‘Enormous Playful Sandpit’ is a re-imagining of the adventure playground on a grand scale, aiming to create a place for children and young adults to play, build, and connect. The sandpit hosts a range of different play environments but is also home a yearly festival that invites the participants to construct a new temporary castle that celebrates the heritage, life and future of Castlegate.

Building on the site of the late Castle Markets ( demolished 2015), the sandpit aims to provide an educational space on a civic scale that creatively interacts with the heritage of Sheffi eld. These aims were developed from responses and interactions during the 2022 Castlegate urban room.

This project also aims to develop a unique building technology inspired by Norman castles and the Castle Markets, but also drawing influence from set design. This results in a built form that is, as with all adventure playgrounds, always ‘under-construction’. The wings of the building include classrooms, workshops, a hall, a crèche, and a café that encircle the ever changing ‘sandpit’ at the centre of the project.