It is important for the success of participation projects which are carried out under the auspices of the design and construction of outdoor spaces, to include future users in all planning and decision-making steps.
Bernhard Hanel, one of the two Directors at KuKuk, gave the teenagers a brief introduction into the project and, together with Benjamin Rentschler, landscape architect doing a traineeship with KuKuk, supported the teenagers, who concentrated fully for one and a half hours and transformed their ideas into three-dimensional models.
Back in the office, Bernhard Hanel and Benjamin Rentschler analysed the suggestions of the teenagers and created the implementation model, which was presented in comfortable surroundings in the KuKuk office at the next meeting with the Hepsisau teenagers and their teachers and its implementation was unanimously decided. On observing the model, you are shown the grounds whose elements were made from wood and concrete in the shape of an eight and are both simulative in nature for motor skills and also invite you to chill out. The climbing structure to the left consists of oak timber squares which were embedded between massive walls made from oak planks. On the oak timber squares as well as the tensioned ropes partly between the walls, the teenagers can climb and balance or simply just sit and hang out. The wall elements are furnished with vista points and allow adults to supervise teenagers, others are massive and offer teenagers a privacy shield. A small ‘recreation room’ was created between the walls and one of the two concrete seat elements, and is covered with a solar sail.
Two curves of suspense emerge showing both in the spatial arrangement as well as in the materials: There are communications areas in which the teenagers can present themselves and are able to chat with others. However, there are also areas where they won’t be disturbed. Areas were created where the teenagers can play unobserved by adults, but there are other areas where they can be seen by the adults. Finally, there are specific areas that invite you to do some exercise, while others are there for relaxation. This polarity is also reflected in the materials wood and concrete, whose typical characteristics were reversed in this outdoor area. The concrete – here in both concrete seat elements soft, organic and flowing – is a contrast to the regular use of concrete as a solid, hard building material. The timber squares made from oak – here clearly architecturally and spatially designed and archaic-looking – are a contrast to the round timber which is mostly left in its natural state by KuKuk .The colour of the equipment is kept to a bare minimum: In the small ‘recreation room’ teenagers sprayed a wall under the guidance of KuKuk and put graffiti on the concrete element in a way in which the elements appear to flow from the wall to the concrete element.
Project week with teenagers, teachers, employees of KuKuk and trainees
After the grounds were prepared by a GaLaBau company, the project week took place at the start of May. Within five days, 5 employees of Kukuk, 19 pupils, 2 specialist subject teachers, 5 apprentices of the company Festool and the two sculptors Clemens Hunger and Daniel Wiener all worked together to design the former play area of the facilities and make it a special meeting place for teenagers. The teenagers of Michaelshof were allowed to contribute to the building of their object, they had an insight into future careers, experienced everyday working life and were able to sample different job profiles; and they also learned that they can do something with their lives thanks to their personal activities and their teamwork with others. The Kukuk employees and the teenagers from Hepsisau were supported by trainees of the company Festool, specialising in electric and pneumatic tools. The company from Neidlingen attaches importance to the training whereby trainees don’t just get an insight into the different business divisions, but also engage themselves socially. In Hepsisau they were able to use their theoretical knowledge, but they also got an insight into a youth welfare establishment and extended their social competence by working together in small groups, which can only be a success if reliable agreements are negotiated and each group member is taken seriously.
Résumé
The teenagers are proud of ‘their’ outdoors area. In this respect, the participation project can be deemed as successful, which is not surprising, as the pedagogy of Michaelhof adopts a similar approach which the adolescents as individual personalities take seriously. A focus of the arrangement is the experiential education which is firmly anchored in everyday life and which is directed at making available situations which will allow children and teenagers to discover their own abilities and strengths, and at the same time to learn their limits and patterns of actions which are transferable to everyday life. The adolescents become independent as a result and develop a healthy self-esteem.
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