The Big Girl Playground, created for the children’s area at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, is a large-scale interactive bronze sculpture. It required advanced foundry fabrication and precise engineering from the outset. Designed by Tom Otterness, the work invites direct engagement, allowing children (and adventurous adults alike) to climb on, touch, and fully experience the piece.

As an interactive public art installation and bronze playground sculpture, every decision in the casting and fabrication process prioritized durability, structural integrity, and a smooth surface finish. While the atelier has produced multiple iterations of the Big Girl and Big Boy playground sculptures, each version requires expertise in bronze casting, assembly, and finishing to ensure the work performs reliably in a public environment. (Take a look at a previous iteration of this piece here).

Casting Strategy: Scale Meets Precision

Creating a sculpture at this scale required a hybrid casting approach, tailored to the size and level of detail needed for each component. The largest elements, the arms, legs, and head, were produced through sand casting. This method is well-suited to handling parts with substantial size. Sand casting allowed for efficiency in producing the primary structural forms, where there are no small details needed. This approach was time-saving for the production crew as well, allowing for more time for finishing in the metal shop.

Sand mold used to cast the arms and legs of the playground

In contrast, smaller components, like the fingers and toes on the sculpture’s hands and feet, and parts of the accompanying “spinners” were cast using the lost wax process. This process is best for preserving the finer details that define the character faces and gestures. This combination of methods reflects a strategic approach to bronze casting: selecting the right process for each part, rather than forcing a single technique across the entire sculpture.

The result is a cohesive form that balances monumentality with nuance. It’s large enough to anchor the space, yet has hidden details to reward close interactions.

Chasing and Assembly

Following casting, each component needed extensive chasing and finishing. At this stage, the artisans have two objectives: to refine the surface and to prepare each element for precise assembly. Given the number of individual castings, fitment becomes a critical consideration. Every seam must align cleanly, both structurally and visually, to ensure the final figure reads as a unified whole.

Assembly is not just a matter of joining parts, it creates the overall continuity of the piece. Surface transitions are blended, welds are chased back, and the original design of the form is re-established across every junction. For a sculpture designed to be experienced up close and through touch, this level of finishing is essential.

Engineering for Installation

Assembling the bronze sculpture itself was just one part of the project. Beyond the finished piece, Big Girl Playground required a carefully engineered internal structure to support its scale and weight during shipment and installation. This meant anticipating how the sculpture would be moved, lifted, and assembled on site, ensuring that each section could be handled safely without compromising the integrity of the work.

Structural attachment points, weight distribution, and leaving enough access for installation crews were all considered from the start. Steel supports were carefully assembled within the existing structure of the bronze playground, giving the installation crew added stability and clear points to lift the piece up from.

This part of planning is invisible in the final piece, yet it plays a decisive role in the success of the project. With a sculpture of this scale, every aspect of the project is crucial to prepare for, even after it’s left our foundry.

Sculpture as an Open Invitation

View of Big Girl Playground in the metals shop at Bollinger Atelier.

For the atelier, Big Girl Playground highlights the full scope of large-scale bronze sculpture fabrication. From monumental bronze casting and precision assembly to expert metal finishing and transportation, every stage required careful coordination across disciplines. Designed as an interactive public art installation, the sculpture combines durability, craftsmanship, and foundry expertise to create a bronze playground sculpture built to withstand generations of use.