NOTICE ON THINK PLAYGROUNDS’ OFFICE RELOCATION

The Think Playgrounds team have bid farewell to the office in Alley 310 Nghi Tàm Road and moved to a new address at No 1, Sub-alley 264/21 Âu Cơ Road, Hồng Hà Ward, Hà Nội. We look forward to welcoming Think Playgrounds’ partners and friends at our new home!

GENERATIONS OF HÀ NỘI ARCHITECTS GATHER TO CELEBRATE VIETNAMESE ARCHITECTURE DAY

On the occasion of the Vietnamese Architecture Day (27 April), the Hà Nội Architects Association held a seminar on the theme ‘Architects with their job and role in social responsibility’. Representing Think Playgrounds, architect Chu Thị Ngọc Anh attended as one of the association’s young members and delivered a presentation on the topic of architects’ social responsibility. She shared Think Playgrounds’ experience in implementing community playgrounds in the Red River bank areas of the former Phúc Tân and Chương Dương wards, which has contributed to preserving urban biodiversity and improving the lives of local people. This event was an occasion for generations of architects in Hà Nội to meet and exchange knowledge.

SPECIAL LESSON FROM NATURE FOR CHƯƠNG DƯƠNG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS (HÀ NỘI)

A group of students from Chương Dương Secondary School had a meaningful field trip to the south bank area of the Red River in ​​the former Phúc Tân and Chương Dương wards. Under Think Playgrounds’ coordination and their teachers’ guidance, the students accompanied a few local residents on the ecological trail along the riverbank and learned about nature right in the heart of the city. Not only did they discover urban biodiversity with different types of birds, insects, and plants, they also learned about some medicinal herbs and their uses in daily life along with the wild birds and their roles in the food chain of the riverside wetland ecosystem.

‘LION PLAYGROUND’ AT GIA LỘC TOWN PRESCHOOL (HẢI PHÒNG CITY)

A new playground called ‘Lion Playground’ designed and built by Think Playgrounds, incorporating the sponsor Generali Việt Nam’s brand message about promoting creative play for pre-school children, was recently opened at Gia Lộc Town Preschool, Hải Phòng City (previously in the former Hải Dương Province). It forms part of The Human Safety Net’s campaign to support the holistic development of young children. The playground features a slide, swings, seesaws, rocking lions, a roundabout, rubber tyre bridges, and ground art featuring a dynamic lion theme, which helps decorate an empty corner of the school grounds. Crafted from eco-friendly materials including natural wood, recycled plastic panels, and recycled tyres, the playground is child-friendly while also conveying a meaningful lesson about the environment.

UNIS STUDENTS HELP BUILD PUBLIC TOILET FOR SẢ XÉNG VILLAGE, LÀO CAI PROVINCE

Following a community co-design workshop event held earlier this year, on 14 May, a programme to donate a public toilet to the Community House in Sả Xéng Village, Sa Pa Ward, Lào Cai Province was carried out by a group of students from the ‘Helping Hands’ club of the United Nations International School (UNIS) in Hà Nội, in collaboration with Think Playgrounds and the local authorities. The toilet, installed by the UNIS students themselves along with Think Playgrounds and local workers, is compact and lightweight, designed to suit the available space, and is built using recycled materials derived from various types of plastic waste, such as bottles, plastic bags, and discarded plastic items, etc. It is expected that this initiative will help improve the quality of life for the community, enhance accessibility to the community house, and improve the environment in the Sả Xéng Village area.

THINK PLAYGROUNDS’ PAPER ABOUT PUBLIC SPACES AS URBAN SHIELDS AGAINST NATURAL DISASTERS

On 16 May, a conference themed ‘Architecture adapting to climate change & disaster prevention – from planning mindset to project solutions’ was held in Đà Nẵng City. This was a professional forum with diverse voices to discuss architecture and planning as a ‘proactive line of defence’ against storms, floods, and landslides. At the event, Think Playgrounds contributed their voice, based on practical implementation, through a paper by Ms Vũ Trung Kiên and architect Chu Kim Đức, titled ‘Public spaces as “buffer zones” in disaster-prone urban areas: From physical infrastructure to social resilience’. The presentation directly pointed out the limitations, high costs, and risk of disrupting native ecosystems inherent in traditional technocratic approaches that rely on hard infrastructure (such as dykes, concrete embankments). Instead, Think Playgrounds proposed a paradigm shift: Positioning small-scale public spaces in vulnerable riverside settlements to become proactive ‘buffer zones’, applying nature-based solutions and soft infrastructure.
Read the full paper (in Vietnamese) here.

‘PROTECTING CHILDHOOD SPACES IN THE CITY’ CAMPAIGN

Last month, Think Playgrounds carried out maintenance and repairs for the playground equipment at the kindergarten and primary school campus in Sả Xéng Village (Sa Pa Ward, Lào Cai Province). The activity is a part of our campaign ‘Protecting childhood spaces in the city’ in which we strive to maintain friendly, safe, and creative play spaces, and ensure the Right to Play for all children with the cooperation and long-term support from the whole community.

Join our effort here.