School playgrounds - Playground@Landscape

le contribution to the scheme to get children off the streets, all school
playgrounds of municipal schools will, with immediate effect, make their
playgrounds available for use by young people from end oflessons until
7.00 pm. The municipal authority herewith assumes no liability for any
related accidents that might occur.
“In large conurbations such as Nuremberg, the increasing density of
construction and use of land for residential, commercial and transport
purposes are making it progressively more difficult to find spaces within
the closely defined municipal zone that are suitable for use as playgrounds.
That was why, in 1955, Nuremberg city council decided to open
its school playgrounds for more general use by children. Their local schools
are not just places of learning for children and adolescents, but also represent
their social meeting centres,” wrote Nuremberg’s Mayor, Dr. Ulrich
Mady in June 2006 in the brochure Spielhöfe in Nürnberg [Playgrounds in
Nuremberg].
Nürtingen primary school outdoor
project in Berlin-Kreuzberg
Nürtingen primary school is a listed building and plays an important role
within the town planning and social aspects of its neighbourhood.
A review and competition procedure was initiated with the objective of ensuring
that the outdoor areas of the school were converted into an attractive
and appropriate recreational site for children, while taking into
account the specific profile of the locale and the listed building status of
the site. The driving concept is the awareness that it is in the new school
playground that the children will be spending six of their formative years.
An eventful period, in which the children are to be provided with the
COVERSTORY
opportunity to freely develop ideas, attitudes and discover themselves in
a context that offers them both orientation and protection. The main draft
concept Neue Räume für Dschungelträume [New spaces for jungle
dreams] divides the available space into four sections: a recreation and
play area directly opposite the school building, an “Extramural” sector
with a maze and school garden, a courtyard incorporating a pavilion,
beach volleyball field and open-air classroom, and a front garden with
monument structure and hydrangea beds.
The central recreation area offers generous opportunities for limitless
play, a small water feature and play equipment made of wood developed
in accompanying workshops in which the children themselves participated.
Climbing and play equipment made of robinia wood are positioned
along the surrounding walls with the attendant mature trees and lead to
a large sand pit. The pathway to the main building is constructed of natural
stone paving found on-site and is supplemented by seating platforms.
A large spruce tree has been preserved at the specific wish of the children,
who submitted an appropriate petition.
The “Extramural” sector contains a small maze and the school garden.
This sector is linked to the recreation area by a characteristically
colourful cube-shaped crossover element and low openings in the wall.
The crossover element can be accessed either side and acts as an elevated
viewpoint from which the whole school recreation area and the section
on the other side of the wall can be surveyed. The maze takes advantage
of the existing wall sections and is constructed from hornbeams and
colourful wooden panels. To the southwest is a clinker-constructed
accessible cabin whose walls follow the former outline of the historical
headmaster’s house that once stood on this site. Here there are narrow
window bands and viewing slits through which the children can ob-
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