Description
1. LOCATION The playground is located in the Arenbergpark in the 3rd district of Vienna. It is centerd next to several lawns and the bigger one of the two Flaktowers that are situated in the park. It offers various possibilitys for climbing, sliding, swinging and playing with sand and water. Since 2022 it is also possible to play football in a new football cage that is named after the faomus austrian football player David Alaba. 2. HISTORY The area of the place that is known as the Arenbergpark today has been set up as an english garden by Nikolaus II Esterhazy in 1785. It used to be much larger than the park today, which is now around 35.500 squaremeters. Between 1822-1894 the area was given to princes Franziska Arenberg who sold it to the municipality of Vienna in 1900. The park is still named after her. In the same year the park was rearranged and opened to the public. Five years later is was again rearranged and opened for the citizens of Vienna. In 1915 a group of sclulptures called „Scherzo“ by the austrian artist Josef Müllner was set up in the park. In 1942 it was removed by the municipality of Vienna and since 1948 it is situated in the Modenapark which is also located in the 3rd district of Vienna. During second world war some of the space was used for building two out of altogether six Flaktowers that are still situated in Vienna. The towers in the Arenbergpark are currently used as a storage space by the museum of applied arts. (MAK). After the war the park was rearranged and opened to the public again in 1950. Eight years later two play sculptures, a slide and an elephant, designed by the austrian artist Josef Schagerl were installed in the Arenbergpark. These sculptures are not there anymore today. 2011 the municipality of vienna set up several memorial plaques in the park to remind on the forced laborers from different nationalities that were forced to built the Flaktowers. In 2022 the football cage named after the famous austrian football player David Alaba was opened. It is located next tot he playground and shows various graffity paintings of David Alaba, that are sprayed on the walls of the bigger one of the Flaktowers. The space next to the smaller one of the two Flaktowers is used as space for urban gardening today. A small pavillion that was built 1785 still remains in the area of the park and is used as a coffeehouse in summer. 3. ANALYSIS The park was made for public purposes. Actors behind the Playground at Arenbergpark are Stadt Wien and Obra Design. Kids from close kindergartens (most oft hem private), schools (most oft them public) and families from the community buldings in the area of the park enjoy the park and its playgorund. Also schools use the green fields within the park the for physical education. WHAT IDEOLOGY DOES IT COME FROM? During the term of office of Mayor Theodor Körner, the Arenbergpark was reopened in 1950 and most likely made possible with funds from the European Recovery Program, as disputes in the government between the ÖVP and SPÖ due to the shortage of funds in postwar Austria testify to the fact that investments were hardly possible. The playground devices at the Arenbergpark were made by Obra-Design from Upper Austria. Established by engineer Peter Philipp in the 1970s, the family business has been managed by the second generation since 2007. Philipp was also a member of the standards committee and a court-certified expert for playground devices (catalog p.8) - very ambitious sideline, but one that raises the question of how much influence Obra-Design was ultimately able to exert on the standards for playground equipment. After all, the company itself describes in its catalog "The minimum inclination of longer slides in the railing is specified by the manufacturer on the one hand, but is based on our many years of experience" (catalog p. 17). This means that everything outside of the standards remains the responsibility of the client. Also Obra-Design provides their own regulations (based on its own experience) for clients. Today, EU standards apply to playgrounds, which the manufacturer promises to comply with. In addition, a TÜV test should ensure all possible standards. When inspecting the playground, there was no impression that safety had been mistreated SECURITY The playground is surrounded by a fence that is just high enough to avoid that small children climb over it without any assistance (despite opening one of the two entrance doors, which can be opened by toddlers easily). The sports field, on the other hand, is surrounded by a few meters high cage-like fence to enable playing basketball and football (based on the design of the field) unhindered from the outside world. As a protection for children from falling down, the playground area is largely covered with earth and bark mulch.There are asphalt paths within the playground, making it accessible from the park, but also to provide access to the sports field. The paths are large enough to encourage children to appropriate the “street” (such as designing their own playing fields with chalk). SWINGS Obra-Design produces swings with a security cage for toddlers and rubber boards, so children can jump off them easily. Despite them, there are also swings for children with disabilities in the catalog, but these are missing at Arenbergpark (catalog p. 176). There is also a webbed swing made out of ropes for several children to play at once on the swing. (catalog p 193). ROPES There is also a pyramid made out of ropes to climb on it. In between the pyramid, there are two levels of ropes to stand on (and also to catch up, when children fall off the ropes). Children can also use these levels to retreat. (catalog p. 284). PLAYHOUSES The sailing Ship (catalog p. 32) combines ropes, slides and poles (to climb or slide down). The ship is also a retreat for children. The steering wheel, which serves no mechanical purpose, encourages the imagination of kids, like playing pirates on that ship. A ladder enables little children or bigger children, who don’t feel like climbing the ship on the ropes, to reach its deck. Also the treehouse at the playground can be reached either by climbing up a ladder, the pole or webbed ropes and use the slide to return to the ground. Children can almost have a view above the playground from the treehouse or use it to retreat. (catalog p. 60) MOTION DEVICES Besides climbing, there are also possibilities to have a physical effect on the devices, like using the spring rockers by jumping on them. Children can use the rockers as platforms to jump from one to the next device through Compression springs that wiggle with every move. (catalaog p. 338) WATER DEVICES At Arenbergpark, toddlers can use sandboxes, featuring tools to play with water, like pumps, gutters and tables where water streams through. Children can craft sculptures in the wet sand of the huge boxes, which offer a lot of space for many children to play together. (catalog p. 480). Bridges connect the sanboxes and some wooden bars (angular as well as round shaped) encourage children to balance on them or at the edges of the sandboxes. (catalog p. 362). CATALOG: https://obra-play.com/images/flipbook/hauptkatalog/index.html SOURCES https://www.geschichtewiki.wien.gv.at/Theodor_K%C3%B6rner_(Politiker) https://www.geschichtewiki.wien.gv.at/Arenbergpark#tab=Objektdaten https://www.geschichtewiki.wien.gv.at/Parkbenennungstafel_Arenbergpark,_Zwangsarbeit_im_Flakturm https://www.wien.gv.at/umwelt/parks/anlagen/arenberg.html https://cityabc.at/index.php/Arenbergpark
