The creation of a unique playground landscape in a courtyard in the Briegelacker district of Baden-Baden serves many purposes: offering a well-needed playground for local children, attracting visitors from other neighbourhoods and connecting the Briegelackerstraße with the busier Rheinstraße.
To overcome the nearly 3,0-meter height difference between the two streets we created a gently sloping landscape stretching from one end of the courtyard to the other, with a path winding up to make it accessible to prams and wheelchairs. The buildings are accessed separately with paths that remain at the same level as the entrances and are separated from the sloping landscape by grassed slopes.
The playground begins and ends with two small plazas with benches, the top one offering a view over the whole playground. The winding path connects the five different play areas, which are spread over four different topographical levels and are arranged by age, with spaces for younger children located below towards Briegelackerstraße and spaces for older children near Rheinstraße. A strip of shrubs acts as a buffer between the path and the play areas, while on the western side, a strip of tall grasses serves as a boundary and visual screen.
The playground’s theme, “Travel Around the World,” reflects the cultural diversity of the Briegelacker district. Each of the five play areas represents a landscape from a different continent:
– Area for 0–3-year-olds: Europe – The Baltic Sea Island. On a sandy island is a shipwreck where the youngest children can climb, play in the sand, and hide.
– Area for 3-6-year-olds: Asia – The Bamboo Forest. In a landscape of dense green poles, children can navigate a low-level course with a slide and a small swing. This area, designed as a hollow, also features sloped EPDM walls for climbing with ropes and sliding down.
– Area 1 for 6-12-year-olds: Africa – The Savanna. Children can move high up from platform to platform between individual trees, focusing on balance. A slide provides the finishing touch.
– Area 2 for 6-12-year-olds: Americas – The Rainforest. In a denser pole forest, there is a rope garden where children can use their strength to climb up or swing. This area is connected to the Savanna area by a rope tunnel.
– Area 3 for 6-12-year-olds: Oceania – Australia. This area features a “wild” nest swing that can rotate in all directions.
The grasses and tree species emphasize the “Journey Around the World” theme.
Project Data
Landscape architecture: BHMP
Project location: Baden-Baden, Germany
Year completed: 2020
Photo credits: Nikolai Benner
Manufacturer: play equipment from Krambamboul
