaker, Fort Jubilee, Sunshine Theater and Napa Valley Theater - all of which are still in use today.

The Sunshine Theater at *New Town at Saint Charles*

Since 2004, Barbara has continued expanding into the public use play structure domain, creating custom public play structures for hotels, schools, public parks and commercial parks. Let’s continue forward with our look back at some of the creative turns Barbara has taken into the public play structure realm:

Turnberry Square in Las Vegas

Playhouse and treehouse in shopping center

In 2007 Barbara was given the chance to build two play structures for a shopping center in Las Vegas. Each structure was designed for a different age group so all the kids visiting the center could play.

Roughhouse Treehouse was designed for older kids and features a clubhouse, swinging bridge, two-story fort and three slides. The treehouse deck is nestled into the branches of a Southern Live Oak, a sprawling tree that was selected and moved from Texas just for the treehouse.

For preschool age kids, the two-story Stucco Playhouses offer wood play features such as a bakery/cafe with cakes and a register. The two playhouses are connected with a breezeway with old world charm and details.

Collaboration with Thomas Safran & Associates

Her next big milestone was building Glendale Gardens for Thomas Safran & Associates (TSA) in 2009, starting a professional relationship that would continue through to today.

Barbara was tasked with building an accessible play structure for an affordable housing development that would fit with the craftsman style architecture of the building.

To ensure the play structure was safe for kids to play on, Barbara brought in MaryLou Iverson, of Iverson Associates to inspect the play structure before it opened to the public. Barbara had first started working with MaryLou two years prior on two play structures built for a shopping complex in Las Vegas. We still work with MaryLou to this day and consider her a valued professional associate and fantastic friend.

Barbara continued to build play structures for TSA and is currently in the midst of installing her 16th TSA play structure.

Her next big venture in public spaces would turn out to be her biggest yet:

Magical Bridge Playgrounds

Magical Bridge Palo Alto when built in 2015

in 2010, Barbara was contacted by Olenka Villarreal, founder of Magical Bridge Foundation and mother of two daughters, one of whom was diagnosed with Autism. She was looking to design and build a playground that was welcoming to children and adults of all abilities, one that both her daughters could play and socialize at. Over the next 5 years Olenka worked with many businesses and community leaders, as well as Barbara, to design a playground that was inclusive and served people will all abilities.

The result was Magical Bridge Palo Alto, which opened on April 18th 2015. The success of Magical Bridge Palo Alto kicked off 5 more playgrounds in the Bay Area, plus two smaller play areas and one international playground in New Zealand.

This year we are building and installing two Magical Bridge Playgrounds, one in Santa Clara and one in Mountain View. Magical Bridge Santa Clara’s Grand Opening is August 28, 2024!

Magical Bridge Sunnyvale when installed in 2022

New York Structures

Some of Barbara’s wonderful thematic public play structures are located 3000 miles away from our Hayward California shop in upstate New York!

In 2017 Barbara built a play structure for New York state’s Mohawk Valley Welcome Center that was styled after the very barges that were historically used on the nearby Erie Canal.

The following year she built another structure for the state of New York, this time a shipwreck, to commemorate the shipwrecked British warship HMS Ontario. As usual, Barbara spent countless hours researching the HMS Ontario and drawing out different designs that would capture the essence of the Ontario while also providing a fun play experience.

Check out both structures: On the Erie Canal and and HMS Ontario, on our Barbara Butler Playhouses, LLC website.

Innovation in Public Play Spaces

Not only has Barbara brought her creativeness and dedication to creating imaginative play structures, but she has also brought her experience and innovation.

Her two most notable innovations have been treehouses safe for public spaces and the Retreat Hut structure designed and built for the Magical Bridge Playgrounds.

Hillbrook School Treehouse as built in 2015

Barbara built a treehouse/play structure for Hillbrook School - one of my all-time favorite Barbara public play structure. It blends in beautifully with the sprawling tree and provides many play opportunities, including a swinging bridge, crawl tunnel and fully enclosed treehouse deck. Her imaginative use of rope netting provides maximum safety while allowing kids to feel like they are perched perilously high up in a tree.

Barbara has built four treehouses for public spaces: Roughhouse Treehouse in Las Vegas, Treepod at Magical Bridge Redwood City, TOPS Treehouse at the Orinda Preschool, and Hillbrook Treehouse at Hillbrook School.

Barbara designed the first Retreat Huts for Magical Bridge Playgrounds as a place for kids, especially ones with auditory sensitivity, to escape the hubhub of the playground. They can be found at all the Magical Bridge Playgrounds in the Bay Area and are a great addition to any public play space to create a more inviting atmosphere.

Barbara Butler Playhouse, LLC Expansion

As previously noted, in 2022, Barbara decided to open a second company to handle all of the public works projects. Barbara Butler Playhouses, LLC (BBPH) is set up specifically to handle the unique needs of public works. We are excited to grow this part of the business, allowing Barbara to design more structures that will be enjoyed by a wider audience.

Be sure to visit the new Barbara Butler Playhouses, LLC website!

Creating Play Spaces for Everyone: 22 Years of Public Play Structures