active play


Rooftop play areas


Playground designers, architects and landscape architects are working together to develop exciting rooftop play spaces that respond to the building’s architecture and outdoor space.


ROOFTOP gardens are an increasingly familiar feature of new developments as developers respond to growing urban density. And more and more of them include outdoor play areas. Caxton Works, also known as Royal Gateway,


is a 2.2 acre mixed-use redevelopment regenerating the former Goswell Bakeries building in Canning Town, London. The development is a mixture of commercial, residential and retail forming part of the wider redevelopment of The Royal Docks. Five new apartment blocks make up the


residential element of the scheme with 336 apartments and penthouses as well as recreational courtyard areas including landscaped rooftop gardens and terraces. Landscape architects Liz Lake Associates


were looking for play features for the rooftop community garden that would complement the modern design. The equipment should provide a play facility for children and also enhance the recreational space. The landscaped area spans two storeys and features podium areas with a central open space formed by curved raised beds. Each of these spaces provides a setting for a striking play point. Liz Lake chose play units from the Russell


Play Silhouette range, which provide ample opportunities for physical activity from climbing, balancing and swinging to hanging and sliding. Each stainless steel piece is set within its own area atop of wetpour rubber surfacing, selected for its drainage properties to reduce the build-up of surface water. The green rubber combines well with the roof’s artificial grass and planting, while the curves of the


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units echo the curvature of the walls, surfaces, paths and raised beds striking a contrast to the angular nature of the apartments and skyline. The overall effect is one of an aesthetically- pleasing sculpture park.


Modern design Contemporary stainless steel play equipment was also employed in the design of the Skyline Plaza’s roof garden in Frankfurt. Skyline Plaza is a shopping centre with more than 400,000sq ft of retail space and its 2.7 acre Skyline Garden features multiple recreation facilities including a life-size chess board, table tennis tables, a petanque area, putting green and two playgrounds. Working with ECE Architecture, Berliner


Seilfabrik supplied play equipment for the playgrounds. Cosmo, the company’s globe shaped rope climber, was positioned close to the Skyline Garden’s family restaurant allowing


Skyline Plaza’s roof garden in Frankfurt


youngsters to play within sight of the outdoor terrace. The Cosmo comprises a three- dimensional rope net held within an outer stainless steel frame. An additional banister was also selected; its parallel, curving pipes serving as both a play feature and attractive design element. Stainless steel play points from Berliner’s


Urban Design Berlin range are scattered around the second play area. Some of the equipment lies within minimal fall heights and therefore requires no impact protection, which made it ideal for the roof’s pedestrian zones – a network of paths, street furniture and lighting set throughout areas of grass and planting. JAJA Architects chose to combine standard


play equipment with bespoke items for an urban recreation space on top of a car park in the new Nordhavn district of Copenhagen. The neighbourhood is set to receive thousands of new inhabitants in the next few years and Lüders Park ‘n’ Play is an example of a new approach to urban spaces in dense cities. “The project re-invents the parking structure,


and makes the facades and roof accessible and inviting to the public. As an urban space, the new parking structure tells a story of an active city, and our project challenges the traditionally mono-functional use of a car park,” says Kathrin Susanna Gimmel, lead architect and co-founder of JAJA. JAJA Architects worked with Danish


playground company UNO and Berliner Seilfabrik on the rooftop recreation area for children and adults. Inspired by the staircases on the exterior of the iconic Centre Pompidou


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