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Former WHLLG Employee Designs Children's Garden in Indonesia

A landscape architect who recently created a multi-generational garden – Kid’s Rock -- in Indonesia got her start at White Hutchinson Leisure & Learning Group in Kansas City, Missouri.

Karla Christensen was the first landscape architect I met who shared my passion for plant materials.  We met in 1997 when I first started work at White Hutchinson. Karla had been at our office for several years designing children’s gardens when our paths crossed. She then spent the next 12 years working in the humanitarian aid field in countries like Bosnia, Kosovo, Albania and Indonesia, leading the way in outdoor play garden construction and restoration.  She has a very interesting educational background, as well, that includes a bachelor’s degree in international relations and a master’s degree in landscape architecture from Louisiana State University, where she specialized in the design and construction of outdoor children’s environments.  Karla recently finished a very exciting project in Banda Aceh called Kid’s Rock.

With $100,000 and a timeline of only six months from design to construction, she created a multi-generational garden where children of all ages and their parents can meet, rest in the shade and play in a naturalized setting.  The central feature of the park is a pyramid of hundreds of boulders, carefully orchestrated and designed to offer children a variety of play experiences with natural objects and plant materials.  In addition to climbing features, the park has several sand play areas where children can build next to a pretend Komodo dragon or sit on a life-size turtle replica. Parents can walk on sensory paths or linger nearby for picnics.

Karla used local natural resources including beautiful mosaics created by the children of Banda Aceh. Here is a slide show of this testament to community involvement and naturalized play.  The use of local and nearby businesses supported the local economy and guaranteed community ownership.

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