Room for creative development on protective floorings

Children should learn through active as opposed to passive experience. The philosophy of the active leisure time park Ketteler Hof in Haltern am See in Lavesum, North Rhine Westphalia, Germany, is mirrored in the latest installed equipment – a 'Pixie Village' and an 'Adventure Mini-golf' –, which are equipped with the seamless safety flooring Playfix made by BSW, and thus provide children with a safe environment for their creative games.

From the idea to the pixie village and adventure minigof course

The Ketteler Hof is characterised by 32 imaginative fantasy play areas covering a total area of 12 hectares and which provide an invitation for adventure and recreation. At least one new attraction is added to the activity park each year. The idea for the pixie village and the adventure minigolf was created in a planning process between the owner of the Ketteler Hof, Georg Schulze Robert, and the landscape architect Rolf Teschner from Dülmen.

Seamless safety flooring Playfix chosen

In order for the play areas of the plant to be both functional and pleasing in appearance, the architect for the pixie village and the construction supervisor of both play areas, Dipl.-Ing. Rolf Teschner, chose the seamless safety flooring Playfix made by the BSW Company, a manufacturer of sport and leisure floor coverings located in Bad Berleburg, Germany. He found that the Playfix floorings gave a very good optic effect next to the sand areas where the playground equipment was installed. As not all areas were to be of sand, Playfix was the optimal addition; not least as the colour of the flooring could be chosen at will. In order to improve the grime-effect of the new play areas, a speckled texture which fitted harmoniously into the overall natural concept was created using three colours - in the case of the pixie village orange, earth yellow and rainbow green.

Weatherability and low abrasion

Weatherability and low abrasion were also properties required by the architect for the play flooring and provided by Playfix. Alternative floor coverings such as grass, gravel etc. offered no competition. Overall, an area of 650 m² was fitted with Playfix. This included paths, hilly landscapes and also small playing fields. A particular challenge was presented by the application of the covering to the hilly areas which extend throughout the playground area. This called for qualified specialist personnel.

Installation with own qualified technicians

For the installation of its Playfix seamless safety flooring, BSW works solely with their own qualified technicians. Due to the number of projects which are carried out throughout the world, these technicians are familiar with a variety of different requirements while other companies rely on sub-contractors whose personnel only occasionally carry out this work. Despite difficult weather conditions the four technicians were able to quickly install the 15-mm-thick elastic floor covering on top of a drainable single-size concrete bed. The Ketteler Hof is now richer by two attractions inviting active playing fun.

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