The Reuterpark Lighthouse Project
The city of Bonn has transformed its Reuterpark, which has been open to the public since 23 March 2023, into a "place for all". As the first inclusively designed park in Bonn, Reuterpark is ...
YOUR FORUM FOR PLAY, SPORTS UND LEISURE AREAS
Freizeitpark Moers is an important part of the public structures in the city of Moers. In addition to the amusement park, the adjacent castle park, the associated embankment and the town centre of Moers are places worth mentioning. As a part of the theme park, the newly designed Moersbachpark moves into the urban spotlight with its diversity of use, clear structures and unique highlights.
The design concept, called the Magic of Water of Moersbachpark considers the park an ensemble of the following six elements:
Plaza - The Plaza is the centrepiece of the new Moersbachpark. It is considered a meeting place, an attractive lounge area and a very popular highlight for city visitors. The Plaza has enough space for events, soapbox races, food trucks and everyday life. A surrounding path strengthens the impression of it being a new centre.
Functional band - The functional band is located directly adjacent to the plaza area and links all the other elements. In the northern part it also serves as a buffer between the plaza and the children's play area. The functional band accommodates an optional multifunctional field including a seating area, a small outdoor gym and a large grandstand.
Skatepark - The skate park will be a true speciality, a new highlight in Moers. It is unique for Moers and its surroundings in terms of size and specific character. The skate park will become a crowd puller and a socially unifying element of Moersbachpark, the reason why it is located on the new main route, thus easily visible and prominent.
Children's play area - The basic features of the children's play area will be retained. It will just be extended to the north by an appropriately dimensioned toddler play area. With regard to its structure, it will be integrated into the overall concept of Moersbachpark.
Meadow area - As lively as it is in the new Moersbachpark area, the open, wide meadow areas are kept contemplative and quiet. The former bastion has been converted into a reading garden, and the laid art path frames the open meadows and creates a link to the Moersbach renaturalisation. Hence, a quiet counterpoint has been provided to the lively environment of the busy part of the park.
Forest playground - The relocation of the busy part to the main road axis leads to the creation of a stretch of land in the rear area of Moersbachpark which is predestined to become a forest playground due to its elevated location and the tree population. A meadow in the midst of a clearing, the relevant topography and few play elements leave room for creative play.
The magic of water - who can deny it. Water is something special which has always attracted people, kept them busy and connected while at the same time providing a calming effect. Being the name giver, the Moersbach stream is a very prominent part of the theme park, especially now after its renaturalisation, Water can generally be described as a unifying element in Moers. However, this special feature of the town has been taken up and continued in the overall Moersbachpark concept.
Water can be experienced in different ways and is staged as a highlight.
The heart is the water converter, which functions as a ring in the midst of the plaza able to create up to four different scenarios, such as a water film on the floor, serving as an ice surface, or providing spray mists and falling water from the ring element. Changing experiences create magical moments in the interaction of water, temperature, light and the users themselves.
The plaza has some simple depressions, whose shape reminds of ice floes. After rainfall the water will be kept for a longer time and may thus provide exciting moments through reflection and simple play value. With its snakerun-offer and the many depressions the skate park reminds of events in which water has shaped the landscape. This impression is reinforced by the blue colour used to imitate the element of water.
Moersbachpark is integrated into the overall ensemble by imitating existing design elements. In this way, the leisure axis is established as a counterpart to the palace axis and functions as a development and connection to the palace park. The aforementioned five elements of Moersbachpark are based on this axis resulting in the creation of a clear path hierarchy and promoted orientation.
The concept of the skate park arose from the need to build a skate park in the new Moersbachpark in the city of Moers which should attract both local users, and visitors from all over Germany and abroad to make the city a place of interest, particularly regarding extreme sports.To cover most of the needs of such a project, the skate park was located in a prominent position.
The planning process began by defining the place of the skate park by taking into account the existing tree population for the climatic conditioning of the track and using them for our benefit. In order to meet the requirements of noise protection, the skatepark was recessed by 0.50-1 m and the skatepark as a whole was equipped with roll-affine objects.
The next step was to divide the project into 4 areas by taking into account the following essential offers, such as the Flow Street, Snakeline, pool for beginners and pool for advanced and experienced swimmers.
However, the obstacles in each area have been designed to provide equal conditions for everybody when practising different types of sports in these areas: BMX, skateboard, scooter, inline skate, MTB, wheelchair, etc. At the same time, the project is provided with unique obstacles to stand out from other skateparks. In fact, the pool has enough features for experienced riders to host international events.
Extreme sports are no longer just future topics. They are very current issues and thus representing the sports of the 21st century. By providing a place with such special extreme sports features, we will promote these types of sports in the best possible way while at the same time positioning the city of Moers as an important place for their practice in Europe
In sum, a strong framework is used to bring together the different types of use. Due to the arrangement and the character of the park, a versatile and unique park has been created which can be used in multiple ways. Its numerous, sometimes magical highlights will soon become firmly anchored in the memory of the people of Moers.