Conclusion

Sociotechnical System 

Creating a musical playground is not as simple as buying all the supplies that go into a playground: equipment, compressed stones, cement, and park benches. And it is certainly not as simple as installing these supplies and calling it a day. Creating a musical playground requires a much larger system of interaction between members of the community, the City of Easton Public Works, the KSAT Board and Lafayette College. Therefore, throughout our project we have sought to work within a sociotechnical system, taking the larger social, political, technical and economic contexts into account while planning the proposal. It is this sociotechnical analysis that separates an Engineering Studies project from a project in any other engineering discipline and therefore what we sought to stress throughout the proposal.  The implementation of the playground requires a great deal of collaboration among the pre-existing trail and surrounding environment, the community groups using and benefiting from the musical playground, the technical and political actors instrumental in implementing the area and the instruments themselves that make up the playground. Figure 40, shown below, is a visual representation of the sociotechnical system that we believe is strongly involved in the creation of a musical playground on the Karl Stirner Arts Trail.  Together, these parts of our sociotechnical system will work together to build an even greater and more tightly knit Easton community.

 

Summary

The purpose of our project was to propose a plan for a musical playground on the Karl Stirner Arts Trail that fulfilled the goals of providing a civic space and promoting art in its many forms. The proposed arrangement not only incorporates a bench to better integrate the area as a community site, but also includes the aesthetically and acoustically pleasing Premium Ensemble produced by Freenotes Harmony Park. This ensemble includes a variety of chimes and resonated xylophones named the Contrabass Chimes, the Imbarimba,  The Swirl, the Pegasus, and the Tuned Drums. Together, these five instruments, the additional set of Contrabass Chimes, and the bench will frame the social impact we envision the musical playground having alongside the KSAT.

The feasibility study detailed throughout this website laid out the areas of potential impact the musical playground will have on the greater Easton community, as well as the logistics of implementing the instruments and surrounding infrastructure. A musical playground provides social benefits in its ability to create a positive playground environment as music can decrease anxiety and increase enjoyment in visitors in addition to providing educational and therapeutic benefits that assist with learning or mental disorders.

When the time comes in build the playground, there is little political red tape over which to be concerned because this project came from the KSAT board and is already supported by the Easton Parks Department. The zoning laws require indications of nearby buildings and structures and ensuring the park is up to safety regulations, but located as the musical playground will be away from any buildings, there are few zoning laws that are actually applicable to the situation besides anything to do with the river.

The durable and outdoor instruments manufactured by Freenotes Harmony Park are not difficult to install as they come with detailed assembly directions and spacing specifications. In the chosen area, which is 40′ deep and 25′ wide, the instruments will fit close enough to promote interaction between players on different instruments, but far enough from each other so as to leave enough room to move around them. Cement, compressed stones, and the border timbers completes the list of construction materials needed to create the musical playground.

The total anticipated cost for the project, including site preparation and cost of the instruments and bench is estimated to be about $45,000. The majority of the money will be spent on purchasing and shipping the instruments to Easton. As the Sustainable Solutions class will construct the playground, the cost of labor, which is normally a large part of a budget, is not a large factor. Overall, the proposed plan is within the budget indicated by the KSAT Board, a contributing factor to make the plan feasible.

In conclusion, the musical playground proposed alongside the Karl Stirner Arts Trail is socially, politically, technically and economically feasible. The study shows that when the playground is implemented, it will have a positive impact on the greater Easton community.

Next Steps

The next step for this project is for the park to be implemented in the spring of 2016 by the Engineering Studies class Sustainable Solutions. Armed with this study and the proposed plan, they can focus on the logistics of bringing the instruments and other construction supplies to site without having to worry about the quality of what they are purchasing or how the instruments will fit into the community. That part is already done, and as laid out on this website, the instruments and equipment were chosen because they will fit into the community and the vision the community has for itself.

An aspect of this playground that was not studied in the scope of this feasibility study, but would behoove someone to analyze, is to look into the potential noise disturbances created by the playground. The volume of the musical notes produces is talked about briefly towards the end of the Policy Analysis, but it does not touch on how the sound from the instruments will travel and the effect this will have on the students of Lafayette College and the larger Easton community. The chosen instruments sound good together and will therefore ideally not create loud and unpleasant noises for the users of the trail and surrounding community, but sound does carry, especially up. As Lafayette College is on top of the hill around which the KSAT winds, the instruments will certainly be heard, especially on a clear evening. Otherwise the trail, and therefore the playground, is somewhat isolated, not surrounded by homes or businesses to be disturbed. The hope is that an analysis will show that the playground will produce soothing noises that, even when they travel, do not disturb the surrounding community.