Duisburg City

In with the new and out with the old

South of the city center, in the immediate vicinity of Duisburg's city forest, lies the city's largest local recreation area, the so-called "Six-Lake-Plate". This popular excursion destination covers 283 hectares and is the perfect place to spend your free time: A swimming pool, bridlepaths, 25 kilometers of walking paths and of course playgrounds promise a pleasant break from the hustle and bustle of the city.

At the Wambachgrund, in the immediate vicinity of the shore of the Wambach lake, a popular and a frequently visited forest playground with different play areas for children of all ages has existed for many years. After the equipment had recently become increasingly outdated, the playground needed to be extensively redesigned. Opened in April, the highlight is an almost nine meter high climbing tower. The ascent is made via the surface nets installed inside the tower. Two slides are connected to the tower on different levels, thus ensuring a spectacular exit. The long tunnel slide, which is attached to the top floor of the tower, stands out in particular.

"This is an existing slide that was attached to the previous tower," says Birthe zur Loye, landscape architect at Wirtschaftsbetriebe Duisburg and in charge of planning the new forest playground. "The slide was in excellent condition and for reasons of economy and sustainability it was important to us to reinstall it during the course of the redesign," continues Zur Loye.

"Since the entrance area of the slide was previously integrated into the original tower, the challenge was to create an entrance situation that conforms to the standards," says Marius Kotte, head of the construction and development department at Berliner Seilfabrik. "The solution lay in the construction of a porch that acts as a transition area between tower and slide. In order to ensure the necessary stability, additional support was provided in the slide's stop area with the help of two support posts".

From the second floor of the tower, three different openings lead directly into the diversified bridge landscape, consisting of three different rope bridges and a rubber belt bridge. Three viewing platforms called "Splash" are integrated into the bridge landscape as transition elements. At the same time they serve as connection modules for the different ascent and descent possibilities in the form of ascent net, ladder, banister and slide bar, which provide plenty of variety.

Those who make it over the long rubber belt ramp land directly on the upper floor of the "Double Boo" rope playhouse can try their luck at climbing in our three-dimensional space. A further slide provides the appropriate exit here as well.

"The aim of the redesign was to create a real highlight," says Loye. "Next to the tower, whose height is impressive in itself, it was important to us to design the range of movement in such a way that there are as few repetitions as possible in the sequences of movements," the landscape architect continues. Thanks to the modular system on which almost all Berlin playground equipment is based, it was possible to meet this wish of the customer by installing a variety of different entry, exit and ascent options.

In addition to the varied range of movement, the playground also convinces with its visual appearance. "So that the tower continues to integrate into the forest, bamboo panels were used for the cladding," Loye explains. The façade elements of "Double Boo" and the three "Splashs" are also enhanced with bamboo panels, thus expressing the natural design language of the Greenville range. Posts and HDPE elements are in two different shades of green and a juicy orange. "This means that on the one hand they pick up the colors of the surrounding trees, while at the same time the orange provides the necessary signal effect for the children." The beige bells and balls also harmonize perfectly with the colour of the new fall protection material in the form of wood chips.

Further Design element of the new forest playground can discover at the top at the tower where two small owl pairs from HDPE sit and observe the children when climbing. Thanks to highly precise CNC machines at Berliner Seilfabrik, any motif is possible. This way, playgrounds can be designed with a maximum of theme-specificity.

The result of the redesign of the playground is met with enthusiasm by the visitors: "The playground has become really great, the children have an incredible amount of fun here," says 34-year-old mother Bonu Hak, who is visiting her sister in Duisburg and enjoys the beautiful weather with her child.