Kelly Park Playground
Accessibility and Imagination
Kelly Park Playground is a 3.6-acre park located within the Homecrest neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, on Ave S, between East 14th Street and East 15th Street. The site is one of two adjacent parks, divided by elevated train tracks, with overlapping programs. The western parcel, which encompasses this project, includes tennis courts, basketball and handball courts, a fitness area, paved baseball fields, and a playground. The eastern parcel includes basketball and handball courts as well as a small playground known as a Joint Operated Playground (J.O.P.) with adjoining Public School 255.
The project was presented to the community board in May 2020 and unanimously approved. Construction began in February 2023, and it was completed and opened to the public in
August 2024.
Project Goals
The team had four primary goals. First, they wanted to create a large, regional, universal-design playground, inclusive and inviting to all people from all over the city. Second, they sought to establish a harmonious and complementary relationship between the open sections and the play zones. The third goal looked to provide an interactive play experience that allows children to manipulate the built and natural environments. The team's fourth goal was to create a more natural park setting.
Design Details
The design encourages free, dynamic, universal, and inclusive play. Pathways to and through natural design elements provide opportunities for children to get closer to nature and provide challenges and opportunities to navigate various grade changes. The park and the main components in the play units are designed to be interlinked and wheelchair accessible while encouraging universal play and social interaction. The play areas also include quiet pockets where children can take time away from busy activities.
The park is divided into clearly defined but open "children's zones" and "general public zones." This design approach allows children and their guardians to feel comfortable within the playground while maintaining visual and physical access to the surrounding environment.
Circulation
The primary path system is for the general public and forms an outer route along the perimeter of the park with many access points into the various play spaces that are delineated by planted buffers that also mask the fence at the edge. This primary path also connects to seating around the public restroom and the splash pad.
The second circulation system is a network of smaller paths and entrances that connect the various play areas. The focus is to provide as many 'micro' circulation loops and routes as possible, creating a multitude of choices that result in a more exciting play environment. The play spaces - all in proximity to the spray shower - have various barrier-free connections to the public circulation system. In certain locations, ramps lead to play elements and elevated features that continue to other paths at differing elevations, forming even more opportunities for creative "play loops." Seat walls flank some of the paths and double as alternate, challenging routes between play spaces and elements.
Three park entrances connect to the outer path. The first is the main park entrance at the public restroom, which aligns directly with the existing midblock crosswalk and leads into the seating area. The team did not want to align the entrance with the nondescript back wall of the public restroom building. The second is near the crosswalk at the corner of Avenue S and East 14th Street, and the third entrance sits midblock on East 14th Street.
2-5 Play
The 2-5-year-old play area is set in the middle of the park, away from the entrances and street traffic. Ramped platforms lead to a raised seating section, which has child-size tables, chairs, and playhouses. While the raised level is shared by the 2-5 and 5-12 age groups, the varying character and nature of the different play elements will allow both groups to enjoy this space. A bank of buckets and inclusive swings enclose the 2-5 play space on the eastern edge. Opportunities for stroller parking are provided in the paved portions at its southern edge and next to the benches at its northern entrance.
5-12 Play
The 5-12-year-old play area, also in proximity to the spray shower, extends along East 14th Street and the northern edge of the park. The unit parallel to East 14th Street has fully ADA-accessible platforms and panels along the unit's play circuit. Immediately adjacent to it is a generous bank of swings. The fully accessible northern unit connects directly to the raised area (6 feet above) with a tall freestanding climber and contains prominent views of the surrounding park. From here, a ramp leads back down to the ground level, forming a playful circulation loop. The vertical reveal of the raised area forms a climbing wall that further increases the connectivity and play opportunities between levels.
Specialized Play
Two specialized play areas are designed for children of all age groups and abilities and invite self-guided exploration and imaginative play. The first specialized play area, in the northwest corner of the park, features accessible musical instruments and an interactive maze with pivoting sign panels, designed to be ever-changing by children and park staff. The path through the maze is wheelchair accessible. From here, one can climb an inclined wall with handgrips or the side steps of the slide to the upper platform with more play events. From the platform - raised only four feet off the ground to allow clear sight lines - one can follow an accessible ramp to the interactive "Yalp Memo" - a computer driven platform offering a variety of ever-changing games. The second specialized area, on the southeast corner of the park, focuses on nature-play with a large grass mound reaching a level set six feet above the ground and featuring informal stone steps, a slide, a climbing wall, and more musical instruments.
An archeological dig zone and an accompanying ADA archeological table will have permanently affixed 'treasure' items to be discovered by digging children. Playing in dirt has documented mental health benefits and contributes to positive, carefree imaginative play. A line of stripped and finished stumps and stone boulders surrounds the dig zone as informal seating, group gathering, or impromptu balance elements. A concrete slab with impressions below the 18"-24" clay dig zone will serve as a discovery layer while restricting the limit
of excavation.
Spray Shower
The spray shower is located at the heart of the playground and is a key connector between the public restroom and the East 14th Street park entrance. The three overhead, leaf spray elements create a strong and playful focal point. This area also has ADA-accessible ground sprays and spray cannons and is surrounded by seating, including a row of backless benches that safely divide the splash pad and the adjacent climbing wall. This space and surrounding plaza have precast concrete pavers, forming a colorful carpet for this special location.
Outcome
On October 22, 2024, Kelly Park Playground had a Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony attended by New York City Parks Commissioner Sue Donoghue, New York State Senator Simcha Felder, and members of the community.
Donoghue exclaimed: "All New Yorkers deserve engaging and well-maintained public parks where they can meet with friends and enjoy the benefits of time outside. I'm so grateful to State Senator Simcha Felder for funding this important project and for his longstanding support for accessibility in our public spaces. I'm also grateful to Mayor Eric Adams for funding a complete renovation of the public restroom, making the park experience more comfortable for all."
As seen in LASN magazine, September 2025.
