The project: IMEG provided landscape architecture services for the Healey’s Schoolyard project – a complex, multi-year phased initiative driven by a significant investment by the City of Somerville. The redesign transformed an underutilized and inhospitable play space — previously dominated by a vast expanse of asphalt — into a dynamic and inclusive environment tailored to serve students, the adjacent public housing community, and neighborhood residents.

The goal: The primary goal of the project was to create an engaging, accessible, and inclusive schoolyard that would support active and passive play while fostering connections with the surrounding community. By incorporating thoughtful design elements, the project aimed to provide a welcoming recreational space for individuals of all ages and abilities.

The design: Accessibility played a central role in the design, both within the play space — where sloped walkways connect elevated play areas — and in its external connectivity. A ramp and stair system was implemented to navigate the grade change, ensuring seamless integration with the adjacent Somerville Housing Authority (SHA) buildings. IMEG conducted extensive outreach with students, teachers, and the neighboring community to ensure the design met diverse needs and expectations.

Project amenities: The schoolyard features a custom play structure (ages 5-12), a tot lot (ages 2-5), a U-12 synthetic turf field with sports lighting, two basketball courts, an outdoor fitness area, passive plaza spaces, spectator seating, a picnic area, and an outdoor classroom with gardens. The play tower provides high play value within a compact space, catering to all ability levels while enabling teachers to safely supervise students. Several newly planted shade trees enhance the environment, offering natural beauty and comfort.

Client testimonial: “Because of the Healey Schoolyard’s urban location and history, the project design needed to address the needs of a variety of local community partners, state and city agencies – and the physical challenges of the site, which included a steep slope and contaminated soils. Therefore, as an essential part of developing the site design, the City and [IMEG] completed an extensive community outreach process to ensure that community needs and equity issues would be addressed […] While this has been a complicated design and construction process, [IMEG]’s team has done an excellent job of guiding the project from the community design process through construction.” -Arn Franzen, Senior Project Manager, City of Somerville Department of Public Space and Urban Forestry