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Woodville – The new wooden play equipment by
Berliner Seilfabrik
Woodville combines the natural character, the warm haptics and the pleasant scent of wood with the durability, stability and resistance of metal. A fantasy world emerges between the crooked wooden huts with slanted roofs that at times stand closely together on massive poles and other times are connected by rope nets or bridges. Reality and fiction melt together here. You can find the climbing realm of bandits, witches and goblins between the oversized windows and frazzled boarded walls. Woodville encompasses wooden huts (shacks) resting on posts, which are characterised by a construction that appears to be crooked and random. The design invokes a feeling of an adventure playground and an individual, custom construction. This character is emphasised by the crooked window- and doorframes, the slanted roof tiles, the tilted base and the boards of varying lengths along the side walls. The shacks are available with 2 different platform heights– Shack1 with a platform height of 1.5m and Shack2 with a platform height of 1.9m. With Woodville, Berliner Seilfabrik is taking a further step towards becoming a holistic play equipment producer. After Spooky Rookies – the play equipment line for small children and the integration of the play points of the former subsidiary Urban Design Berlin into the Berliner product portfolio, Berliner Seilfabrik is now also presenting combinable, wooden play equipment.
The person primarily responsible for the development of Woodville is Katharina Hilger, engineer at the Berliner Creative Center, who developed the play equipment in the context of her master thesis for her studies in Engineering Design.
In contrast to typical wooden playground units, Woodville distinguishes itself through its individual design and its durability. That is especially achieved through the use of high-quality materials and their high-grade finish.
All wooden poles and boards are made from black locust (robinia). Regarding the durability and sustainability, black locust is well suited for wooden playground equipment made in central Europe. Black locust originates from North-eastern America. In the 17th century, it was introduced to Europe and has since spread throughout central and southern Europe. Black locust convinces through its durability and consequential resistance to insect and fungal infestations. A further advantage of this building material is its CO2 neutrality.
The bottom part of the post of the stilted Woodville shacks are made of steel. The system balls made from aluminium are a tried and tested connection element of Berliner Seilfabrik. The steel posts are thus elegantly connected to the wooden posts. The construct prevents direct contact of the wood with the ground and thereby protects the former from rot due to constant moisture. An extra post spike or sleeveis therefore not needed. As a standard coating, a two-ply, solvent-free epoxide-polyester coating is applied, which makes the steel resistant against corrosion and due to the huge selection of available RAL colours, individual customer desires can be fulfilled. The steel posts offer a maximum amount of modularity – whether bridges or nets – diverse elements or other products of the Berliners can easily be connected to the Terranos system components. The Terranos clamp, made from aluminium, is additionally height-adjustable and thus increases the combination options. The HDPE tent-roof made from weather boarding provides a realistically-appearing shed character. In addition, it constructively protects the wooden components that are located under the roof from weather effects. The roof is available in diverse colours. The crooked windows present a real eye-catcher. Oversized openings framed in white are a striking property of the shacks. At the same time, the large windows provide a high amount of transparency. The shack huts are available with different addable elements and in various combinations as is typical with Berliner. Due to the mirrored slant, the higher and lower houses can share a post and thereby form a combination. In that regard, you have the choice of a triangular or rectangular balcony between the huts.
“The constructive and elegant wood protection is my personal highlight of the Woodville play equipment. The wood is protected both from above and below by different materials. Here, the posting is part of the design and the round posts do not have to end in the typical post spikes. In addition, I am thrilled about the hybrid character of the individual components. The parts that are heavily stressed during play do not directly attach to the wood but rather to the stainless-steel tubes, which are substantially more stable and robust – and thus contribute to the durability of the playground equipment. The deficits of the wood are ultimately eliminated and the kids still get to enjoy the wood while playing in and with WOODVILLE,” summarises Katharina Hilger.
An overview of all details as well as examples of the combination options of Woodville can be found in our brochure. Click here to download or to browse online.
