At the request of landscaping planner Frau Brehm, and in cooperation with the day care center director Frau Kranik and her team, we submitted our concept for a “barrier-free tree house.” Frau Kranik was also able to familiarize us with the specific types of handicaps faced by the children at the center.
The specific recommendations of the pre-school teachers were recorded so that these could be taken into consideration during subsequent planning efforts. A request for two tree houses was made. These were to be built in the nicely-grown linden trees located in the center’s courtyard. Due to the considerable mobility limitations of the children, the tree houses would naturally have to be barrier-free. Building a tree house at a typical tree house-height was also precluded as the space needed to provide access via necessary ramps and gangways (which could have been carried out even for higher elevations using an appropriate inclination) was not available here.
Constructing the tree house at a lower level gives the smaller children an opportunity to roll onto the play site platform from outside. This also allowed for other play opportunities, like playing with the “Calculating Machine” from outside, for instance. Along the circular path past both tree houses and through their ascending and descending entries, a barrier-free transition is possible across both tree stations. The houses are connected by means of a swing bridge which has been “tamed” by the use of rubber mats. This allows the children to roll back and forth with their “wheelies”.