BEIJING PLAYSPACE A WINNER

Award-winning multidisciplinary firm Ballistic Architecture Machine (BAM) has completed its Indigo Playground in Beijing’s Jiuxiangaio district. The playground offers two large separate spaces, designed for the needs of two very different age levels.

The first area is perfectly square and is carved into the ground, framed by long wooden benches that provide perimeter seating for parents and creates a safe play zone for the kids to run wild.

To further enhance the sense of closure and protection of this zone, a tensile canopy of orange discs floats overhead. The discs cast a checkerboard of shadows across the soft play surfaces, cooling and shading the point-sized users.

BAM’s playground invites the more adventurous kids further into the park, where the King Of The Hill playground takes centre stage. Taking its namesake from the children’s game, a thrilling mountain occupies the center of the space. Arrays of pipes, climbing holds and climbing ropes offer children a range of challenges to reach the coveted peak, where a nest-like lookout on top of the pinnacle is home to an Acer Truncatum tree.

A unique white marble slide offers summiteers an express route down from the mountain. The playground also includes islands featuring swings, spinners and a variety of climbing structure that take users back up to the top.

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