Project Highlight: Adventure Playscape at the Exploration Place

Schaefer Architecture has established and maintained a collaborative relationship with one of Wichita’s must-see destinations — the Exploration Place. In 1995, Moshe Safdie, an internationally respected architect renowned for incorporating principles of innovation and socially responsible design, began working with Schaefer to develop the project’s original design. According to Schaefer Historian and Senior Vice President Matt Hamm, Safdie was struck by the symbolic significance of the former Ackerman Island and sought to honor its history through his design for Exploration Place. Today, an exhibit within the island building details the extensive measures taken to unify the site within the river itself, resulting in the beloved landmark the community knows today.

Over the years, Schaefer has continued its involvement with Exploration Place through numerous additions and renovations. Two generations of Schaefer leadership have served on boards and committees guiding the organization’s future. Since the museum’s founding, the firm has provided design leadership to help Exploration Place evolve alongside the needs of its visitors, including, with the assistance of Safdie Architects, the development of Architectural Design Guidelines intended to preserve the site’s core identity while supporting thoughtful growth.

“The Exploration Place, as an organization and as an iconic structure, is like a stone dropped into a river, and its excellence continues to ripple across the downtown community landscape.”

— Matt Hamm, Senior Vice President

In 2024, Schaefer was honored to facilitate a selection process, bringing together a talented team of planners, designers, and engineers to create a new Masterplan, a new amphitheater, and a new park to activate Exploration Place’s entire 20-acre site. Nationally recognized landscape architecture firm Hoerr Schaudt and its team have joined with Schaefer and local engineering talent to design the highly anticipated Adventure Playscape.

Currently under construction, the Adventure Playscape represents an ambitious, world-class redevelopment of the site. The project includes a new amphitheater designed to host a wide range of events and an interactive park activating a previously underutilized six-acre area east of the museum. As Project Architect, Schaefer is responsible for the design of two key elements within the playscape: a dramatic, custom-designed pipe trellis cantilevering from the top of an integral-color, cast-in-place concrete retaining wall, and a centrally located Guest Services Building, which houses Graze Café and park restrooms. The trellis and retaining wall will provide much-needed shade, display donor recognition, and thoughtfully preserve views from McLean Boulevard toward Exploration Place. The Guest Services Building also houses essential infrastructure supporting the park’s water features and site lighting, while offering visitors comfortable amenities and a welcoming place to grab a cold beverage, filling meal, or a sweet treat.

Image Credit: Exploration Place Facebook page

This spring, the Exploration Place’s Adventure Playscape will open to the public as a world-class attraction, featuring inclusive and accessible play equipment, unique water elements, and dramatic sculptural play structures, some of which are already visible from McLean Boulevard. Rooted in a shared commitment to education, discovery, and community enrichment, the playscape continues Exploration Place’s mission of inspiring curiosity while reinforcing its role as a civic anchor along the river. Through decades of partnership, Schaefer Architecture has remained dedicated to thoughtful stewardship of this iconic site — helping ensure that each new chapter strengthens its connection to the community, honors its history, and invites future generations to explore, learn, and gather.