Eric McMillan, (born in Sheffield, England, in 1942) is a Canadian designer who began his career designing exhibitions. By an extraordinary opportunity in 1972, he started designing play areas and elements that encouraged children to learn through play. The concepts were composed of a great variety of materials. He has been referred to as "The father of soft play".

Early life

He was born in 1942 in the midst of an air-raid to a

working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...

mother in Sheffield: still-born but revived by the midwife who dipped him alternately in buckets of cold and warm water. At the age of five he moved to

North Manchester North Manchester was, from 1896 to 1916, a township within the Poor Law Union of Manchester, England. North Manchester was a local government sub-district used for the administration of Poor Law legislation; it was an inter-parish unit for soci ...

, cared for by the wife of his blind grandfather. Requiring glasses that he refused to wear or order to fight off

bullying Bullying is the use of force, coercion, hurtful teasing or threat, to abuse, aggressively dominate or intimidate. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception (by the bully or by others) of an imba ...

, he attended nine schools between five and fifteen, leaving from St Boniface's RC School, Higher Broughton, at the age of 15, barely

literate Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...

. As a feral child, he played in the derelict wrecks of houses and building sites in the shadow of

Strangeways HM Prison Manchester is a Category A and B men's prison in Manchester, England, operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. It is still commonly referred to as Strangeways, which was its former official name derived from the area in which it is ...

, Manchester. Play was unconstrained freedom. He enrolled for an apprenticeship as a house painter, and at the college of art encountered students doing more creative courses.

Career

In 1968 he moved from The Canadian Government Exhibition Commission in Ottawa to Toronto to join the design team planning

Ontario Place Ontario Place is an entertainment venue, event venue, and park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The venue is located on three artificial landscaped islands just off-shore in Lake Ontario, south of Exhibition Place, and southwest of Downtown Toronto. ...

. When Ontario Place opened in 1971 the section of the exhibition he had designed called "Explosions" was the most successful exhibit in that first season. In consequence of this success he was appointed chief designer for the whole project. The following year (1972) saw the opening of the "Children’s Village" land play area and from that project grew his reputation as a designer of children's play attractions. The opening of the "Water Play" area in 1973 secured that reputation. His work introduced ideas like the ball crawl (

ball pit A ball pit (originally called a ball crawl, also known as a ball pool or ball pond) is a padded box or pool filled with small colorful hollow plastic balls generally no larger than in diameter. They are typically marketed as recreation and exe ...

), net climb, punch bag forest, birdie glide, roller slide, cave crawl, together toys, foam swamp, water bicycle cannons, balancing buoys, rubber band bounce, and a whole range of interactive play elements.

Partnership

In 1975 together with partners Rosemarie Duell and Len Rydahl he formed a design partnership and went on to design play attractions around the world. "Captain Kid’s" at

SeaWorld SeaWorld is an American theme park chain with headquarters in Orlando, Florida. It is a proprietor of marine mammal parks, oceanariums, animal theme parks, and rehabilitation centers owned by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment (one park will be ...

of Ohio was the first project built in the U.S. in 1975. His list of projects include: "Whale of a Time World" San Vallejo, California 1979; " Sesame Place", Langhorne, Pennsylvania 1980; "

Parc de la Villette The Parc de la Villette is the third-largest park in Paris, in area, located at the northeastern edge of the city in the 19th arrondissement. The park houses one of the largest concentrations of cultural venues in Paris, including the Cité de ...

" Paris, France 1984; "Space Science Park" (

United States Space Camp Space Camp is an educational camp in Huntsville, Alabama, on the grounds of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center museum near NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. It provides residential and educational programs for children and adults on themes such ...

) Huntsville, Alabama 1984; "Children’s Museum Waterfront Attraction", Boston, Massachusetts 1987; "Founders Park2 Nelson, New Zealand, 1987; "Eureka!" Halifax England, 1988; and many other projects including work at World Expos’ 1967, 1976, 1984, 1986 . Time magazine once described him as "The next Walt Disney."

Notable projects

* The Children's Village and Water Attraction,

in Toronto, (1960) * Captain Kid's at

of Ohio; *Whale of a Time World San Vallejo, California, 1979; * Sesame Place, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1980; *

Paris, France, 1984; *Space Science Park (

) Huntsville, Alabama, 1984; * Children's Museum Waterfront Attraction, Boston, Massachusetts, 1987; *Founders Park Nelson, New Zealand, 1987; * Eureka!, Halifax, England, 1988; *Many other projects including work at World Expos’ 1967, 1976, 1984, 1986 .

References

External links

Eric McMillan
{{DEFAULTSORT:McMillan, Eric 1942 births Canadian people of Scottish descent Canadian designers Living people