Anna-Siemsen-Gang Spielplatz

Issue 2: Visiting a small embedded playground on a play street

Welcome to the second issue. Tis the night before German Christmas celebrations , Weihnachten is celebrated on the 24th. As we adjust to what for many is a weird and different holiday season, I too will keep things close to home, sharing some photos from a Spielplatz just down the street.

Like the spirit of Christmases gift, it’s not about the grandeur of the playground, but the thought that counts. It’s about community — and community builders here understand this, gifting residence with a dusting of small playgrounds between the more ambitious public play places.

Playing on a playground on a play street

We’re living on a Spielstraße, or play street, which means children at play have priority over cars - infact they’ve even handed out tickets for parking in this street. Not practical, but that’s how important Spielen is in Germany. The speed limit is an aspirational 10km/h.

Rules of the Spielstrasse (from kaiserlauternamerican);

• Speed limit is 10 km/h, motorists must drive extremely carefully.
• Pedestrians may use the full street, children are allowed to play all over.
• Motorists cannot endanger or impede pedestrians, if necessary they must wait.
• Parking is only authorized on marked areas.
• Pedestrians must not unnecessarily impede traffic.

Tactile wall detail

Some sort of sand eating picnic table

Anchor piece from another angle

A remarkable thing about the playgrounds here: you find them everywhere.

Wandering an unintentioned 2km loop in an unsuspecting neighborhood we crossed more than 4 playgrounds. I actually got tired of taking photos and just passed one by.

This modest playground is embedded right into a neighborhood - not in a park or schoolyard, but between houses. I will refer to these as embedded playgrounds. So far these seem to contain more pre-fab components, and less custom work than the larger spots. This one is made by Proludic, which looks like some kind of international playground megalocorp.

The design on this slide would allow for pairing a straight section of any length with the little end kicker.

---

Climbing wedge

With climbing and bouldering on the rise with young people, it’s interesting to see the climbing aparatuses in place from before the boom. This little climb-about has a single style of hold on a 45º, and doubles as a little sitting hut/rain shelter.

A fence keeps players from wandering into the waterway

Got more detail than I bargained for on this shot

Hand holds and bolt covers

Undercarriage details

Soft tiles under the climb-about with overgrowth

---

Making it up as I go along: new terminology

I suspect I’ll start to pick up on trends and similarities between playgrounds, so I will begin making up my own terminology until I learn otherwise.

Embedded playgrounds — a Spielplatz tucked neatly into a residential area, usually only impressive enough to draw children from the direct vicinity.

Anchor — The lifeblood of the playground. The anchor is the big draw, a difinitive feature or structure that sets the tone for the rest of the playground. It’s the main dwelling space of any king of the castle.

Climb-about — a play structure with the explicit intent to be climbed upon.

---

Thanks for reading. Share and subscribe so you don’t miss next week, when I flow through an impressive park with a dry water feature - Wasserspielplatz.

Happy holidays and play safe.