Landscape Architect Articles

Greensboro Children's Museum Playground08-28-18 | Department

Greensboro Children's Museum Playground
Two 30' Tall Rope Structures Connect

Berliner Seilfabrik Play Equipment Corporation

In October 2016, the Greensboro Children's Museum in North Carolina launched its "Reaching Greater Heights" capital campaign to help fund the museum's expansion efforts. The first phase of this expansion included an outdoor classroom, a redesigned museum entrance and a brand new outdoor play plaza.

The vision for the new Outdoor Play Plaza was to have an area with a theme-park feel, something that was more of a destination rather than a collection of swings, slides and spinners on the playground. It needed to be something that would bring visitors in, something that no one else had.

The Berliner team designed a revolutionary solution, a playground with an amusement park feel, by putting not just one 30' Neptun XXL on the playground, but two and then connecting the structures with a 30' long tunnel!

With only 12 of the single Neptun XXL structures worldwide (just two in the United States), the team had created something that no one else has ever done before on the playground, and combined them.

These sculptural additions to the landscape provide children with plenty of ways to challenge themselves, make independent decisions and build their self-confidence.

The two 30' tall structures, taller than most two-story houses, are metal with rope netting inside and each has a play volume for more than 200 kids. Children can climb to great heights on these tall climbers without compromising their safety, helping them get physically active as they experience all types of climbing. And, even though the pyramids are 30-feet tall, the maximum fall height is 6'1".

The Neptun XXL structures offer unlimited play and climbing opportunities - up, down, side-to-side - that are challenging for users of all ages. In fact, rarely do you find multi-generational structures on a playground. These climbing pyramids are not only accessible, but challenge all ages from young children to teens and even adults.

Yet, it's more than simply climbing to thrilling heights; the pyramids offer horizontal and close-to-the-ground play, and the open design (i.e., the lack of platforms inside the structure) encourages interaction among the children, which helps to develop socialization skills. Furthermore, the true 3-dimensional climbers stimulate creativity and cognitive skills, getting kids to think about where they want to go and teaching them to create their own path to get there.

To make this even more unique, the pyramids have been customized with numerous climbing elements, such as: a 3-dimensional net, inverted ladders, twisted nets, a climbing rope, chin-up bars, a sway bridge and a wespennest lookout, which is a bird's nest style rope enclosure placed about three feet off the ground and offers kids a place to hang out.

If children don't want to climb down, they can always speed down to the ground using the attached 12-foot tall, stainless steel slide. Half open, the ride down is fast and fun!

The Cosmo S, a totally round rope play structure designed to provide kids ages two to five with fun and energetic play, has a soft, curved stainless steel tube frame.

The Little Big Ben merry-go-round, a spinning island, gives children more of a traditional play piece they can squat or stand on as they spin round and round.

Rope-styled playgrounds help children develop their upper body strength and motor skills. Rope also encourages children to interact with each other and is naturally ADA-friendly since the children can enter the structure at any location and climb according to their abilities.

Drive down the street and you can't miss these dual climbing pyramids, enticing visitors to stop and explore. Not only is the playground a highlight for the museum, it is also a one-of-kind attraction. And, once you get to the top, you can see the beautiful skyline of downtown Greensboro!