You have to be a playground builder. Especially when it comes to such a large playing area as at the State Garden Show in Kirchheim. The central playground “Keltenwelten” covers a total of 3000 square meters. This gave the playground construction experts plenty of scope for special ideas. A company from Stuttgart won the race. Kukuk GmbH convinced the jury with the playful implementation of the theme “Damn and escaped”.
The play landscape establishes direct links to the settlement history in Kirchheim and forms a circle around the central mud area, as the organizers of the State Garden Show planned for 2024 announce. According to Kirchheim 2024 GmbH, the centerpiece is the large climbing facility with slides, which extends around 16 meters in wood construction: Narrow footbridges, inclined planes, suspension bridges and protected palisade towers make the wooden construction a climbing paradise. Young people up to the age of 16 also get their money’s worth when climbing on the higher levels. On the opposite side, the palisade wall is an approximately 24 meter long, lower balancing course that also combines all levels of difficulty.
Since the “Celtic Worlds” are intended to be a play area for younger and older children, the evaluation committee also included the votes of children and young people from Kirchheim and the surrounding area in its decision. The voting by the grade representatives at the elementary and middle school as well as at the secondary school in neighboring Aschheim took place shortly before the summer holidays. “It was important to us to include those in the decision for whom we are building the playground,” emphasizes Mayor Maximilian Böltl (CSU). In the children’s and young people’s vote, the winning design received the second most votes.
The “Celtic Worlds” will remain in the new local park even after the end of the exhibition
For the decision of the supervisory board of Kirchheim 2024 GmbH, further criteria such as design, functionality, use of materials, durability, maintenance and care as well as price were important criteria. “We received several very well drafted drafts at the same time,” says Stephan Keck, Chairman of the Supervisory Board. “This put us in the comfortable position of selecting a proposal that met our requirements in every respect.”
In addition to the mud area with wobbly animals and built-in boulders and the meter-long climbing course, the “Keltenwelten” offer swings, see-saws, balancing games, a chill-out area and a 12-meter-long tribal house. The latter is reminiscent of the historical settlement of the Celts and Bavarians in the area of the new local park and should offer ideal playing conditions both in rainy weather and in strong sunshine. Barrier-free course routes and play areas are also planned.
By far the largest playground in the community will be opened at the start of the state garden show on May 15, 2024. After the end of the garden show, the “Celtic Worlds” will remain permanently in the new local park. The municipality is investing 350,000 euros in its construction.