Playground Buchholz, Zürich

The project
Due to fungal decay, the Buchholz playground had to be repaired again and again to ensure safety for the children. For this reason, Grün Stadt Zürich decided to completely replace the structures of the playground. Only the concrete foundations and steel supports were left in place, on which the new playground equipment was built to the same dimensions. The new playground was constructed entirely of beech wood. This makes it an actual pilot project for Zurich, since beech is almost never used in other outdoor construction projects. The procedure The Timbatec engineers recorded the shape of the old playground with the Leica total station, a 3-D measuring device. Thanks to this device, they were able to survey the dimensions and the exact positions of the supports much faster and easier than if they had had to measure everything by hand.

The construction
The data recorded by laser beam can be transferred wirelessly from the measuring device to a notebook, where they are mapped with millimeter precision. The plans for the new playground were drawn in 3-D in CAD. The carpentry shop prefabricated all the individual parts in the factory on the basis of the 3-D plans and assembled the playground on site.

The challenge
Since the playground was built about twelve years ago, safety regulations for playgrounds have become more stringent. A playground expert was consulted to ensure compliance with these regulations, e.g. regarding the heights of railings. Together with him, it was ensured that the playground complies with the current safety standards.