Louis H. Farrell Elementary School

About

The School District of Philadelphia commissioned SALT to design the schoolyard at Farrell Elementary School to support playful learning initiatives. In close collaboration with the Mural Arts Restored Spaces Initiative (MARSI), SALT developed a schoolyard design that was guided by student input and incorporates a variety of surfaces, textures, and shapes, which help create a wide range of experiences throughout the schoolyard.

Categories Place Parks & Play Spaces Recreation School

Project Details

Located in the Rhawnhurst neighborhood, Farrell Elementary serves over 1,200 students in grades K-8 in one of the most culturally diverse schools in Philadelphia, where more than 30 languages are spoken by the student population. Through a year-long, participatory process, students were engaged in games and activities to gather ideas about play, identify desired programs, and prioritize areas for site improvements. Funded by the William Penn Foundation, this project was designed to advance literacy and learning goals while promoting playful learning in public schoolyards.

The schoolyard concept, “A Living Place: It’s Where Life Takes Place!” emerged from students’ fascination with the energy and vibrancy of an active beehive. Drawing inspiration from honeycomb patterns and the social habits of bees, SALT designed a dynamic schoolyard rooted in native ecology with a distinctly international ambiance. The design reflects student input, incorporating a wide range of surfaces, textures, and shapes to support active and passive play, performance, socializing, gardening, and nature exploration.

Key features include a Gateway Plaza, a Literacy Loop, an Outdoor Classroom & Performance Space, separate play areas for older and younger children, and a Native Pollinator Meadow & Nature Discovery Trail. The Meadow forms a substantial green buffer near the street, filled with urban-hardy native perennial grasses, flowers, and trees. A trail winding through the meadow provides a hands-on space for natural science learning. Hand painted by MARSI artists, the colorful Literacy Loop features a vibrant pavement mural that tells the story of the honeybee and local ecology, adorned with depictions of native plants and animals. The pavement mural incorporates student artwork, multiple languages, and playful learning prompts to engage students as they play outdoors.

Amenities

Outdoor classroom and performance space with stage
Two play spaces for children of varying ages
Basketball and volleyball courts
Nature Discovery Trail with new native plantings buffering the adjacent roadway
Literacy Loop art mural
Large group seating areas
Collaborative playspace with gaga pit

Contact SALT Design Studio info@saltdesigns.com SALT Design Studio Farrell Elementary School Project

Construction Details

Design Firm
SALT Design Studio

Subconsultants
David Mason + Associates
Rodriguez Consulting, LLC.

General Contractor
TE Construction Services

Collaborators
Mural Arts

Funders & Supporters
School District of Philadelphia
William Penn Foundation

Total Cost
$972,000

An aerial image of the playground showing play equipment, gathering spaces, and a painted ground mural looping around the playground.

An aerial view of the playground showing brightly colored painted pathways and features including leaves, insects, and maps to support student ecological learning.

Students gather on an elevated wooden platform next to a walking trail. The trail has native plants on either side.

Artists painting the specialized ecological features along the literacy loop on the playground. They are painting a beehive design that features bees and other pollinators.

Under a bright sky students are climbing, spinning, walking, and gathering throughout the playground.

Aerial view of a portion of the colorful literacy loop with a sparrow feeding its babies.

all purple plantings in the foreground with the playground and school buildings in the background.

Recent Case Studies

A large sculpture of an animal head made from plants, with one side of the head resembling a child’s rocking horse, and the other side a dinosaur.

Place

Glenstone

A contemporary art museum in Potomac, Maryland, Glenstone has transformed former disparate residential properties into a contemplative, integrated experience with unique architecture, rolling topography, native meadows, and outdoor art.

Two children play on modern-styled exercise equipment with an adult standing near one of them. There are trees, shrubs, and perennials planted on either side and a street with parked cars in the background.

Place

Ricardo Lara Linear Park

Once a flood-prone dumping ground along Interstate 105 in Lynwood, California, Ricardo Lara Linear Park is now a community-focused park that includes a one-mile walking trail, two playgrounds, a community garden, and exercise stations.

Program

Groundwork USA's National Experiential Learning Program

Groundwork USA’s National Experiential Learning Program is a summer program that brings youth and young adults from communities across the Groundwork Network to some of our nation’s most iconic National Parks where they connect to the land through experiential learning, workforce development, stewardship, and recreation.