Written by Berliner Seilfabrik Team

Be’er-Sheva in southern Israel is one of the country’s largest cities. It is considered by many to be the “Capital of the Negev,” which it borders on. As a so-called “developing city,” Be’er-Sheva has been turning into a religious center and has also become an important Israeli metropolis over recent decades.

In order to maintain the city’s attractiveness for its 200,000 inhabitants, it is crucial to create attractive facilities for young families. In addition to emerging residential neighborhoods, the growing industrial sector and increasing tourism, new local parks have been established in the last few years. One of these is Be’er-Sheva River Park. Covering an expanse of several square miles, the large River Park follows the course of Nahal Be’er-Sheva, a large riverbed that does not carry any water during the dry season.

As of June 2017, the park boasts a new centerpiece: a massive playground consisting of a vast climbing landscape made up of equipment provided by Berliner Seilfabrik.

Seven differently equipped climbing towers are evenly distributed over an area of approx. 10,765-ft.² They serve as the foundation pillars of this climbing paradise. The towers are connected with net bridges that are up to 20 feet in length. Some of the bamboo-clad towers are more than 26 feet high, giving them the appearance of a tree house village thanks to their natural design.

Besides its remarkable size and complexity, another special feature of the playground is its density of climbing structures and the way these are connected. Any “gaps” have been filled using additional exciting equipment. Climbing mats, ladders, nets and climbing ropes add many more options for climbing and playing, making the playground even more versatile. A neighboring lower rope course for children who are not quite ready to make their way up to the “treetops” offers additional variety and an exciting challenge for smaller children.

In addition, six long, slightly twisted or even spiralling slides have been attached to the climbing towers. Whizzing down one of these slides is the perfect reward to every bold climber! The slides for this project were supplied by Israeli partner Games & Sports and could be easily attached to the towers thanks to Berliner Seilfabrik’s modular system.

Around the climbing structures, numerous additional attractions such as seesaws and carousels complete the playground’s range of activities in an impressive fashion.

The new climbing landscape has been designed in cooperation with Games & Sports Head of Design, Galina Man, and the company’s Vice President of Marketing, Meirav Moshka, with the planners at Berlin’s Creative Centers. Roei Shabtay, Executive Assistant to the CEO at Games & Sports, is more than happy with the result. In particular, he loves how “every area offers a different activity”.

Another specialty of the playground is its distinctive canopy. The entire climbing structure is protected by multiple shade sails arranged in a star-shaped pattern. As severe dust storms can be quite a frequent occurrence in the Be’er-Sheva region, these sails give not only shade, but also protect the playground structures and their users from the bothersome fine grains of sand. Several poles were installed to attach the canopy.

Roei Shabtay explains, “We had to pour a joint foundation to be able to anchor this great number of poles in the ground. The poles for the playground equipment and the poles for the shade sails share one foundation.” Despite the large amount of poles in one place, the designers managed to observe the necessary clearance distance, thus ensuring maximum safety for the children.

This is a project reference of Berliner Seilfabrik, in southern Israel. If you would like to create a relevant custom-made solution in Greece or Cyprus, please do not hesitate to contact with us at info@eliteareas.gr

Written by Berliner Seilfabrik Team

South Park, San Francisco’s oldest public park, is a unique and historical area. The park, modeled after an English strolling park, was originally built as the centerpiece of this exclusive neighborhood. Years of activity, however, took their toll and the park fell into disrepair.

The Recreation Park Department, South Park Improvement Association, park neighbors and community leaders wanted to restore it to its original glory. Fletcher Studio Landscape Architecture, an award-winning landscape architecture firm, was commissioned to develop a master plan for the park, bringing the revitalized vision to reality. The new design can be described as a contemporary interpretation of the English strolling garden.

The project entailed upgrading the park’s infrastructure, including new paths, irrigation, drainage, site lighting, landscaping, swooping meadows and a new stage area for performances.

One striking addition: a custom universal play area with undulating forms both in structure and in the mounded surface. This flowing contemporary design by Fletcher and the 100% custom designed structure by Berliner makes it a truly one-of-a-kind design, one that has never been done before!

David Yosso, President of Specified Play Equipment Company and Berliner’s exclusive representative for Northern California, calls the South Park design a “sculptural, playful art piece designed for all ages and imaginations.”

From a bird’s eye view, the play structure appears to be a perfect circle. From an elevation view, you see the undulations and curvatures.

The undulating curvatures rise from two feet to 10 feet with no visible upright posts. All posts, six of them, are below grade. The mounding underneath the playground follows the curvature of the equipment, effectively hiding the upright posts and making the structure appear to float.

The different types of nets offer various degrees of challenge with plenty of footing and handholds for children to safely climb up and down, horizontally and vertically. Net climbers offer visual transparency, keeping sight lines open.

Berliner’s proprietary Charlotte Connectors, which make the rope ends disappear inside the steel tubes, allow for tension adjustments to be made on site, resulting in a more harmonic net geometry as well as improved longevity.

This structure offers a perfect example of the optimum amount of risk with no single route and no known conclusion!

The modern, almost industrial color choice reinforces the concept that this is more than a playground; it is almost like public art, complementing the many tech-related and design companies that call South Park home.

Play elements integrated into the flowing design include a banister, which provides an elegant alternative to a slide, and a multi-user, accessible saucer swing.

The playground in any community provides a distinctive landmark; however, South Park is more than a playground. It provides a lesson in redesigning a public space; combining the play value needed by children with the aesthetic appeal and style desired by adults – making it the perfect place for the whole family.

This is a project reference of Berliner Seilfabrik, in San Francisco. All photos courtesy of  Fangzhour Miao and Chris Watkins. If you would like to create a relevant custom-made solution in Greece or Cyprus, please do not hesitate to contact with us at info@eliteareas.gr

Written by Berliner Seilfabrik Team

Goggle “INCLUSIVE PLAY” or “inclusive playgrounds” and you will find pages of entries – what it is, where you can find such playgrounds, who offers “inclusive playground equipment” and more.

Delve into this more and you will also find that many traditional inclusive playgrounds primarily focus on children with physical disabilities, failing to include those without physical disabilities or those without disabilities at all.

This raises the question: what kind of inclusion experience is it if it is neglecting over 90% of children who don’t have any disabilities at all to play?

There are many kinds of playground equipment that provide an “inclusive” experience; however, rope play equipment, net climbers, offer something for everyone, providing a more unique and ever-challenging experience for all abilities.

So, What is Inclusive Play?

In general, inclusive play bridges the gap between mainstream and children with special needs. Inclusive play enables children to better relate to one another, whether they have a special need or not, opening their eyes to the world around them.

Inclusive play enables better social integration. Learning about each other’s differences at a younger age can help children feel comfortable around those who are different.

Many children happily play together without noticing any differences. Encouraging children of all abilities to play together teaches them to treat each other the same.

Accessible or Inclusive Playground – What’s the Difference?

A 100% accessible playground goes beyond ADA Compliance, enabling
everyone to get to and move all around the playground. Children in wheelchairs could, for instance, reach the highest point of a structure through ramps. Being ADA Compliant Means…
All new and renovated parks must have an accessible path leading to the playground with nothing blocking it. A paved path and railing facilitates access for children with disabilities and helps meet ADA regulations. Integrating a very tightly stretched rope, for example, into the playground may make the use of a cane for a visually impaired child unnecessary, freeing the child’s hands for climbing. On the other hand, an inclusive playground accounts for human diversity in the community. That means, it offers barrier-free attractions while at the same time providing challenging and fun experiences for a wide variety of children – those without any disabilities along with those with ADHD, Down’s syndrome, sensory processing, visual or hearing impairments and other physical and developmental issues.

An inclusive playground offers a balance of play experiences for all abilities, achieving parallel play as much as possible. It enables children to embrace and experience their commonalities and differences as autonomously as possible and in close proximity to one another.

It is not about “leveling down” the experience nor is it necessary to remove every sandbox so that a child with little mobility does not notice that he or she cannot run.

Inclusive play and accessible play are often lumped together when accessibility is only a small part of what makes a playground inclusive. The ramps alone are merely an accessibility device and do not by themselves lead to engagement with other children. On the other hand, rope play equipment does.

How Rope Play Adds to the Inclusive Experience

Net structures, or rope play equipment, only serve to enhance the play experience for children, whether at an accessible or inclusive playground. The unique free play and net climbing configurations challenge a child’s motor skills, increase their self-confidence, stimulate imaginative play and improve muscle development and balancing skills.

One strength of rope play equipment lies in the motor challenge that they pose to children along with the endless play options. When climbing, a child’s progress requires control and focus, each step and each grip is a new decision, keeping it challenging and fun every time.

3-Dimensional vs. 2-Dimensional Rope Equipment
Two-dimensional rope structures offer paths for a child to climb vertically, horizontally or possibly across on a bridge or link.
Three-dimensional rope structures come in all shapes and sizes and are commonly referred to as space nets and net climbers. Structures can be quite tall or closer to the ground and full of low course challeng- es or a mix of both, enhancing the play experience with:

• No prescribed entry points
• No specific paths to be followed
• Open environment encourag- ing social interaction

One strength of rope play equipment lies in the motor challenge that they pose to children along with the endless play options. When climbing, a child’s progress requires control and focus, each step and each grip is a new decision, keeping it challenging and fun every time.

For every action, there is a reaction. As one child is climbing the rope structure, it causes a reaction to the other side of the structure. For children who have limited mobility or do not have the strength or desire to climb the structure, he or she can hold the rope and feel its movement, swaying back and forth, and be included in the play with others. Rope play equipment combines different difficulty levels in a single play element. For instance, older children or young adults who like to climb can romp in sections with larger distances between the ropes while younger children can test their motor skills in sections with narrower distances between the ropes. Children of all ages (and sizes) are part of the play experience.

A 3-dimensional net structure has no prescribed entry or exit point; it is up to the child to decide where to go in or come out. is, too, leads to endless play options.

It is important to note that play- grounds must meet all standards and rules of the ADA. That means that all play equipment of a certain size must have some type of transfer module, such as a transfer station or ramp, installed enabling a child to move (or transfer) from his or her wheelchair on to the play structure. The use of transfer modules enables a child in a wheelchair to reach play equipment such as a slide, providing him or her with an easy climbing challenge.

Transfer stations and ramps are not the only viable tools to ensure accessibility. The standard leaves room for alternate solutions if they result in equivalent or better usage. Access nets or other close to the ground nets meet that criteria.

On most rope structures the entire base perimeter serves as a transfer point to the climber. There is no need for an additional transfer module/deck. Rope play equipment encourages children to leave the wheelchair whenever possible.

Rope playground equipment with built-in seats, such as nest swings, are very accessible to children in wheelchairs. The spacious lying area often enables children with or without disabilities to swing together, encouraging social interaction.

The challenging nature of a low-level rope course offers visually impaired children the opportunity to climb safely as well as allowing children with hearing impairments to use sign language without hindrance.

The ropes make communicating among the children and their caregivers much easier. Some children may not speak or hear well. Play can be a wonderful tool for them to use to communicate. The transparency of the net structure enables children to use sign language when playing and eliminates barriers to visual supervision even on very busy playgrounds.

Rope equipment can incorporate elements that allow auditory, visual and tactile sensory experiences, which can capture a child’s interest, especially in children with a form of autism spectrum disorder or sensory processing disorder.

Net climbers provide a play space that brings together children with different abilities – those that may have a visual or hearing impairment, physical or mental disability or other developmental challenge – enabling them to experience their possibilities and their limits in common play, encouraging understanding and acceptance of one another.

If you would like to create a custom-made solution in Greece or Cyprus, please do not hesitate to contact with us at info@eliteareas.gr

Written by Berliner Seilfabrik Team

With the opening of Margaret Mahy Playground in Christchurch, New Zealand, June 25th 2016, one of the largest and most modern playgrounds in the southern hemisphere has arisen. It was built after the major earthquake that struck New Zealand in February 2011, which affected Christchurch in particular. The project was meaningful for all those involved, but in particular for the area’s inhabitants and visitors to the playground.

The detailed planning phase from early 2013 to mid-2015 included a playground design competition held among schools in the Canterbury region. Entries to this competition helped inspire the final design as drawn up by Berliner Seilfabrik.

The playground’s layout is based on Canterbury’s four main natural habitats: “The Forest”, “The Wetlands”, “The Plains” and “Coastal”. It consists of two different parts. The first section of the playground includes a large custom-made net of 22,5 m x 15 m, stretched across two enormous masts. The net is fixed through a total of 15 anchor points whose foundations are at different heights.

One of the greatest challenges facing the team at Berliner’s Creative Centre was to procure reliable topographical data from the park designers on the ground, since the creation of artificial hills was envisaged as part of the park’s landscape. “An inaccurate calculation of a few centimetres in height difference can lead to a misfit of the whole net. This results either in a sag or a net being too short.”, Marius Kotte, Architect and Head of Construction and Development said.

To prevent this, playground concepts were created, based on which preliminary drafts were then drawn up and offered. With the completion of landscape modelling, the entire site was surveyed. The resulting three-dimensional data set was used by Berliner Seilfabrik to create a virtual site. Based on this, the play structure was conceived, manufactured and installed on site with the utmost precision.

The playground’s second section is characterised by a gigantic tower combination designed and built by Berliner Seilfabrik. The structure consists of three large towers enabling children to climb up to eight meters above ground level. A spectacular spiral slide transports children from the top back down to ground level. Each tower is enhanced by bamboo panels, which has led to their being included in Berliner’s Greenville Towers & Triis product range. “The architect requested special posts and therefore we could not use our standard connector tube.

That’s why we invented a new fastening system which bears high design requirements and the long transportation route to New Zealand. The fact that welding on site was impossible was considered, too.”, Marius Kotte says. To ensure the identification of the individual posts in New Zealand, they have been marked by laser engraving.

As a result, a new and wonderful playground is now located in the Heart of Christchurch. Not only kids are excited, but also their parents and even their grandparents. Leez O’Connell took her granddaughter to enjoy the slide despite the rain. “I think it’s fantastic. Kids aren’t allowed to climb trees or anything anymore. So I really like seeing them all climbing up there and getting a bit scared. It’s so good for them,” she said in New Zealand´s Newspaper THE PRESS.

This is a project reference of Berliner Seilfabrik, in New Zealand. If you would like to create a relevant custom-made solution in Greece or Cyprus, please do not hesitate to contact with us at info@eliteareas.gr