The Blue Court in Balzers

The blue wonder

 

Wegmüller Design Studio

When you enter the Blue Square at the Balzers school building, you immediately sense that this is not about norms, but about possibilities. Around 1,000 m² of space invite you to exercise and socialise – and enjoy plenty of playful freedom. Instead of a classic rectangular sports field, an organically shaped adventure landscape opens up, bordered by concrete elements, interspersed with green islands and designed to be barrier-free.
A space that welcomes everyone.

What’s up?

In the muni­ci­pa­lity of Balzers in the Prin­ci­pa­lity of Liech­ten­stein, a versa­tile all-weather pitch was created in the imme­diate vici­nity of a primary and secon­dary school to replace a rather mono­func­tional red plastic pitch: the Blue Pitch.
Whether ball games, clim­bing adven­tures, balan­cing acts, sports lessons or deep breathing: the Blue Pitch focuses on maximum versa­ti­lity. Three differ­ently equipped playing fields offer space for foot­ball, basket­ball and nume­rous other games. In between, open spaces have been created for spon­ta­neous forms of exer­cise. Athle­tics faci­li­ties, bould­e­ring elements, a slack­line, ground tram­po­lines and the dynamic balance game Super Nova make exer­cise an expe­ri­ence for all abili­ties.

The faci­li­ties in detail:

  • Two multi­func­tional pitches measu­ring 11m x 6.5m with small goals, one of which has a net system
  • One multi­func­tional pitch (20m x 13m) with fixed basket­ball hoops
  • 50m running track and long jump faci­lity
  • Clim­bing course, 3‑bar hori­zontal bar, hanging course and bould­e­ring faci­lity
  • Super Nova
  • Tram­po­line track and slack­line
  • Circular running track
  • Running school, balance, jumping and coor­di­na­tion games

The design was created by the Swiss plan­ning office Wegmüller.

Whatever you want

The Blue Square is both a meeting place and a trai­ning ground.

  • School­children use it during lessons, at break time and after school.
  • Sports clubs benefit from the varied outdoor trai­ning oppor­tu­ni­ties.
  • Fami­lies enjoy a range of acti­vi­ties toge­ther that even small children can intui­tively use.
  • Indi­vi­dual athletes find plenty of space for working out, jogging or chil­ling out under the newly planted trees.

The design consis­t­ently follows the prin­ciple of inclu­sion. All paths, access points and play areas are desi­gned so that they can also be used by people with disa­bi­li­ties. The over­lap­ping markings, free-form design and varying shades of blue of the PU-bound sports surface create an invi­ting, intui­tive envi­ron­ment that does not dictate how you have to move, but inspires you to move however you want.

The low-emis­sion LED lighting can be acti­vated at the touch of a button until 10 p.m., allo­wing the space to be used in the evening as well.

How it works

Although the actual sports area is now smaller than before the reno­va­tion, the range of acti­vi­ties on offer to the diverse user groups, from primary school children to senior citi­zens, has multi­plied.

The Blue Square is not a sports field in the tradi­tional sense, but a lively exer­cise area for the entire commu­nity: a place to burn off energy, try things out, play, train, meet and linger. It is an example of what open space design can look like today: diverse, inclu­sive and full of joy in move­ment.

Thanks to courage in plan­ning and quality in execu­tion.

Floor areas: The top layer

Coloured GEZOFLEX EPDM granu­late from GEZOLAN AG was used for the top layer of the elastic floo­ring in the new, multi­func­tional exer­cise room in Balzers, as well as for the hemi­sphe­rical 3D elements. The rubber granu­late from the Swiss manu­fac­turer is charac­te­rised by consis­t­ently high mate­rial quality, good UV and weather resis­tance, and reliable colour fast­ness. These proper­ties help to ensure that the surfaces can with­stand the various usage requi­re­ments of the open exer­cise area on a long-term basis.

For the Blue Square, the colours 054 dark blue and 084 bright blue were used both as indi­vi­dual colours and in coor­di­nated mixtures. The mate­rial thus makes a signi­fi­cant contri­bu­tion to the overall appearance of the project, not only in terms of func­tion­a­lity but also in terms of design. In combi­na­tion with the freely formed square design and the wide range of exer­cise options, the floo­ring supports the idea of an inclu­sive and flexible outdoor space.

Floor surfaces: Binding agents

A CONICA binding agent system, speci­ally deve­loped for elastic and durable outdoor surfaces, was used to cons­truct the sports floo­ring on the Blue Square. The high-quality poly­ure­thane binders ensure a reliable bond between the EPDM granules and contri­bute signi­fi­cantly to the longe­vity and func­tion­a­lity of the entire surface. They are desi­gned for stable perfor­mance under chan­ging weather condi­tions and support the elas­ti­city, shock absorp­tion and struc­tural stabi­lity of the surface.

In Balzers, a binder was used that reliably retains its proper­ties both during inten­sive sporting use and in ever­yday opera­tion. It thus makes an important tech­nical contri­bu­tion to the imple­men­ta­tion of the project: the freely desi­gned exer­cise land­scape should not only be visually appe­aling, but also remain safe, robust and easy to main­tain in the long term.

The CONICA binder system used helps to ensure that the Blue Square meets the diverse requi­re­ments of an open, inclu­sive and heavily frequented exer­cise area.

Project data

Planer

Planungs­büro Wegmüller
7250 Klos­ters
Schweiz

Client

Gemeinde Balzers
FL 9496 Balzers
Liech­ten­stein

User

Gemein­de­schulen Balzers

Granulate

GEZOLAN AG
Werk­strasse 30
6252 Dagmer­sellen
Schweiz

Binder

CONICA AG
Indus­trie­strasse 26
8207 Schaff­hausen
schweiz

Opening

2022

Address

Schul­haus Balzers
Schul­strasse 2
9496 Balzers
Liech­ten­stein

Photos

Hitsch Photo­graphy
Planungs­büro Wegmüller

Text

Johannes Bühl­be­cker
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