Since its launch back in 2015, Explora Play has become the frontier of children’s playground design — all thanks to its passionate founder and leader, Samuel Tsang.
With clients ranging from international hotel chains to celebrated private theme parks, the Jakarta-based architectural design firm Explora Play, founded and led by Australian architect Samuel Tsang, has consistently proven itself as an expert in the field. Indonesia Expat had a chance to get to know Samuel Tsang as the latter discussed, among many things, his professional background in architecture before he decided to launch Explora Play, what he thought regarding the Jakarta government’s plans to build more public children’s playgrounds, and whether Explora Play would be keen on designing a playground for adults in the foreseeable future.
Hi, Samuel! Let’s get started by introducing yourself a bit. What can you tell us about yourself?
I’m Australian. I was born in Australia and I studied architecture, spending most of my time in Sydney. And then, once I graduated, I worked in Australia for an Australian firm, PTW, which designed the Water Cube Olympic Aquatic Centre in Beijing. In 2007, I moved to China to work for this Australian company, and it was mainly to do with master planning, designing cities, some office buildings, and large-scale projects. Afterwards, I set up my own design company, mainly doing interiors. At the time, I had a good friend—Pak Sahlan from MTA Architects—with whom I studied architecture and who was from Indonesia. He said, “You should come to Indonesia!” So I said, “Okay, sure.” I started doing some work from China for Indonesia. Later on, I decided to move here.
At one point, I was working for Agung Podomoro Group, and what they wanted me to do was to find a playground supplier for this project in Vimala Hills in Bogor. I could find maybe two or three suppliers locally, and they were only importing and not fabricating in Indonesia. No one was actually doing custom-made playgrounds in Jakarta, so I thought, “Well, this is interesting”, which led to the launch of Explora Play. It’s been a very difficult journey because no one actually teaches you how to build playgrounds. Additionally, at one point, I returned to Australia to attend a whole course about playground safety, after which I became a certified playground inspector as well.
As an architect, why did you decide to focus specifically on children’s playgrounds?
Because of my kids. They usually go to a playground in a shopping mall, and sometimes, those indoor playgrounds are a sensory overload. Yes, I can design a building, but designing a children’s playground here is very different because you’re dealing with safety, materials, and Indonesia’s extreme weather conditions for outdoor playgrounds.
How would you define an ‘ideal’ children’s playground?
I think it depends on the site as well as the children’s age group. Often, when we approach a client, we ask them, “Is it for toddlers only, or is it for older kids? Is it in a hotel or is it part of a shopping mall?” And for us, Explora Play, we also try to keep the language of the playground a little bit more cohesive and not so scrambled or too much inside the playground. That’s because in a playground space, you need a lot of circulation. Kids also like to have imaginative play. You need to give them that space—the space to imagine what they’re doing inside the playground. That and also to provide enough challenging parts of the playground. For example, if you’ve got a kid who’s seven years old, they’re not going to be interested in a seesaw or sensory-type equipment.
From my understanding, the design for the children’s playgrounds by Explora Play follows the Australian safety standards. Why these particular standards? And why are they important?
Yes. We, Explora Play, follow the Australian safety standards, namely AS4685, which refers to the Australian Standards for playground equipment—including safety requirements for different types of children’s play equipment as well as play environments. This also relates to the surfacing, how thick the play EPDM surface should be, and possible physical collision setbacks, for example.
Attitude towards safety in children’s playgrounds has changed considerably, depending on where you are. In Holland and Germany, for example, the emerging idea is that you need to give the kids a feeling of risk when they play. However, in Asia, additional safety above the standards is often required.
Recently, the Provincial Governor of DKI Jakarta, Pramono Anung Wibowo, remarked that he wished to add more children’s playgrounds in the province as both a public space and a green space. What do you think about such plans?
I think that would be fantastic, and I think more children’s playgrounds in Jakarta are very much needed right now. Actually, we did some work many years ago for Ragunan Zoo in South Jakarta, but we haven’t done any government projects. I’d really like to do a project like that, and it would be great if we could meet the Governor. My dream is to build a large-scale playground like the ones you see in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, or Sydney. Maybe we could cooperate with the other children’s playground companies in Indonesia and build something together.
Is Explora Play ever interested in designing the playground for adults?
Sure. I’ve been thinking about that idea, actually. Maybe a playground akin to the one you see on American Ninja Warrior, or maybe a theme park. We’re currently working on this project in Bandung, for which we are designing a sort of 500-metre outbound track, like the one you would see in Shanghai Disneyland. This one is pretty much for adults because the outbound track has the harness and the rail, and once you go along the rail, two paths are waiting for you: one is easy and the other one is a little bit harder.
Can you tell us a little bit about the projects that you have done and also the projects that you will do in the foreseeable future?
Of course. So far, we have a pretty diverse list of clients with whom we have worked together. We have worked with international hotel chains such as Pullman, Holiday Inn, and BVLGARI. Speaking of the latter, we have just finished an indoor children’s playground at BVLGARI Resort Bali. We have also recently wrapped up a design project for One&Only Kéa Island in Greece, and we helped with some design work, as well as documentation, for Emirates Palace Mandarin Oriental, Abu Dhabi.
One of the projects we are currently working on at the moment is a children’s playground at The St. Regis Bali. Another one is a children’s playground called KiN Space, which is located in SCBD Park, Jakarta. It’s a Nusantara-themed children’s playground suitable for both kids and toddlers. As part of KiN Space, we’re also designing, to name a few, a rattan tower, a rope tunnel, and a drawing wall for UV torches. We’re also currently doing a project with Sky World Indonesia in Bandung.
EXPLORA PLAY
- Address: Talavera Office Park, 28th Floor, Jl. T. B. Simatupang Kav. 22-26, South Jakarta, Indonesia 12430
- WhatsApp: +43 660 828 5789 (Samuel) / +62 878 8721 9438 (Yanti)
- Instagram: @exploraplayground
- YouTube: The Playground Guy
- Email: samuel@tau-architect.com
- Website: www.exploraplay.com