Granada Beach Water Park
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is home to one of California’s longest urban coastlines, where lively neighborhoods border over five miles of protected, sandy beaches.
As part of a broader coastal planning effort, SALT designed a play park at Granada Beach that invites children to find delight in sand and water.
An Invitation to the Coast
SALT and RA-DA worked with the City of Long Beach on a beachfront improvement plan to draw more residents to the beach, creating a range of ways for children and families to gather and play along the city’s wide, sandy beaches.
Linked by a continuous new promenade and bike path, four destinations along a 3.5-mile stretch now offer beachgoers new places to eat, rent beach equipment, play basketball or use exercise equipment, and enjoy amenities such as a visitors’ center and public restrooms.
Adventure Play by the Water
The destination at Granada Beach, designed by SALT, is an adventure park that distills the experience of the beach into its essential materials: rock, sand, and water. A curving walkway surrounds a protected sandy zone, and boulders set into the sand invite climbing and hopping.
Instead of traditional play structures, the play space consists of industrial-style mechanisms that encourage experimentation through interaction with water. Either solo or in groups, children can pump, dam, and direct water flow through a sequence of fountains, troughs, and pipes.
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