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Designs on PlayBack to the main page on Designs on Play Helle NebelongThe Nature playground in Valbyparken
The second play space is the Nature playground
in Valbyparken. Valbyparken is the biggest park in Copenhagen. During
the past 8 years it has been totally renovated. Areas have been
laid out with water holes, meadows of wild flowers and hills and
in 1996, when Copenhagen was the European Culture City, 17 circular
theme gardens were constructed. One of which became the Millennium
Garden, which I will tell you about later on. During the past 4 years a 20.000 m2 playground has been under construction using people from the unemployed project. As Valbyparken is an old rubbish dumping area, the environmental authorities demanded that ½ meter of earth must be removed from the whole area and replaced by new, clean earth. The rubbish dump earth must not be removed from Valbyparken and it has therefore been built into a row of hills, which separate the playground from the rest of the park. At one of my first sketches you can see the most important elements which are:
The original woodland, the new hills and the wide stretch of meadow outside the playground. The plan is made up of organically formed elements: A large area with sand and gravel, small green islands, winding paths, a village of woven willow huts and plaited fences, an area with wild flowers and a very big snail-shaped mound with a path spiralling up it to a look-out point. The whole playground is pulled together by a circular 210 m wooden bridge. The planks in the bridge are from the many elm trees, felled in Copenhagen due to Dutch elm disease.
For this playground I worked really well together with four incredibly enthusiastic students from Denmark's Design School. They designed six towers which are placed as precise points at the large circular bridge, which pull together the whole organically shaped space. Each tower has its own theme: The Water's Tower, The Light's Tower, The Wind's Tower, The Green tower, The Birds Tower and The Tower of Change. It is often the quite simple things, which awaken a child's curiosity. If everything is not the same and predictable, a child's fantasy is sharpened and if the challenges are there, he will practise climbing up into complicated, twisted trees, throwing small stones at targets and jumping from one big stone to another; children experience and are in a small way getting a little better at everything all the time. This naturally gives self-confidence and courage. One grows and dares to meet new challenges. It is important that children be allowed to find out the nature of things by themselves. Everything should not be explained, demystified, beforehand. There must be time for the child to linger mentally over things and to develop at his own speed. The child's being must be stimulated qualitatively by good materials and a superior, cohesive structure.
One special part of the planning of outdoor areas for children concerns the use or non-use of colours in a playground. In my opinion, colour should be used carefully and in small splashes. I think it is an adult idea, created by misunderstanding, that everything to do with children must be openly amusing and painted in bright colours. A child's day is already full to bursting with colours and moving images from the colourful interior of the day care centre, from hours in front of the television and computer screen at home and when out shopping in the supermarket. Children need to be able to relax their eyes and their minds when they come outside. Nature's own colours are perfect for the playground, maybe spiced up here and there with a few artistic colour splashes. The Tower of Light is a good example. From outside it doesn't look colourful but if you step inside the tower you get astonished to see all the light and colours.
It has been my ambition to design a playground that would become a good alternative to the many commercial amusement parks, which are appearing everywhere. The playground is also a favourite place for all nursery kindergartens, schools and after school clubs, who visit it on day trips.
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