The Music Box is a project worked on in collaboration with the Karam school, located in Reyhanli, Turkey. The town is mainly occupied by Syrian refugees, who are creating a musical playground to give back to the community that welcomed them. The Music Box allows children to play and explore the creation of music. It has been shown that both play and music accelerate brain development in the language and sound processing centers of the brain. For many refugees, who are learning new languages, this could be very helpful. The music box is made up of two cylinders. The inner cylinder holds the comb, which is a series of flat steel pieces that get plucked by the pegs positioned in the outer cylinder when the kids spin it. The kids can ride on the pegs as it spins around. The design takes into account that there will be many different users with a range of ages, by including components that are fun and engaging for everyone, Such as the spinning aspect for the kids and the platform to sit for parents.

Lilian Jochmann:

A musical play structure that invites children to explore differently shaped musical platforms, each of which makes a unique sound when stepped or jumped on. Arranged in a random format and constructed mainly from wood, the platforms are at different heights, adding some risk to the fun.

 In 2011, a civil war began in Syria. Since then, 5.6 million men, women, and children have escaped to safe havens. Many end up in refugee or displaced person camps hundreds of miles from their homes, and thousands have fled to Reyhanli, Turkey, a town on the border of Syria. The refugees have doubled the town’s population, giving it the nickname “Little Syria”. Although most of the children in Reyhanli go to school, many don’t have a safe place to play or hang out before, after, or on weekends. Musical Platforms is designed to be part of a playground that will give these youth a place to run around, interact with other kids like them, and relieve stress by being outside. Further, parents and other adults can use the playground as a community gathering space to talk, exchange stories, and relax.

With its series of musical platforms set at different heights, Musical Platforms engages kids in several ways. Each platform is one of five shapes (cube, rectangle, cylinder, triangle, and star) and when stepped or jumped on makes a different sound based on the shape. Children explore the structure by jumping from platform to platform and seeing what combinations of sounds they can make. The greatest design challenge centered on how to generate the noises and sounds. Because hundreds of kids will be jumping and playing, the platforms need to be simple, preferably mechanical (not using electronic motors or machines so they're more durable.  However, it’s difficult to make a complicated sound mechanically. The platforms are built from wood, and use springs to bounce up after a child has jumped on it. Inside each platform is a mechanism that contains both the springs to make the platform bounce and the metal xylophone bars used to make music. These platforms are a new way to play, engaging multiple senses and raising kids' spirits as they bounce and make music.

Molly Rosenberg:

A mechanical collection of tiles that produce sound as children step on them. Designed for Syrian refugee children in Turkey, the musical playground structure acts as a happy, carefree, and exciting escape for children from the stresses in their lives.

The Syrian civil war in 2011 changed the life of millions. Since then, over five million people have escaped to refugee or displaced person camps, and many people fled to a small town in Turkey on the border of Syria, Reyhanli. Kids currently living in the Turkish town, Reyhanli, are not accustomed to playgrounds and the carefree lifestyle that children in other places experience.  The Musical Platforms are designed to engage and excite these children, many of whom are refugees from Syria. The playground will allow them to feel free, happy, excited, and youthful; it will be a sort of community gathering space for children to play and adults to talk, play, and take a break.

The platforms are constructed from wood, springs, and a musical mechanism. Each platform is one of five shapes: rectangle, square, circle, triangle, and star. The biggest challenge was figuring out what mechanism would be most suitable for a playground with thousands of children, but also produce a loud noise. Inside each wooden platform is a spring to make it bounce after a child jumps on it, and xylophone bars to make music. Dance Chimes are a similar installation that consists of a three by three grid of tiles that make different sounds when stepped on. Musical Platforms builds on this idea since there are  different shaped platforms to add more interest, and varying heights to boosts children's adrenalin. Kids can repeat sounds, jump around, and make all sorts of music with these platforms, while feeling free, excited, and safe.  

Jackson Enyeart: 

This project is an escape course for children in Reyhanli, Turkey that explores the concept of body moments and sound and heightening senses

The refugee children in Reyhanli are without a communal playspace. The hope is that with a playspace, they will have more developmentally appropriate opportunities to socialize with other. The project is a two-part escape course. The first part is a pitch-dark tunnel maze where children must use sound to find their way out. On the floor of the tunnel, a string that must be pulled so that the bell in front of them well ring. By following the bells to the end, the kids escape the maze and reach an open area where tilting pads hang from ropes. When the children jump onto a pad and grip a pressure point, the pad produces a pitch that changes as the pad is tilted from side to side, going sharp or flat depending on the direction of tilt. To do this, we used an Arduino and an accelerometer. The accelerometer measures the coordinated of the tilt and produces a pitch that bends when it moves. Sound is explored through body movement as one uses their body to change the pitch.

Lina Huang: 

Playground musical stepping stones and a tunnel maze that encourage experimentation with sound and movement.

Young Syrian refugees in Reyhanli, Turkey currently have access to a temporary playground created by a series of wooden cubes. Implementing musical structures will enhance the space and encourage the exploration of music, the senses, and movement. One of the structures is a dark tunnel maze with bells attached to a rope on the ground for kids to ring. As children crawl through the tunnel, the rope and bells guide them through the end; the darkness encourages them to focus on their senses of touch and hearing. The second part is a grid of "stepping stones" that change sound as children interact with them. Leveled circular surfaces with a rope running through them have Arduino-run sensors, accelerometers, and speakers that play pitches when kids step on their surfaces. As kids lean from side to side, the notes of each stepping stone change pitch. Incorporating music into a playground encourages children to find joy in exploring and experimenting with music. These structures give children, who may not have had much exposure to music, interactive musical experiences that allow them to take risks by experimenting with their senses and movements of their bodies. 

Gus’ brief

The musical bike is a stationary tandem bike that, when pedaled, makes music.  As the back wheel of the bike turns a cylinder with spikes, the spikes hit a piano-style hammer that hits drums. It can be played in an ascending or descending scale or have songs programmed in like on a music box.  This bike will be a part of a playground created for children who have fled Syria and are now living on the Turkish border. The bike was created as one of many musical elements of the playground. Play and music are important for children everywhere, but many of these kids don't have much of either.  

This project builds on the mechanics of a piano. With the piano, a finger hits the key, the key moves the hammer, and the hammer hits the string to make a sound. In our innovative mechanism, a foot moves the pedals, which moves the wheel. The wheel moves a cylinder, which strikes the keys that hit the drums to make musical notes.

There are many benefits to this bike: Since this is a musical bike, we hope it motivates kids to pedal.  By pedaling faster or slower, kids can change the tempo of the music, which is fun. The bike gives kids good exercise. Because it’s tandem it is a social experience as well. We hope that our design helps kids meet new friends on the playground and just makes kids happy. 

At most playgrounds, parents don’t have anywhere to sit and socialize with one another; as a result, kids to be are surrounded by hovering parents and are prevented from taking risks and learning to overcome their fears at young ages. Sound Barriers is a series of translucent elastic string walls that vibrate at modified frequencies based on sounds that are picked up from microphones set around the playground. Sound Barriers helps children have the freedom to take risks on the playground, while still allowing the parents to watch their children. In of an emergency, the parents can access a walkway through gaps in the strings to reach their kids. Sound Barriers is being designed and built for a playground in Reyhanli, Turkey, in partnership with students from a local school called the Karam House. Sound Barriers will surround the adult sections of the park (designated as reading, gardening, picnic, and board game areas). The local kids and adults will come to this park and use it as a community space and place to play.

Musical Slide: A slide enclosed in a tube structure of ropes and wood frames children can use to climb up. Located at intersections of the rope are connector pieces which contain a bell system that composes 4 different sounds when pulled in 4 different directions. 

The Musical Slide helps the children of Reyhanli, Turkey experience physical activity in innovative ways. The slide is enclosed in a tube structure of ropes and wood frames children can use to climb up. The children are given the opportunity to create different sounds due to rope connectors which have bells hanging via a string in 4 different directions. When you pull the string in a certain direction, a chord from a xylophone will ring within the connector piece. Besides being able to descend on the slide, they can use the cocoon of ropes to climb and generate different sounds. A user can shake, pull, and push the rope structure and the connector pieces will react by ringing xylophone chords. The xylophone chords vary when pulled in different directions, allowing kids to decide what pitch they want to produce. The project is for the people of Reyhanli to enjoy an updated presentation of a playground and will be used to awaken the creativity of children of the modern era.