Holland Park Playground is the largest park in Kensington and Chelsea with areas of woodland abundant with wildlife. Contained within the park is Kyoto Garden, donated by the Chamber of Commerce of Kyoto in 1991. Our design is inspired by two principles of Japanese garden theory: Dry Mountain Water and Borrowing-View. It borrows from the character of the surrounding mature woodlands and maximizes the interest and play value of the existing topography whilst integrating Holland Park’s water run-off, which presented a flood risk to lower residential properties. Together with Robert Bray Associates we explored the use of sustainable urban drainage systems to create a playground that comes alive when it rains. Surface water is channelled from high level retention basins towards a play valley in the centre of the site. We designed two signature play structures for the site: The Hill-coaster, which snakes and winds around existing trees and the Fishermen’s Towers (including a dome constructed from site won earth) located at the start of the play valley and providing a vantage point over the site. A textured bank and play valley offer sand, waterplay and motoric play for younger children with adjacent areas for parents to relax.