The building, which has a 1,250-seat auditorium, a cafe, a Changing Place, a social supermarket, and a 100-place nursery, was due to be finished and officially opened on the 2nd of March 2024. This gave us just over 6 months to complete our initial consultations, create and present a design to meet the brief, refine and agree on the final design, manufacture the equipment, and install the full project on site. We worked with the main contractors on site and the SOUL church team to ensure each stage progressed smoothly and, as a result, delivered the project within the timeframe.
The play area design is inspired by the story of Noah's Ark and features timber play equipment on steel feet. The central feature is the Ark, designed to accommodate numerous children simultaneously and offers a range of activities, including climbing, balancing, crawling, sliding, and jumping. This structure provides varying height platforms and challenging elements for children aged 2-7, promoting progressive play opportunities. In addition to physical play benefits, the Ark encourages role-playing and cooperative play, fostering social development. Other equipment in the play area, such as the Minimondo Apple tree from the Minimondo range, caters to toddlers with interactive details, a sliding belly board, steps, and fine motor skill development features. The overall design aims to create an imaginative and thematic play space that integrates well in the café corner while catering to the diverse play needs of children.
With the space left around the Ark, the team designed a surfacing layout that would continue the storytelling, with land, water, and animals two by two. To a child, the play area feels like stepping into a different world where they can let their imagination run free. We used rubber EPDM wetpour combined with artificial grass with shockpad, both of which provide impact attenuation for free fall space. We chose wetpour for its huge range of colour options and because it allows the specialist surfacing installer to create finer, detailed imagery. We combined the wetpour with artificial grass to add a tactile element where little children could roll on or run their hands across the floor. Materials that are appealing to children to touch, like timber and artificial grass, are great additions to indoor play spaces where maintenance can be kept to an absolute minimum.
SOUL Church was very happy with our initial design and requested a few minor tweaks before signing off on the concept and giving us the go-ahead to make their playground dream a reality. During the pre-planning stage, we met with the main contractors and visited the site several times to discuss the logistics of the project. The installation took two weeks; all equipment was fixed into the existing concrete slab in the first week, and the surfacing was laid in the second. We commissioned an independent playground inspection of the site, which confirmed the play area was safe for opening, and then made a final visit to attend to some small final aesthetic improvements to perfect the play area for the opening weekend. The play area was a favourite with the children on opening weekend and has been busy ever since! eibe Play looks forward to supporting the community for years to come and has been overjoyed with the positive feedback it has received.
