Play containers for Ukraine

by | 27 Mar 2024 | Outdoor, Schools and playgrounds, Schulen & Kindergärten

Play containers for Ukraine

Playing helps

KuKuk Box

Through play, the traumatised children of Ukraine can at least find some distraction. So play containers are a very important initiative for them.

Children in Ukraine are living through destruction and trauma. Thanks to the support of numerous organisations, new play opportunities have now been created at two locations.

 

The war against Ukraine has had a devas­ta­ting impact, inclu­ding, of course, for the children living there. Wars do not only cause physical destruc­tion, they also affect access to educa­tion and play. Many Ukrai­nian schools and kinder­gar­tens have been damaged or shut down.

Children in war zones suffer from psycho­lo­gical stress and trauma. The sounds of bombs and gunshots, losing loved ones and living in constant uncer­tainty leave deep marks on a child’s psyche.

This is where the importance of supporting initia­tives and aid orga­ni­sa­tions which aim to provide comfort and help — or at least distrac­tion — to children during this diffi­cult time comes into play.

An important example of these kinds of initia­tives are the Kukuk Box play contai­ners for Ukraine.

Supporter

Urban Camp Lviv
Street Culure
Notfall­päd­agogik
Aktion Deutsch­land hilft
Hilti

Game containers

KuKuk Box

The first play area was set up in the yard of a social centre in Lviv, which is temporarily being used for displaced people.

A KuKuk Box is an attrac­tive public and flexible play and meeting place which can be set up in a short time and at a low cost.

Thanks to the support of orga­ni­sa­tions and initia­tives such as “Urban Camp Lviv”, “Notfall­päd­agogik”, “Aktion Deutsch­land hilft” and the company Hilti, new play oppor­tu­ni­ties have already been created at two loca­tions which have been parti­cu­larly affected.

 

The first play area was created in the yard of a social centre in Lviv, which is tempo­r­a­rily being used for displaced people. The city of Lviv is located in the west of Ukraine and is a regular target of Russian attacks.

The second play container is located in the Olek­siyiv district of Kharkiv, an area which has also been heavily affected by Russian aggres­sion. 

Next to the play­ground is a special educa­tional complex for children with hearing impairm­ents, and they now have their own play space.

A KuKuk Box offers adven­ture for all ages. There are clim­bing struc­tures and slides, play­houses and sand­boxes, reading corners and more. 

The fully-fledged play­ground encou­rages a lot of move­ment while, at the same time, offe­ring retreat areas which allow for inten­sive play – and offer protec­tion.

No excava­tion, or concrete foun­da­tions which last forever, are required to cons­truct it. This saves money and time.

The KuKuk Box is deli­vered by truck and can be set up in just a few hours.

Locations

Lviv
Charkiw

Opening

2022 & 2023

Kukuk Box play containers are available in various versions. One of them has been specially developed for use in crisis regions.

The KuKuk Box play contai­ners are available in various versions, and one of them has been speci­ally deve­loped for use in crisis regions.

These contai­ners can also be trans­ported to more distant regions where children are in urgent need of play faci­li­ties due to war, displa­ce­ment or natural disas­ters.

Playing is not a luxury, playing is a vital elixir of life — and a human right.

Photos

Urban Camp Lviv
Street Culure

Text

Johannes Bühl­be­cker
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Melos Stylemaker

by | 25 May 2023 | Installations & Events, Schulen & Kindergärten, Slider

Melos Stylemaker

As you like

Melos

With EPDM granules, you can realise your own ideas for playground flooring – even online.

Now designers and builders can design their own floor coverings online instead of buying “off the shelf” as before.

It’s spring, the open-air season in kinder­gar­tens and day care centres as well as on our play­grounds and schoo­ly­ards has begun. Children love bright and colourful envi­ron­ments where they can play, romp, climb, run and try things out.
Fall protec­tion floor cove­rings lite­rally play a supporting role in this.

EPDM granules can be used to produce not only colourful but also crea­tive floor cove­rings for play­grounds and other surfaces.
Now desi­gners and buil­ders can design their own floor cove­rings online instead of buying “off the shelf” as before.
This is made possible by the Melos Style­maker app.

Supplier

Melos GmbH
Bismarck­strasse 4–10
49324 Melle, Germany

The app provides a large selection of motifs and colours to choose from. Another very popular feature is the option to upload and implement your own motifs to the app.

The Melos Style­maker App offers a simple way to design colourful and crea­tive fall protec­tion floor cove­rings. It can be used to design entire themed worlds such as a land of dino­saurs, a bobby car race­track or an alien galaxy.
The app provides a large selec­tion of motifs and colours to choose from. Another very popular feature is the option to upload and imple­ment your own motifs to the app.

The design process is fully auto­mated and ther­e­fore very cost-effec­tive. The motifs, whether from the templates or uploaded by the user, are cut out of EPDM sheets with a water jet and then deli­vered as a complete, finished product.

After applying a poly­ure­thane adhe­sive, they are glued to the substrate. When the adhe­sive has dried, the surroun­ding area is levelled with EPDM granules to create a flat surface into which the motifs are inte­grated.

The PU bonding agent is included in the scope of deli­very, as are the floor motifs made of coloured EPDM granules.

What used to be very time-consuming is now a fully automated process that leads to decidedly individual and popular results.

The Melos Style­maker App offers archi­tects and buil­ders, as well as play­school manage­ment teams, the chance to choose between the many options – or to design a unique floor cove­ring for them­selves, for example in work­shops with the children.
Orde­ring the desired motif via the app is simple and straight­for­ward. Experts are available to advise on the plan­ning of indi­vi­dual floor cove­rings.
What used to be very time-consuming is now a fully auto­mated process that leads to deci­dedly indi­vi­dual and popular results.

App

Melos Style­maker

Images

Melos

Text

Johannes Bühl­be­cker
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Play containers in Wolfsburg

by | 17 Apr 2023 | Installations & Events, Schools and playgrounds, Schulen & Kindergärten

The attractivisation of the Wolfsburg city centre

Plug and play

KuKuk Box

How the city of Wolfsburg is invigorating its city centre with mobile greenery and mobile play equipment.

Play containers are an increasingly popular way to create a DIN-certified, high-quality and versatile range of play options in a short time and with little effort.

Google Maps

The starting point of this project was the city of Wolfs­burg’s desire for “more people to spend more time in the Wolfs­burg city centre”. In order to increase the quality and the length of stay, addi­tional play, rest and recrea­tion zones should be created at suitable loca­tions — initi­ally tempo­r­a­rily.

In order to offer the younger gene­ra­tion and their parents further incen­tives in the city centre and to comple­ment the exis­ting play offers in a targeted manner, a mobile ensemble of play­ground equip­ment became the project’s main attrac­tion.

These pieces of play­ground equip­ment consist of over­seas contai­ners made from steel which, thanks to built-ins made from durable robinia wood, stain­less steel, plexi­glass and nets, as well as crea­tive handi­craft design, are trans­formed into game contai­ners with openings of diffe­rent sizes in the roof and walls, slides, attach­ments and super­s­truc­tures.

With play contai­ners, DIN-certi­fied, high-quality and versa­tile play offers can be created in a short time and with little effort — and not only for schools or kinder­gar­tens, but also for public spaces.

The planner and manu­fac­turer of the play contai­ners is the company Kukuk Box from Stutt­gart.

Client

City of Wolfs­burg

Play containers

KuKuk Box GmbH
Rosen­wies­straße 17
D – 70567 Stutt­gart

With the play containers and the additional greenery, it’s not only the quality of stay in the city centre which was increased, but the microclimate was also improved.

All the measures to increase the quality of stay in the inner city were accom­pa­nied by mobile gree­nery. Depen­ding on the loca­tion and type of use, plan­ters with trees, shrubs or plan­ting columns were combined with the seating and play offers. The selec­tion of plants also takes climate change and the desire for bee and insect friend­li­ness into account.

Several small loca­tions have been created which invite all age groups to play and get toge­ther. With the addi­tional gree­nery, it’s not only the quality of stay in the city centre which was increased, but the micro­cli­mate was also improved.

The project was finan­ci­ally supported by the Euro­pean Union. The total cost was 220,000 euros. The client was the Green Divi­sion of the city of Wolfs­burg.

Address

Porsche­straße
D — 38440 Wolfs­burg

Opening

2021

For the installation of a game container in public space, a free, paved area is sufficient – but the installation can also be done quickly on grass or in a sandy area.

In the simp­lest case, a free, paved area is suffi­cient for setting up a game container in a public space – for example in a pede­strian zone, on a market square or in a schoo­lyard. The game contai­ners are desi­gned in such a way that a fall protec­tion floor accor­ding to DIN is only required for the slide run.

Prefa­bri­cated rubber fall protec­tion elements are supplied and placed toge­ther on site, connected to each other and bordered by a wooden frame. The slide is then simply placed on the pedestal or anchored in it. In this way, the play device can be set up and made ready for use in one day.

If the play container is intended to be set up on grass or in a sandy area, a 30 cm-thick gravel support layer the size of the container set-up area first has to be created. In this version, the slide feet are set up in a concrete foun­da­tion. The subse­quent cons­truc­tion of the play container then also only takes one day. What takes the most time is the hardening of the concrete.

Photos

City of Wolfs­burg
KuKuk Box

Text

Johannes Bühl­be­cker
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Meanwhile, the city of Wolfsburg has 13 play containers in different sizes and for variable installation sites.

The coope­ra­tion between the city of Wolfs­burg and the company KuKuk began in 2016. The first play container was intended to make the outdoor areas of resi­den­tial buil­dings more attrac­tive for refu­gees.

Since the length of the measure was unclear, the KuKuk Box was a very easy choice. It consists of modules and does not require any foun­da­tions. Ther­e­fore, it can be assem­bled and disas­sem­bled very quickly and trans­ported to the next place of use.

The play boxes have proven to be a suitable solu­tion for special requi­re­ments.

In the mean­time, the city of Wolfs­burg has 13 play contai­ners in diffe­rent sizes and for chan­ging parking spaces in schoo­ly­ards, daycare areas and public play­grounds throug­hout the city.

They are not only used as an interim solu­tion for conver­sions and relo­ca­tions, but also as seasonal play offers for places which are not usually play­grounds – such as the shop­ping area in the Wolfs­burg city centre.

The play contai­ners are stan­dar­dised, robust and inex­pen­sive.

They are also ideally suited for perma­nent use as a public play oppor­tu­nity, because they are versa­tile, flexible, inex­pen­sive, easy to care for and sustainable.

A KuKuk box creates spaces and surfaces for clim­bing, froli­cking, playing, sliding on the one hand, and a frame with protected and more private areas on the other.

The frame is formed by the contai­ners; through the instal­la­tions and exten­sions a new land of adven­ture is created from it again and again.

No matter where.

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Arc en Ciel

by | 1 Sep 2021 | Outdoor, Schools and playgrounds, Schulen & Kindergärten, Sports Grounds

Arc en Ciel in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode

One more

Label Archi­tec­ture

How a small school in densely populated Brussels creates space for itself — especially on the roof.

Label Architecture expanded “Arc en Ciel” with four classrooms and new outdoor areas. The roof areas played a special role in this.

Located in the midst of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode — the neigh­bor­hood with the highest popu­la­tion density in Belgium — the already crowded school and daycare centre “Arc en Ciel” wanted to increase its capa­city with extra class­rooms along with new outdoor spaces.

The internal orga­ni­sa­tion allows  to gather an ensemble of smaller func­tions and to turn them into two big class­rooms on each floor. Further­more, the dupli­ca­tion of the exis­ting facade creates a new circu­la­tion, avoids an enfi­lade of classes and provides extra storage space for the pupils.
Google Maps

The existing gap between the buildings was closed by adding a storey with new classrooms.

Moreover, the new facade drasti­cally improves the overall thermal perfor­mance of the buil­ding.

These same tactics are applied to provide more outdoor space for the school. By inser­ting a concrete struc­ture, the ground surface of the play­ground is doubled.

This “table” covers a coll­ec­tion of play­ground equip­ment on the ground floor, while its roof is used as an enclosed sports field.

Label Archi­tec­ture

Arc en Ciel now has some exceptional qualities to offer. Above all, the two large outdoor areas are a clear response to a dense environment.

On the corner, the cavity between the two buil­dings is filled with the addi­tion of 4 new class­rooms. The exis­ting stair­case is extended to giving access to the new level and its roof­sur­face.

Here, accom­pa­g­nied by an impres­sive view on Brussels, the daycare centre finds its new outdoor space and pres­ents itself to the neigh­bor­hood.

We did this.

Project data

Architects

Label Archi­tec­ture
Rue de Flandre 121
BEL — 1000 Brussels

Client

Muni­ci­pa­lity of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode

Construction

JZH & Part­ners

Address

Arc en Ciel
Rue de l’Abond­ance 17
BEL — 1210 Saint-Josse-ten-Noode

Opening

2019

Photograph

Stijn Bollaert

Author

Label Archi­tec­ture

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Contact

 

Address
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Am Weit­kamp 17
D‑44795 Bochum

Phone
+49 234 5466 0374
+49 172 4736 332

Email
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Play containers

by | 17 Dec 2020 | Schools and playgrounds, Schulen & Kindergärten

Diversity through standard

Play contai­ners on the rise

Adver­to­rial

 

 

KuKuk
”

About

Contai­ners are stan­dar­dised. Play contai­ners have many advan­tages because of this.

Due to their stan­dar­dised form, contai­ners can be shipped to any place in the world for little money. Due to their stable frame cons­truc­tion and their flexi­bi­lity, they can also be used very well as a frame­work and outer shell for a variety of play and leisure faci­li­ties.

Play contai­ners like the KuKuk Box can be used both tempo­r­a­rily and perma­nently — and they are beco­ming more and more common.

Image: Game container in Belin­zona (2020)

Temporary use

When cities and muni­ci­pa­li­ties build or reno­vate (for example schools or kinder­gar­tens), they often need tempo­rary faci­li­ties.  These are usually located on dere­lict sites without child-friendly infra­struc­ture. A play container can quickly provide a solu­tion.

Just as well, the KuKuk Box can be dismantled and reas­sem­bled at a new loca­tion without much effort in case of a move or an upco­ming change of use of a site.

These play contai­ners are even used for events or for shorter periods of time.

KuKuk Box play contai­ners do not require a buil­ding permit and can also be rented on a tempo­rary basis.

Image: Instal­la­tion in Belin­zona (2020)

Permanent use

The KuKuk Box can also be used as a perma­nent, attrac­tive public play struc­ture. This is parti­cu­larly useful if a versa­tile play faci­lity is to be created in a short time and for little money.

Play contai­ners can be placed on all planned surfaces, inclu­ding roofs and car parks. They are extre­mely low-main­ten­ance. Time-consuming and costly expenses for plan­ning, appli­ca­tions, excava­tions and foun­da­tions are comple­tely elimi­nated.

Not bad either: the KuKuk Box can be set up in about two hours.

Image: Tempo­rary event area in Leuven (2020)

Equipment

The play contai­ners offer exci­ting areas for all age groups: There are clim­bing struc­tures up to the roof, roof houses, craw­ling tunnels, balan­cing courses, slides, play houses, seating plat­forms, sand­boxes, reading corners and much more. There is also seating for parents and nursery school teachers.

The KuKuk Box lives through its users. It is equipped with mate­rials such as round, square and sawn timber, fasteners, ropes and paints that allow it to be expanded as desired. This means that schools, kinder­gar­tens and social insti­tu­tions are free to design the play container them­selves.

The fully-fledged play­ground encou­rages a lot of move­ment and also offers retreat areas that allow inten­sive play — no matter what the weather.

Image: KuKuk Box in Iser­lohn (2020)

Design

ISO 668 applies to sea freight contai­ners, which have a frame struc­ture that can be used very well as a support element for the cons­truc­tion of foun­da­tion-free play­grounds. No excavated earth or concrete foun­da­tions cast for eter­nity are needed for cons­truc­tion. This saves money and time. It is also sustainable, of course.

The contai­ners are made of resistant COR-TEN steel. The walls are made of trape­zo­idal sheet steel, the floors are made of plywood.

The finish is high-quality and robust. The hardest woods and weather­proof, rust­proof stain­less steel connec­tions are used. For the fixtures, sapwood-free, weather-resistant robinia wood is used because of its natural robust­ness.

Image: KuKuk Box in Iser­lohn (2020)

Equipment

The slides are made of durable, UV-resistant stain­less steel (V2A).

The nets and ropes are custom-made from extre­mely strong Hercules rope (shea­thed steel ropes). This is a craft still prac­tised by only very few manu­fac­tu­rers in Germany. The mate­rial is charac­te­rised by high colour fast­ness and abra­sion resis­tance.

Coloured Plexi­glas gives the children an inten­sive colour expe­ri­ence. It looks very good, the mate­rial is weather and age resistant as well as enorm­ously UV resistant.

Image: tempo­rary play­ground in Lüne­burg

Safety and sustainability

The KuKuk Box play contai­ners are built accor­ding to the safety stan­dard DIN EN 1176 and are indi­vi­du­ally approved by inde­pen­dent, certi­fied experts (e.g. TüV) for public play areas.

When the play contai­ners are no longer to be used, the manu­fac­turer will take them back and create some­thing new from the mate­rials. Some call it a manu­fac­turer take-back guarantee, others call it sustaina­bi­lity.

Many cities, muni­ci­pa­li­ties and commu­ni­ties that started with the purchase of a KuKuk Box are now owners of several play contai­ners. Such a ” store ” also makes the plan­ning of recon­s­truc­tions or refur­bish­ments much easier.

Image: Primary school in Wolfs­burg (2020)

About KuKuk

The KuKuk Box was deve­loped by an expe­ri­enced team of artists, archi­tects, carpen­ters, metal­wor­kers and educa­tors.

The aim and result of this deve­lo­p­ment were and are inex­pen­sive and sustainable play faci­li­ties of ecolo­gical value, which at the same time meet the highest func­tional and aesthetic demands. Of course, they should also be fun.

This has worked out well. Very well, in fact.

Image: Large area of sand with play oppor­tu­ni­ties

We did this.

Project data

Play containers

KuKuk Box GmbH
Rosen­wies­straße 17
D — 70567 Stutt­gart

Photograph

KuKuk Box GmbH

Author

Johannes Bühl­be­cker
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Video

Contact

How can we be helpful?

Address
More Sports Media
Am Weit­kamp 17
D‑44795 Bochum

Phone
+49 234 5466 0374
+49 172 4736 332

Mail
contact@moresports.network

Coniplay

by | 9 Nov 2020 | Installations & Events, Outdoor, Schools and playgrounds, Schulen & Kindergärten

Pretty safe

Surfaces in water landscapes

Coniplay

About

Safety plays a major role in the design of the surfa­cing around water surfaces in both outdoor and indoor areas. It must be desi­gned so that bathers always have a safe footing.

Slips and falls must be avoided at all costs as even a small, care­less move­ment can lead to a fall with serious conse­quences, espe­ci­ally since bathers, whether children, adults or senior citi­zens only wear swim­wear and are ther­e­fore also unpro­tected by any clot­hing if they fall. Floors borde­ring on water surfaces are ther­e­fore prima­rily desi­gned for safety reasons.

Conica offers a safe solu­tion for floo­rings adja­cent to water surfaces.

Jointless

The surface system Coni­play was deve­loped by the Swiss company Conica AG. Its safe stan­ding ensures that bathing fun in adven­ture and leisure pools, spas and private swim­ming pools is not spoilt by acci­dents.

The product is available in two versions: as the water-permeable version Coni­play AP and as the water-imper­meable Coni­play AI. Both solu­tions are colourful, comfor­table and offer a long service life. They can easily be installed without joints using diffe­rent binding agents.

Bacterial inhibiting

CONIPLAY AP is a water-permeable surface that can be cons­tructed in one or two layers. CONIPLAY AI has a multi-layer struc­ture and is water­proof.

The black granu­late layer is optional for both vari­ants, it serves to achieve any desired fall protec­tion. This is what makes them recom­men­dable.

Sealing

The sealant is also the same for both: CONIPUR 2210, as an anti-slip, silk-gloss 2‑component PUR sealant. Alter­na­tively, CONIPUR 2210 AB can also be used. This sealant is addi­tio­nally equipped with a bacteria-inhi­bi­ting addi­tive.

CONIPLAY AP and CONIPLAY AI are resistant to both chlo­rine and salt water.

Conclusion

Today’s bathing land­scapes are subject to tough compe­ti­tion. Safety and attrac­ti­ve­ness must no longer be compe­ti­tors, they have to be part­ners.

The Coni­play solu­tion combines the neces­sary, the fall protec­tion, with the aesthetic. The mate­rial used allows a colourful design, so that bathing fun can be expe­ri­enced in full all around the water with maximum safety.

We did this.

Project data

Surfaces

Conica AG
Indus­trie­straße 26
CH – 8207 Schaff­hausen

Author

Uwe Schmidt
Indus­trie-Contact AG
Bahren­felder Markt­platz 7
D — 22761 Hamburg

Photograph

Conica AG

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Colegio Nuestra Señora de Lourdes

by | 29 Jul 2020 | Schools and playgrounds, Schulen & Kindergärten, Sports Halls

Let there be light

Colegio Nuestra Señora de Lourdes 

Picado De Blas Arquitectos

Situation

This project has been carried out thanks to the Torre­l­odones muni­ci­pa­lity initia­tive which seeks to improve the current condi­tions of the most degraded public schools in the area by intro­du­cing a small archi­tec­tural inter­ven­tion network of new cons­truc­tions.

This gives the oppor­tu­nity to intro­duce ecolo­gical concepts in schools with very low cost.

Google Maps

Let the sunshine in

In this case, a small pavi­lion was required for a sports acti­vity next to the exis­ting school.

Brea­king up with the tradi­tional concept of this type of spaces, which are usually very closed to the outside, a large window opened to east appears, offe­ring a view of the sky.

Design

The project approach is to set up the pavi­lion as a remo­vable archi­tec­tural piece, quickly erected, sustainable and inno­va­tive. We thought at this point in remo­vable refri­ge­ra­tion panel self-supporting struc­ture, a typical mate­rial used in the industry, which is light­ness and has a high energy effi­ci­ency that faci­li­tates its quick assembly and keeps safely the possi­bi­lity of reuse in the future.

These panels have a 10 cm thic­k­ness, weig­hing the whole buil­ding less than a quarter of what would weight a tradi­tional cons­truc­tion.

Realisation

We under­stand as inno­va­tive this proposal, not only for the intro­duc­tion of indus­trial panel systems, but also because of the acou­stic absorp­tion achieved in the inte­rior space. The impact absorp­tion on the ground was ensured by super­im­po­sing several special absor­bent sheets under the pave­ment, while echoes and rever­be­ra­tions on the walls were coun­ter­acted by a 3D textile mate­rial speci­ally desi­gned for this project.

The wood used as the final floor finis­hing is an indus­trial oak recy­cled wood, which is made with the remains of other woods. This mate­rial will provide warmth and faci­li­tates the indoor sports perfor­mance.

We did this.

Project data

Architect

PICADO-DE BLAS ARQUITECTOS
Calle González Amigó nº23
E — 28033 Madrid

Client

Commu­nity of Torre­l­odones

Team

Rubén Picado Fernández, María José de Blas
Carlos Diaz-Monis, Jorge Li, Teresa Casbas, Sofía Fernández, Will Tooze

Address

Calle Ntra. Sra. del Carmen, 10
28250 Torre­l­odones
E — Madrid

Opening

2019

Photos

Alberto Amores
Estudio Picado-de Blas

Author

PICADO-DE BLAS ARQUITECTOS

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Plans

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Colourful play floors

by | 29 Jun 2020 | Outdoor, Outdoor, Schools and playgrounds, Schulen & Kindergärten, Schulen & Kindergärten, Schools and playgrounds

Simply magical

Colourful play floors

Melos

About

Children want adven­tures. And that is why they love to create their own imagi­nary worlds, in which they can be or do anything: become an astro­naut or a racing drivers, set off on a big safari across Africa, or ride atop a unicorn.

Colourful play floors inspire the imagi­na­tion even more. Also, they are soft, easy on the joints, and slip-resistant – parti­cu­larly important proper­ties for astro­nauts and racing drivers, no matter how old they are.

These play floors are supplied by Melos.

Floor images

Colourful play floors are a good alter­na­tive to other attrac­tions such as floor images made of granules. They are both ideally suited for use in play areas, in kinder­gar­tens, or on school play­grounds.

Floor images are indi­vi­dual floor designs for nearly any type of public space, among them play­grounds, sports fields, and sports halls. Melos have speci­ally deve­loped the Style­maker® app showing the many diffe­rent motifs and designs that are available for the theme worlds mentioned.

VIsit Stylemaker®-App

Play floors

Play floors are full-surface floor cove­rings that can be very well combined with the chosen floor images. They are made of EPDM, the stan­dard product used world­wide for a variety of diffe­rent outdoor floors.

Play floors are made of coloured granules that must be able to with­stand deman­ding condi­tions. Regular inspec­tions ensure a high-perfor­mance product of consis­t­ently high quality.

More about playing floors

Amazing Africa and Fairy Flowers

The new colourful blend “Amazing Africa” has been deve­loped using a special colour that is exclu­sive to this blend. It has been speci­ally desi­gned to match the safari motifs from the Style­maker® range. The unique colour mix consists of 100% virgin mate­rial and is supplied as a pre-mixed coloured mate­rial blend.

This is also the case for “Fairy Flowers”, another new and colourful blend with a special colour that is unique to Melos. “Fairy Flowers” has been speci­ally adapted to the Style­maker® motifs and is made to inspire little magi­cians and fairies.

Both blends create enchan­ting envi­ron­ments on safety surfaces, and both allow children to let their imagi­na­tion run wild. Simply magical!

We did this.

Photos

Melos

Play floors

Melos GmbH
Bismarck­strasse 4–10
D‑49324 Melle

Author

Johannes Bühl­be­cker
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KO Kindergarten

by | 1 Nov 2019 | Schulen & Kindergärten

Architecture as a toy

KO Kindergarten in Matsuyama

HIBINOSEKKEI

Move it!

The KO Kinder­garten wants to give children as many oppor­tu­ni­ties for move­ment and deve­lo­p­ment as possible. Through archi­tec­ture.

Move­ment is beco­ming less and less a matter of course. Children are brought to the kinder­garten by car. Thus they miss the first chance of the day to let off steam and gain expe­ri­ence. At home, they sit in front of the tele­vi­sion or on their mobile phone or tablet. Not always, but more and more often. Playing outside in the fresh air has become less, the aware­ness for nature and one’s own body decreases.

This is the course of the world. There still is archi­tec­ture. It can create incen­tives and an envi­ron­ment in which (not only) the children want to be active — as with the recon­s­truc­tion of the KO kinder­garten in the Japa­nese city of Matsu­yama (Ehime Prefec­ture).

Niches

In the KO Kinder­garten there is a distinct centre, and that is a large, multi-storey play area. All rooms for groups, employees, etc. were orga­nized at the edge of the rectan­gular buil­ding.

The great special feature of the KO Kinder­garten, however, are the 14 diffe­rent niches and remai­ning areas between the rooms and levels, from which the archi­tects of Hibi­no­sekkei have created game spaces and free areas for the 450 children.

Ever­y­thing is somehow shifted hori­zon­tally and verti­cally, around every corner there are new “streets”, land­scapes and chal­lenges — unique play areas. The buil­ding is the toy. The many instal­la­tions from KDS (Kids Design Labo) make a decisive contri­bu­tion to this.

Google Maps

Pedagogics

The theory behind it comes from Kazu­hiko Naka­mura, a professor of pedago­gics at the Univer­sity of Yama­nashi. Kazu­hiko Naka­mura says that in our child­hood we should learn 36 diffe­rent body move­ments such as “running”, “jumping”, “clim­bing” or “holding”. All these 36 move­ments can be prac­ticed in the 14 play­rooms of the KO Kinder­garten.

First expe­ri­ences and studies show that the three- to five-year-old children move 20 percent more in this new kinder­garten than in the old buil­ding. In addi­tion, skills such as “thro­wing”, “driving through” and “craw­ling” can only be “trained” in the new atmo­sphere.

Architecture that inspires courage

There have also been some changes in the outdoor area. The new play­ground offers two small hills with natural grass. The children love to romp around and climb up there. In addi­tion, beetles and flowers can be seen and contact with nature is a matter of course.

The KO Kinder­garten creates a lot of new play areas. The children accept all chal­lenges enthu­si­a­sti­cally. Not only do they improve their physical abili­ties, they also constantly develop new games and new inte­rests. Archi­tec­ture that inspires courage and encou­rages children to play and move as a matter of course.

We did this.

Project data and compa­nies involved

Superstructures

Opening

2019

Architects

HIBINOSEKKEI, Inc
2343 Iiyama, Atsugi
JP — Kana­gawa

Youji no Shiro

Photos

Ryuji Inoue

Text

Johannes Bühl­be­cker
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