Imaginative play equipment made of concrete half shells
Climbing, crawling, sliding – at Paulusareal in Bietigheim-Bissingen children’s eyes are sparkling with delight. In the district of Buch a playground was built on around 1,250 m2, the likes of which have seldom been seen. Instead of boring slides and jungle gyms, imaginative modern playground equipment was created – namely made of concrete half shells from Berding Beton GmbH.
A couple of years ago the old, simply designed playground had to be demolished, when the grounds behind the Pauluskirche were built over. By the end of 2016 the complex was finished. Then the city collaborated with the planners from KuKuk Freiflug GmbH to design a new playground. Planning was preceded by a new kind of public participation: The year before, a so-called citizen’s cafe invited the public to get together with the planners and come up with ideas for designing the playground.
“Many of the ideas from the parents were directly integrated into the planning,” explains Bernhard Hanel, partner at KuKuk Freiflug GmbH. “The objective was to design a playground where small, medium and large children would feel comfortable. One such idea was to have an alcove where children could hide, another involved equipment for balance training.”
New play elements made of concrete
On the basis of these ideas some brand new play elements were developed. Inspired by the rough concrete character of the adjoining underground parking lot, they came up with the idea to create a somewhat different type of playground using concrete half shell elements, as used in construction of sewers and pipes.
“We had the idea to arrange rope and wood on various concrete half shells, so that completely new possibilities for movement resulted. We needed a manufacturer who would be able to produce our idea. Berding Beton GmbH is a specialist for pipe and shafts made of concrete, Bernhard Hanel chuckles.
After receiving this unusual request, the employees at the Rheinheim plant didn’t hesitate and produced the necessary half shells. Meanwhile the playground is finished. Distributed over three separate play areas, classical play elements such as swings and slides popped up in conjunction with the new concrete elements. The high slide and two large concrete half shells are particularly striking, which are connected to one another with cords for balancing. The planners decided on a fascinating symbiosis of wood and concrete. A coordinated color concept rounds out the overall picture.
Mayor Jürgen Kessing and members of the municipal council turned the playground over to the children in July. And once in the children’s possession, they enthusiastically took over the new play area.
