User:Grika/Landscape Structures

Landscape Structures Inc. (LSI), founded in 1971 by Barbara and Steve King, is a playground design firm based in Delano, Minnesota.

Landscape Structures has designed, manufactured and installed more than 50,000 playgrounds worldwide. They have installations in every state of the US plus Washington, D.C.; globally in Australia, Belgium, Cambodia, Canada, China, Colombia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Russia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, United Arab Emirates, and Uruguay.

Originally manufactured of wood, now they primarily utilize steel, aluminum and polyethylene while continuing to develop products using recycled or reclaimed industrial and post-consumer waste.

LSI became ISO 9001 certified in 1996 by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and then in 1998 they became ISO 14000 certified for their environmental conservation and recycling processes.

In 2013, LSI joined Kiwanis International as a vision partner to bring play to communities across the globe.

Playgrounds catering to "children with developmental disabilities like autism, down syndrome, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, spina bifida, and sensory processing disorder" designed by LSI are called “inclusive play".

In 2015, Landscape Structures acquired Aquatic Recreation Company and Commercial Aquatic Engineering, rebranding the water and splash-play market portion of the business as Aquatix and moving it from Eden Prairie to Delano. Shortly thereafter, LSI launched SkyWays Shade Division to manufacture shade products in Dallas, Texas.

Innovations

 * Creation of the "continuous play" concept, 1967
 * First fitness trail system VitaCourse, 1977
 * First enclosed-trolley Track Ride, 1980
 * An enclosed trolly, the TenderTuff, 1981
 * Post and clamp playsystems, PlayBooster®, 1981
 * First in industry PVC coated benches and tables, 1982
 * Composite playsystem for preschoolers, AdventureScape, 1985
 * Permalene® panels, 1985
 * Corkscrew Climber, 1987
 * Talk Tubes, 1990
 * First transfer system for providing access to play structure for children in wheelchairs, 1993
 * First segmented multi-directional open slide, SlideWinder2, 1993
 * TuffTimbers™, 1993
 * Spring Ring Bouncer, 1996
 * Triple Ring Fling™, 1998
 * First to use injection molding around steel cables to produce flexible climbing material as part of a system, 1999
 * First to offer Recycled Permalene® panels with 73% post-consumer content, 2010

Awards

 * 1989, Good Design Prize awarded by Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry.
 * 1992, Barb and Steve King were named Minnesota’s Entrepreneur(s) of the Year by Ernst and Young, Inc. magazine and the law firm of Gray Plant Mooty.
 * 1994, Barb King, who served as president, was selected as the Small Business Administration’s “Small Business Person of the Year” for the six-state Midwest region.
 * 1998, Steve was recognized with Japan's G-Mark International Design Award for an AdventureScape design.
 * 2004, was awarded Manufacturing Company of the Year by the Minnesota Association of Manufacturers.
 * 2005, Christian Petersen Award.
 * 2006, Minnesota Waste-Wise Leader.
 * 2007, received Active Workplaces Funding from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota for its healthy living initiatives.
 * 2007, King Pavilion at Iowa State University's College of Design was named for Barb and Steve King.
 * 2008, MN Work-life Champions.
 * 2008, received the Tekne Green Award for manufacturing environmentally-preferable playgrounds.
 * 2009, High-economic vitality business of the year.
 * 2010, named to Top Workplaces in the Twin Cities metro area by Star Tribune.

Philanthropy
In 2000, Barb established the Barbara King Landscape Architecture Scholarships for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Iowa State University, and Steve provided resources for the outfitting of the landscape architecture graduate studios in the College of Design.

Co-founder Barbara King, set up the Säjai® Foundation in 2006 to find solutions for childhood obesity using education and opportunity to encourage wise health and nutrition choices by children and adults in the community.