Architects worldwide are increasingly incorporating playful elements such as swings, nets, slides, and climbing structures into residential homes, creating spaces that appeal not only to children but also to adults. This trend reflects growing recognition of the benefits of play on mental health and wellbeing, as well as a desire to challenge traditional, rigid housing designs.

In Melbourne, Australia, architect Andrew Maynard observed his clients’ eight-year-old twin boys actively contributing ideas for their new home’s design. Taking their input seriously, Maynard’s firm, Austin Maynard Architects (AMA), created the Tower House, a complex of interconnected wooden shingle-clad structures resembling a small village. Among its distinctive features are a large suspended net for lounging and play, alongside a ladder integrated into kitchen joinery leading to a hidden level accessible to children.

Since completing Tower House in 2015, AMA has become known for its playful approach, often including swings, ladders, and nets in its projects. Maynard explains that traditional homes typically promote a fixed way of living, whereas introducing playful elements fosters informal interaction, encourages physical activity, and alters how residents engage with their environment. Recent AMA projects include a Canberra home featuring a ladder that ascends to a netted elevated retreat for children, and another Melbourne residence with a strong industrial-strength catamaran net suspended over a library workspace, designed for both climbing and quiet reading. Maynard emphasizes that such playfulness is not just for children, stating, “Play shouldn’t stop when you grow up.”

Similar design philosophies are evident in other countries. In Montreal, Canada, Indee Design transformed a two-story early 20th-century house to include a built-in slide, living room swings, a suspended net, and a plywood climbing wall in the playroom, aiming to bring adventure into the home. The interior designer Florence Charron describes the slide and net as the centerpiece of the house, carefully inserted into a first-floor opening with a slender metal pole screen for safety. Charron highlights the importance of maintaining a modern aesthetic so that the space does not feel exclusively childlike, and notes that while these features can be removed as children grow, playful design continues to offer significant health and wellbeing benefits.

Taiwan-based HAO Design has also integrated elements such as slides, ladders, swings, ball pits, and monkey bars into children-friendly homes. Their projects exhibit a refined style, blending play structures seamlessly with neutral-toned, minimalist interiors. For instance, a Kaohsiung apartment includes a built-in timber playhouse with a slide that can be tucked away to maintain a clean look.

Not all playful features require extensive renovations. In north London, design studio 2LG installed a hidden door behind wooden panelling that leads to a slide descending into a playroom and ball pit, fulfilling co-founder Russell Whitehead’s childhood dream of a private chute. The studio also designed a wooden playhouse in a detached Edwardian home in southeast London for a family with three children. The design allows for future adaptations such as the addition of a climbing wall or conversion of the playhouse into a bed and desk. Co-founder Jordan Cluroe stresses the value of investing in such spaces, which have proven popular with the children and their friends.

This architectural movement, supported by studies like a 2022 University of Exeter report highlighting play’s positive effects on mental health, is gaining broader attention. The Davidson Prize, an annual architecture ideas competition, dedicated its 2024 edition to promoting play within housing schemes, with shortlisted entries proposing innovative uses of spaces such as decommissioned buses and fire escape stairwells for play. The winner is to be announced next month.

Despite challenges in balancing functionality and whimsy, designers and homeowners alike are embracing playful architecture, seeking to create environments that enhance wellbeing and bring a sense of joy to everyday living.