An interactive playground at Odense Harbour in Denmark is proving to be a play hotspot for local children and adults alike, and despite heavy usage is still in remarkable condition a full six years after being installed.
Thomas Mí¸ller-Nielsen, International Business Development Manager of Playtop, explains why the project is such an enduring crowd-pleaser: "The harbour is home for some of Odense's most prestigious companies, and the Playtop surface was part of giant investment by the municipality of Odense to turn the harbour into a high end housing area with lots of water, sports, play and "street" activities. The installation is an architecturally designed play area for visitors and residents alike.
"This installation is from 2010 and is in absolute perfect condition," Thomas adds. "Kids love it and the random shots of water coming out of the water jets tend to surprise children as well as parents".
The surface and hills are made from 260 square metres of Playtop wet pour safer surfacing in five different colours. A number of the hills have inbuilt water nozzles, which send water shooting into the air at different angles. The power and frequency of the water shoots can be adjusted if higher levels of activity are required and there is a sensor on certain hills that enable children to affect the water's path.
Playtop, which is normally porous, needed to be treated to make it waterproof so that the used water only collected at certain points under the playground, where it could be recycled.
"The water that shoots out of the jets is collected, purified/filtered and reused making the Playtop installation sustainable and respectful towards the environment," says Thomas. "By all accounts, it has stood the test of time and is a brilliant investment".
Playtop safer surfacing has been designed to minimise injury to children who fall in playgrounds. It is made from recycled commercial-vehicle tyres and can be contoured to create 3D shapes and is available in a range of over 20 colours and blends.
