Flower stems as a basis

The center project “Hart van ‘s-Gravenzande” gives the center a major qualitative boost. An important part is the market square as a residential area. Over the past two years, participation by entrepreneurs, the hospitality industry, the market, residents, stakeholders and the municipality of Westland have been working on the redesign of the market square.

With the revitalization of the market contributed to the values and experience of the city center. In this way the market square will remain interesting for shoppers and the surrounding catering establishments. Part of the renewed contains the playground. It was an initiative of the councilor Theo Duijvestein, the playground had to be very attractive and have play equipment for disabled children.

The equipment and the entire playground had to be connected to Westland, the greenhouses, horticulture but especially its flowers. The municipality of Westland did not want any wood (management costs and the location) so the choice fell on IJslander. Designer Tjitte de Jong from The Hague was involved in the realization of the playground and came up with a proposal. The design has been further elaborated together with IJslander and that’s how it came to the final result.

The uprights of the climbing equipment and the bird’s nest swing are designed as the stems of flowers, whereby the flowers on the stems come out just below the trees. And a custom designed fence with play devices and pictures of flowers on the street side. Also, in one of the flower stems is the GO! applied: an interactive and competitive device. The substrate is a screed floor with height differences, and flower images have also been incorporated to the floor.

The subsurface needed special attention because of the preservation of the existing trees. That is why ‘s-Gravenzande had brought in specialists. They found a smart way to aerate the trees. The aeration pipes end in the uprights of the specially designed fencing. This allowed the natural trees to remain standing and the style of flower stem devices to be strengthened.

The playground is open to the public, so take a look. We are curious to what you think!