City Museum is being touted as the ultimate urban playground. Located in St. Louis, it was originally the International Shoe Factory. But after late artist and sculptor Bob Cassilly took over the space, it became a sky-high jungle gym that boasts "repurposed airplanes, two towering 10-story slides and numerous multi-floor slides, a rooftop Ferris wheel and a cantilevered school bus that juts out from the roof, subterranean caves, a pipe organ, hundreds of feet of tunnels that traverse from floor to floor, an aquarium, ball pits, a shoe lace factory, a circus arts facility, restaurants and even a bar," writes the Contemporist.
A must-visit destination in the midwestern United States, the City Museum is constantly under construction as new features are added or improved thanks to a ragtag group of 20 artists known affectionately as the Cassilly Crew.
Why This Trend Is Growing
- Repurposed Industrial Spaces
- Exploring the creative and unique ways to transform former industrial locations into unconventional playgrounds and entertainment spaces.
- Interactive and Adventure-based Playgrounds
- Designing urban playgrounds that offer interactive and adventurous experiences, incorporating features such as slides, tunnels, and sky-high structures.
- Continuous Innovation in Playground Design
- Continuously updating and enhancing playgrounds to provide new and exciting experiences for visitors, creating opportunities for ongoing innovation in playground design.
Industries Being Reshaped
- Entertainment and Recreation
- Creating unique and immersive entertainment spaces by repurposing industrial locations for interactive playgrounds and experiences.
- Architecture and Design
- Incorporating innovative features and designs in urban playgrounds that promote adventure and engage visitors in novel ways.
- Construction and Engineering
- Providing expertise in transforming industrial spaces into safe and enjoyable urban playgrounds that comply with building codes and safety standards.
