Fine sandy beaches, coastal forests, dune landscapes, protected moors, wide meadows and reed banks shape the image of the spacious Baltic Sea resort. In the middle of one of these coastal forests, SIK-Holz® has built a generation playground in cooperation with the landscape architecture officethe planning office Evert from Lietzow.

The sensitive thinning of the wood allowed age-appropriate zoning of the individual play areas. The play equipment represents the Baltic Sea Bodden area in a maritime color concept. The entrance marks a gate occupied by seagulls. Immediately behind the gate there is a barrier-free play area that can be accessed via a bound path surface. Fitness equipments for all age groups were positioned parallel on the way to the beach. And in the small clearings in the grove, the gaze falls on a large lighthouse, a small cutter, a fisherman’s house, a trap-climbing-unit, a rotating fish barrel or on various seesaws and swings. The devices offer a lot of variety in movement and role-playing games. In between there is always a place to relax, watch or play a board game. The game is played with pine apples, which you only need to pick up from the floor.

We thank everyone involved in this project for the good cooperation and wish the holiday season to start soon.

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Between the tentants’ gardens there is a larger open space with benches, games and exercise facilities. The old furishings had got long in the tooth and had to be renewed. Inspired by the surroundings of an intact community garden colony, landscape architect Katharina Niproschke designed a new playground focused on «young vegetables», in close cooperation with the Berlin office of SIK-Holz^®. The new playground looks like a large wooden vegetable path between two large birch trees. It is divided into different zones in order to enable age-appropriate play. In addition, there is a fenced sand area for small children up to three years of age with sand and water games and a small garden hut for role-playing. The lovingly designed fence with applications and sculptures from the gardener’s realm separates the toddler area from the more activity-focused play equipment for older children. Outside the fenced garden colony, various animal sculptures invite the children to jump, bounce, swing and role-plays games together on three jumping boards designed as a «lettuce head» and «strawberry», a «chili rocker» and a «vegetable swing». For older children up to approx. 12 years of age, the central «allotment garden play unit» offers many activity incentives from climbing and balancing to shimmying and sliding. For these areas, wood chips were chosen to built the base. A small road network of paved paths with small traffic signs runs around the play areas. It is here where the children can learn how to move and behave in the world outside the playground with everything that «rolls». All those who do not play but want watch, talk or simply be out in the fresh air can sit on the numerous benches available in the area.

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Due to the pandemic, the octopus has to wait for its visitors. We wish him an early start to the season.

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The zoo’s motto «Animals up close» is fully reflected in the new play area. The different devices are each associated with a species of animal in the zoo. A big, friendly bear greets you at the edge of the playground. With its mischievously pointed snout, it is an ideal photo opportunity for visitors. A meerkat guards the sandpit and next door a macaque perched on a post between two playhouses. Here, sand and role play can be pursued extensively. And if you want to imitate the monkeys, you can swing from house to house via a net. The peacock play area for older children provides a greater challenge. It can be climbed directly from the path. A balancing course with elements of varying difficulty leads to the play tower, which in turn can be conquered via various stairways. A slide at the end of the tower completes the entire experience. Another flagship of the zoo are its lynxes. A lynx has found its place on the swing beam and is comfortably dozing into the day. Bees stand ready for take-off on a double springer and an alpaca patiently waits to be climbed by the children and included in their play.

With the new playground, the zoo in Luckenwalde has gained another attraction and has come one step closer to its goals.

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Hiking is a particularly low-contact form of leisure activity. The risk of contracting a dangerous virus in the fresh air is relatively low. We would therefore like to recommend a particularly beautiful hiking trail in the heart of Germany, the Harzer Hexenstieg. It leads from Osterode in the West Harz over the Brocken to Thale in the East Harz. Two alternative routes extend the hiking network to 152 km. Since 2014, twelf artistically designed adventure islands have been created along the hiking trail. In terms of content, regional topics are taken up on each island. Six stations were implemented by SIK-Holz® in high quality craftsmanship based on drafts from design office, Bad Harzburg.

Torfhaus – flora and fauna of the Harz Mountains

The eye-catcher at the Torfhaus is a huge wooden sculpture that represents a magical union of flora and fauna of the Harz Mountains. Huge ferns break through the stone floor and rise six meters into the sky – lynx, fire salamander, brown trout, pygmy owl and dragonfly travel along on the ferns. Other oversized wooden ferns accompany visitors on their way into the national park towards Brocken and present literary natural quotations.

Oderteich – Mrs. Holle

At this point you can find the often sung about and written about Mrs. Holle, designed in blue-green watercolors and rooted in the ground. Dragonflies, which are typical for this location, adorn her face.

Jordanshöhe – Ants

The place focuses on the ants, which as very small forest dwellers have an often underestimated importance for the ecosystem. On site there is a bank made of oversized spruce needles, two aphids and a red wood ant.

Hasselfelde – Cows

Reference is made here to the long tradition of farming on the meadows and in the forests of the upper Harz Mountains.

Schierke – Goethe train station

The former train station was right on the inner-german border and was used by the border guards as an illegal shelter. The seating elements at the transition between the mountain spruce forest and the forest-free Brocken top invite you to linger.

Osterode – Kiepenfrau (woman with a box)

The hikers can take a seat right next to a Kiepenfrau and rest with her. Or, when lifting a 40 kg box, you can feel how difficult it is for the energetic women, popularly known as «Harz camel», to drag.

Another stop in the Harz National Park is the HohneHof nature experience center.

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There are also smaller and larger playgrounds from SIK-Holz® between the accommodations, which have been named «Sunrise Homes». They offer an attractive contrast program in the shade of Brandenburg pines and a quiet atmosphere with an exquisite view of the tropical hall. Some of the playgrounds are positioned directly between the holiday homes. The play areas serve as a meeting point, for orientation and as a lounge area, before or after an eventful day on the Tropical Island or the wider area. Small children can move around independently in the adult’s field of vision and make friends with other children. The adults also come into contact with one another in the surrounding of the playgrounds. A larger climbing forest is located at the entrance to the resort. Older children who are a bit more mobile meet here. In addition to experimenting with sand, exercise should of course not be missing. So you can swing, balance or climb. The bigger ones can show their dexterity on the horizontal bar and their strength on hanging structures. The play areas also show excerpts from the diversity of the Brandenburg region. The children can hang around and climb in a «Brandenburg birch forest», venture into the «Spreewald river landscape» or explore the «world of bees» between the beehive and the beehive.

The existing road network around the area was also fundamentally renewed in the course of the expansion. Wouter Dekkers is particularly proud of the new reception building. Here, too, a small play area has been created to get in the mood for the holiday in case there are waiting times at the check-in.

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On an area of approx. 11 x 6 m, this compact play unit offers many climbing and sliding options. Ascents over climbing walls, ropes and network tunnels open up new play and movement sequences around the play equipment. Only sand is conveyed here, which the children can load into two lorries. A special feature are the many sensory games within the play unit. In addition to a feeling road beneath the platform, through which one can move like a labyrinth, and various sound games, it is especially the coloured light games that open up a new field of experience for visitors. When the sun is bright shining, the coloured Plexiglas panes in the roof and in the wall of the play unit create a wonderful play of colours. Just as the sun moves, so moves the coloured shadows inside and outside the Headframe too. A beautiful future-oriented image between tradition and modernity.

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The playground is divided into two areas. In the forest area, the capercaillie nest, as a meeting point and climbing device, is the central element. Various climbing and balancing paths extend from the nest. The posts on the forest path are assigned to different tree species. Movment games and competitions can be organized here that are varied and educational at the same time. The heather path roams through the blooming heather with various balancing elements. On the posts there are appliqués of the flower of the «common heather» in different stages of development. Nets for resting are integrated into the moor path. Here the posts are designed as «cotton grass». Other learning islands, such as the size comparison with local animals, a feeler box, a marble run and a bench with wingspan, frame the climbing area.

On the second area, visitors to the playground are introduced to the world of orchards. A large tree house stands for a large apple tree that you can climb into and slide down using a climbing pole. An oversized apple grove invites you to turn around together. The bumblebee nest with its many bumblebees is an Eldorado to crawl and hide. But there are also insights into the world of bumblebees, bees and other insects that are of great importance for nature. The small creatures can be observed through peep tubes.

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An underwater world lies behind the entrance gate with climbing fish for small children and a water play unit. The main feature of the playground is the net and fish trap paradise. High and low Spreewald houses are connected by a maze of tunnels, bridges, ropes and nets. This results in many play paths that symbolize the flow-like paths of the Spreewald. A stork sits in a nest on a roof, barrels for crawling through and hiding lie beneath the houses with a hammock between them for relaxing. Outside the play area there is a triple swing and a basket swing for small children near the underwater world. Besides the large play area, three themed playhouses, a linseed oil stall, gherkin stall and a large boat repair shop provide plenty ofspace for quiet role playing games and sensory games as well as space to sit and relax. The spacious playhouses are easily accessible for wheelchair users. Behind the play areas, large haystacks invite young people to climb and chill out. There is a fitness island and a Kneipp facility for adults.

The playground is an attractive place for locals and tourists, as a look at the press shows. During the season it is visited by around 300–400 children and adults every day. On the occasion of the Architecture Day in Brandenburg on June 28, 2020, the playground made it into the TOP 30 of the selected buildings.

The project was implemented according to a draft and in cooperation with the office Subatzus & Bringmann GbR from Großräschen.

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Please click here for further informations about our certification «climate-neutral comapany».

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