YOUR FORUM FOR PLAY, SPORTS UND LEISURE AREAS
The school’s name (School at the Park) is no coincidence: a beautiful old tree population of plane trees, lime trees and maples provides this area with a special flair. It is situated on the Eichborndamm in the district of Berlin Reinickendorf. It is a school for pupils with special educational needs which focuses on "mental and physical development".
There are three school buildings on the school grounds: the old white and red clinker brick building, the colourful "new building" from 1975 and the Modern Modular Extension Building (German abbreviation MEB) from 2020. The architecture on the school grounds is thus as diverse and multifaceted as the students themselves.
Here, about 280 children and young people from the first to the twelfth grade learn together and with each other. The level of the different types of impairment varies considerably: for example, there are very active children and adolescents who enjoy physical activity as well as children and adolescents with severe physical and mental impairments who are distributed in mixed small groups in the respective classes.
The school management and the teaching staff place great emphasis on motor skills development and challenging the children as preparation for a life that is as self-determined as possible and for entering the professional world. The existing outdoor facilities were not designed to be barrier-free and were thus contrary to the school's pedagogical approach. Some pupils were only able to participate with special assistance in funny activities at break time. The possibility of using the outdoor facilities became even more difficult due to the construction of the MEB with an urgently needed classroom. The small sports field had to give way and the range of activities for the pupils was significantly reduced.
As part of the "Grün macht Schule" programme of the Senate Department for Education, Youth and Family, initial concepts for a complete redesign of the schoolyard were drafted by the landscape architects Bacher in 2018 and discussed with the school in a participatory process.
In 2018, the district office of Reinickendorf decided to redesign the open spaces on the basis of this concept.
Conceptual draft
First of all, the idea of the concept had to be specified. The specification of the design of the open spaces and the required functions and qualities as well as the necessary safety precautions were very complex and demanding:
How can we provide all pupils from the first to the twelfth grade with the most integrative and broadly based, diverse motor and sensory offer possible in the outdoor facilities, which at the same time meet all the quality requirements of the highly committed school and include sufficiently staggered exercise offers for the different age groups and motor skills of all pupils? What physical and mental limitations do we have to take into account? How can we support the pupils and which offers would overwhelm them?
How do we preserve the old trees and thus the special atmosphere of the green schoolyard and still fulfil the desire for a new sports field, a traffic and school garden and new integrative play facilities, while at the same time guaranteeing the technical requirements for barrier-free access and fall protection? And, last but not least, how do we create an architecturally harmonious linkage between the different functions that have to be fulfilled and the diverse building substance in the existing building stock?
Planning
However, the main focus in the planning was on providing an independently usable range of physical activities by taking into account the different degrees of impairment of the pupils. The planning of the outdoor facilities was done in close coordination with the school management and provided us with a deep insight into the work with physically and mentally disabled children. The most urgent task was the functional reorganisation of the area. Our space concept segments the schoolyard into six areas, which differ in function, activity intensity, age groups and the necessary supervision key.
Another central aspect of the planning was the accessibility to the play facilities while at the same time maintaining the park-like atmosphere. This led to the question of materiality. Due to the heterogeneous building fabric, a unifying, neutral and wheelchair-friendly material had to be found. We decided on a dark mastic asphalt which runs as a "red thread" through the entire schoolyard and connects the play and recreation areas. The smooth asphalt contrasts with the existing concrete pavement paths that mark the functional access to the buildings. The change in material and roughness of the different surfaces also indicates the different functions for the pupils. As a contrast to the asphalt and in order to mark the play zones, a multi-coloured plastic surface was chosen to take up the colours of the three school buildings. Circles and soft curves were used to emphasise the natural character of the area. Despite the conventional and artificial surface, they integrate harmoniously and naturally with the existing old trees. In addition, the circle symbolises protection and perfection, that is to say a safe space for the pupils. The aim is to create a place that strengthens the pupils' own abilities, but also offers room for repetition and failure. Motor skills are thus promoted in a gentle and playful way.
The centrepiece of the schoolyard is the mixed play area in front of the new building from the 1970s. It is the central place for the majority of the inclusion playground equipment such as slides, swings, wobble plates, a water playground, a wheelchair accessible motor path with sound elements, a playhouse and sand play area. The play area is connected by differently sized, coloured circles made of plastic flooring that merge into one another in an aesthetic way and at the same time provide the necessary fall protection while the children are playing.
Furthermore, individual circles are formed as hilly areas or hollows and thus also create an exciting topographical play area. Here, the team was very sensitive in the planning to ensure that all areas provide barrier-free access. This hilly play landscape made of plastic surfaces and asphalt offers all pupils a wide range of exercise options. The hills are modelled flat and can be climbed by means of embedded steps, ropes or climbing holds. The slide hill, the water play area and the wheelchair-friendly motor skills path were developed in close cooperation with ESF Emsland Spiel- und Freizeitgeräte GmbH & Co KG and adapted for wheelchair access.
The area in front of the MEB is intended as a quiet buffer zone and observation point. Here the children can relax and plan their next activities or simply observe what’s going on around them. A circular bench for the teachers is positioned in a way which allows them to observe the entire play and exercise area.
In front of the old building there is a multifunctional area with wheelchair-accessible tables and asymmetrical benches in the shape of a worm. Directly adjacent to them there is a traffic garden with a roundabout and traffic signs where, in addition to playful activities, initial knowledge of road behaviour can be acquired. It is here where the pupils are sensitised to situations in everyday road traffic. Small motor hurdles and obstacles such as curbs and tactile plates are included. Next to it there is the area for sports, play, physical activity and action. The sports field made of coloured plastic with a surrounding ball fence and two running tracks offers space for foot and street ball as well as athletics, volleyball and badminton.
At the southern end of the site there is the chill-out area with a net of sunbeds and a gazebo for the older pupils, which invites them to stay and relax under the old trees.
To the south of the sports field there is the school garden, which - situated between the existing woodland and the school building - offers a fenced-in green and quiet place for learning and experimenting. Natural areas at the edge offer ecological niches for flora and fauna, a garden house with a blackboard area and an adjacent meadow invite to outdoor lessons and picnic tables invite to eat the harvested garden products. A special highlight is the planting of the school garden. There are fruit trees and berry bushes that invite the visitors to snack and taste. In the middle of the garden one will find a mounded herb garden within a circle intersected by a tactile path. An abundance of herbs and fragrant plants invites visitors to touch, smell and taste, stimulating a variety of senses. Vegetables, herbs and flowers can be grown on raised beds in project work, making tactile contact possible even for children in wheelchairs. A funnel shaped telephone has been installed in the garden, through which the pupils can send secret messages to each other. In addition, a trampoline for wheelchairs has also been installed at this place.
Even the planting has been adapted to the needs of the pupils. A large part of the site lies under old, dense trees and is therefore largely shaded. In these areas, perennial mixtures and woody plants were used which require little light but still set interesting accents with their different leaf structures and flowering aspects. It was also particularly important to us to use flowering plants that provide a good food source for many insects at different times of the year. Flower bulbs, which are an important flowering aspect especially in spring, complement the mixed plantings. With these plantings, a closed plant cover is achieved, which keeps the maintenance effort after the initial growth phase very low.
In the border areas, there are bird and insect-friendly trees and shrubs which, as free-growing hedges, offer space for breeding and at the same time produce blossoms and fruit. Care was taken to ensure that no poisonous trees or plants were used to protect the pupils.
The redesign of the schoolyard will be completed in October 2021 after a construction period of seven months.
Box
Facts: Schule Am Park, Eichborndamm 276, 13437 Berlin - Reinickendorf
Construction time: 04/21 - 10/21
Gross construction sum: approx. 970,000 €
Client: District Office Berlin - Reinickendorf
Landscape architect: BACHER Landscape Architects
Executing companies: Märkisch Grün GmbH, ESF Emsland Spiel- und Freizeitgeräte GmbH & Co. KG, Modellbau Stein GmbH, Polytan GmbH,
Prignitzer Asphaltbau GmbH & Co KG
