Изразявам моята благодарност на арх. Б. Тикварски за това, че отговори на въпросите за катерушките във Венеция.

Очакваме катерушките обратно в София тази есен. За тези от нас, които не са успели да посетят павилиона във Венеция, това е малка възможност да се докоснат до него в столицата!

Заглавно изображение: снимка от двора на българския павилион във Венеция, септември 2023 година. © Борис Тикварски

Different scenarios of use – examples from the present

The old metal climbing frames are just part of the variety of equipment and playgrounds that emerged in the world in the 20^th century, mainly after WWII. In Bulgaria, namely the metal climbing frames are the play equipment that can still be seen often and are an inseparable part of urban spaces.

Today, decades after they first appeared, climbing frames are in different condition and usage. There are climbing frames that are carefully taken care of or others that have turned into invisible elements of the urban, abandoned and forgotten; climbing frames as contemporary sculptures; climbing frames as a climbing challenge or climbing frames as museum exhibit. Another interesting example is when the old metal climbing frames are adapted in one or another way to comply to contemporary safety requirements.

The photographs that follow will demonstrate the examples just mentioned.

I will start with the South Park in Sofia and two completely different scenarios: on the one hand we have play equipment in the central area of the park that is being repainted and repaired regularly, on the other hand, the forgotten elephant-slide which has been taken over by nearby vegetation.

Photographs of the playground from summer 2022. For pictures from 2019 see here.

Like the paths that lead to this slide, the slide itself is abandoned. While the wild raspberry more and more confidently takes over the space.

Climbing frames as sculptures – Emilie Pierson, inspired by her own memories, creates the sculptures Катерушка 1 и Катерушка 2, that are part of the artistic residence Bliida in France during the summer of 2022. A detailed set of working drawings are prepared for the sculptures to be manufactured so that they resemble the climbing frames from Emilie’s childhood. The sculptures are then rusted to obtain the desired look.

Photos:@emiliegueorguieva

Climbing frames as a climbing challenge

The passion of René Langner and Stefan König from Germany for rock climbing with professional climbing equipment also brings them to Sofia. In an  interview they share: “The design and shape of the nostalgic climbing frames is very exciting and so versatile.” Renee and Stephan create a photo calendar with climbing frames, which leads to people constantly sending them information about different structures around the world.

Thus, their research continues and leads them to new places, including Sofia.

Photos:@gerueste_der_republik

Here for good?

The number of climbing frames in Sofia as in the whole country is enormous. Often imperceptible, they have become an integral part of the urban environment and seem to be here for good, but are they really?

How many are the climbing frames in Sofia? 

I will start with this question and some numbers. The amount of old metal climbing frames in Sofia is large. They were an integral part of public spaces (be it internal block courtyards, gardens or parks) created in the 70s and 80s of the 20th century. They were also part of the courtyards of kindergartens created at the same time.

According to the latest data from Sofiaplan (as of June 2021) presented in the map Play spaces in Sofia there are 1779 playgrounds in the city, 926 of which are for repair. Most often, these are playgrounds with old metal climbing frames. They all are supposed to be demolished as for they do not comply with the new safety regulations.  New equipment is expected to appear in their place. Indeed this is happening, but relatively slowly.

Old climbing frames are disappearing, albeit slowly 

The process of replacing old climbing frames can be observed in Sofia for more then a decade now. I will give two examples – the first for the change of internal block courtyard not far from my home; the second – for the changes to a playground in the South Park in Sofia.

A few years ago, two new playgrounds were placed in the internal block courtyard next to Elin Vrah Street. The old equipment was either disassembled or remained outside the fences of the new playgrounds. Some of the disassembled climbing frames remained lying “uprooted” on the grass surface. The rectangular shape of the new playground was in no way compatible with the existing space. Everything outside the fence remained unchanged – old benches, tables and a swing self-made by the people living in the blocks, the old climbing frames and of course, the old carpet-tapping frame. Whereas before the play equipment was part of a common space, now the play space was separated behind a fence. Nevertheless, the old common space remains the children’s play area.

Kids are playing everywhere, older kids do not seem to show much interest in the new play equipment, and some DIY equipment made by their parents is popping up between the big trees. These are a large swing made of a thick branch and a rope trolley between two of the bigger trees.

The second example is a playground with old metal climbing frames again in the South Park in Sofia. It is located among trees near two alleys, and the equipment that currently remains are a family of elephants and three lions. It also previously housed an elephant slide and a giraffe climbing frame, which were dismantled years ago for safety reasons. However, the climbing frames that remain are maintained, as well as some of the other old climbing frames in the park, as already mentioned.

Why does this simple example interest me? It shows us that it is possible to reconsider the risks of old climbing frames – that is, those that really pose a risk due to, for example, their height, can be removed, and other climbing frames can be adapted to modern needs, or contemporary safety rules can be reconsidered.

Can old climbing frames stay for good and is there any benefit to them? 

As in Bulgaria so everywhere in the world, playgrounds built after the years of modernism are losing their inventiveness, adventurousness and aesthetic qualities. However, here in Bulgaria besides the new dull plastic playgrounds, we have the old climbing frames and I will repeat – there are many of them and they are still enjoyed by children!

Even if they tire of some and may not be ideal in every aspect, they carry their value.

All these facilities carry our childhood memories, the memories of a childhood in the city. The playgrounds mainly exist in the original conditions in which they were created – that is, they are located in urban space as before, they are not surrounded by fences and separated into an individual play space, but are integrated into the surrounding space, which however is inevitably changing. Sometimes they stay outside the fence of new playgrounds, but are literally centimeters away from it. Are they really that dangerous? Do they pose a risk? Is not the risk created by climbing frames good for children? And are there not other potentially greater risks that the modern city holds?

Metal climbing frames are sustainable, something they have proven over time. Surviving for decades they prove a construction stability surpassing the contemporary out of home public facilities that have to be repaired or even changed rather often. Climbing frames are versatile and provide open-ended play opportunities for different ages, which confirms their high play value. Last but not least, I would point out the flexible integration of climbing frames in the urban environment. Climbing frames have been placed both in groups and individually, thus providing the possibility of space for play to emerge in any location.

There are a few examples around the world of preserving old climbing frames and play sculptures, such as Aldo van Eyck’s playgrounds in Amsterdam; climbing frames in Dresden and play sculptures from East Germany.

Can Sofia reconsider the future of old climbing frames – to be adapted to the new life of the city? Maybe some climbing frames can become art objects in urban space, but also remain places for play and dialogue between grown-up kids and kids now?

Of these over 900 playgrounds that are due for renovation, is it possible that some of them are preserved and maintained? Can we as citizens, parents, city decision makers demand a better environment for our children as well as for us, when the new really represents something of quality and the old is well preserved and adapted to modern life!

Brief history of climbing frames for children

Playgrounds and outdoor play equipment for children began to appear in various cities around the world after the end of World War II as part of a larger renewal of the urban environment.

In this text, I will look at examples that are most closely related to the climbing frames in Bulgaria – at least in terms of aesthetic qualities.

We can safely say that the father of playgrounds is the architect Aldo van Eyck, who worked in the Department of City Development of Amsterdam (1947 – 1978). His playgrounds appeared after World War II. The first playground was built in 1947 as an experiment – it consisted of a sandpit with a wide rim, four round stones and tumbling bars. The playground was a success, followed by new playgrounds that quickly found their place in abandoned parts of the city, among parks and gardens. For van Eyck, the playgrounds were a way to test his ideas about architecture. They were diverse in size and shape and successfully integrated into the urban fabric. All playgrounds were different, but were made up of a certain number of similar repeating elements (Fabrizi, 2018; van den Bergen, 2002).

In thirty years, Aldo van Eyck created about 700 playgrounds, of which only seventeen can be seen today – be it in the original form or just partially.

Looking at the history of metal climbing frames in the form that we know them from our socialist childhood, they are found in many former socialist countries. In the Soviet Union, for example, they appeared in the 60s, when the very idea of ​​what children’s play spaces should be has greatly changed along with the changes happening in architecture and urban planning of that time. Previously the playgrounds were enclosed spaces and a very precise regulation of what they should be existed, often the activities that took place there were led by educators and pedagogues. In the 60s the playgrounds became open and free. These sites fit very harmoniously into the vast internal block courtyards of the new prefabricated multistory buildings. Facilities for children of different ages were provided. The experimental microrayon Novye Cheremushki is the place where prototypes of various equipment appeared, to be spread later across the whole of USSR.  Designers and architects created climbing frames in the shape of a giraffe or an elephant slide. Unsurprisingly however, the favorite and most popular form of play equipment was the rocket (Bronovitskaya, 2017).

There are no known authors of this equipment, as it was developed by specially assigned collectives within the state architectural bureaus. Whenever catalogues of equipment existed, they were intended at installation workers and users. Such were the publications of Efim Minskin “Playgrounds for children”, 1969 and “Games for children and adolescents”, 1976 (Gorokhov, 2022).

Around the 80s it became clear that the very atmosphere of the new multistory buildings has turned into a very uniform living environment. Most playgrounds had also become very standardized with uniform mass-produced play structures (Bronovitskaya, 2017).

History of metal climbing frames in Bulgaria

The history of climbing frames in Bulgaria can be compared to those of the former Soviet Union and German Democratic Republic described above. The climbing frames became an integral part of the internal block courtyards of the new post-war construction. They were vastly used in kindergarten courtyards as well. The well-known spheres, rockets, elephants, houses, boats seem to have no known author.

In the 70s prof. Serafim Serafimov started designing playgrounds. He was the founder of the faculty “Design of Children’s Environment” at the National Academy of Art in Sofia, associate professor and professor at the National Academy of Art (since 1969) and “Design of Children’s Environment” (since 1988-9); teacher at New Bulgarian University since 1994.

Prof. Serafimov developed “Equipment for outside spaces for play and recreation” – a system of modular elements made of the already well-known metal pipe structures.

Prof. Serafimov continued with several more developments, and with his designs he participated in a series of exhibitions, for example in the exhibition “Aestheticization of the urban environment” in  “Shipka 6” gallery in 1978, as well as in the first national exhibition “Design in the Children’s World” in 1981.

The variety of elements that were part of the designer’s developments is impressive. In the 1980s, Prof. Serafimov’s designs began to be mass-produced, and some of them can still be found in places in Sofia.

Similarly to East Germany, the so-called play sculptures start to appear in Bulgaria – the well-known concrete camels, horses, elephants, etc. Their authors are Iliya Ikilyulev and Georgi Gergov, who created the mosaic animals in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The elephant-slide in Borisova Gradina Park has become a symbol of the space, giving the name of the playground even today.

Having traced the history of climbing frames in Bulgaria, let’s now look at their possible future.

Examples of conservation of climbing frames and play sculptures around the world

Aldo van Eyck’s playgrounds in Amsterdam

In 2016, graphic designers Denisa Kollarová and Anna van Lingen published the book “Aldo van Eyck, Seventeen Playgrounds” dedicated to Aldo van Eyck’s seventeen playgrounds or elements of them that can still be found in Amsterdam. Their project continued with a travelling exhibition of one of van Eyck’s original climbing frames, numerous lectures and the creation of the online platform www.seventeenplaygrounds.com, where one can find a map with the location of the playgrounds and an extensive archive with publications related to playgrounds. As the designers themselves share, today, six years later, Aldo van Eyck’s playgrounds in Amsterdam’s Zuid neighborhood are protected thanks to their work. Some equipment has been presented at the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam. “In general, the situation is much better than in 2014. There is more awareness thanks to our publications, lectures and exhibition. People appreciate the facilities more than they did in the beginning” (from a conversation with the designers).

Climbing frames in Dresden

The following story can be observed in Dresden. The distinctive mushroom or rocket-shaped climbing frames from before 1989 became a great rarity in the city after 2014, when they began to be dismantled due to new safety regulations. This also happened on Aechner street, where many old climbing frames were located.

In 2015, a survey was conducted among the children, youth and adults of the neighborhood regarding the future of the climbing frames there. As the architect Florian Ehrler tells, “the feedback, especially from children, has always been that many identify with the old facilities, remember them from the past and want to preserve them”.

The Technical Inspection Association in Germany (TÜV) and the organizations for the protection of monuments approved the decision to keep the old climbing frames. The equipment was renovated: galvanized, the welds repaired and the structures nailed deeper into the ground. The renovated climbing frames were situated in a new location together with some new steel play equipment. So far the playground has been functioning very well.

Thus due to the involvement of citizens in the decision-making process, the modern history of the East German climbing frames is preserved at this playground in Dresden.

Play sculptures in Germany  

In his article “Ostmoderne Spielskulpturen – robuste Spielobjekte aus vergangener Zeit”, Peter Fibich examines the various examples of play sculptures in Germany, focusing his attention on the determined citizens who want to preserve the old play sculptures along with the emotions and memories they carry. This is also the story of Eisenach, where citizens are fighting for the elephant slide in their neighborhood to be preserved and renovated. This is the same slide already shown in the text above.

Fibich (2022) also shares:

In Bulgaria, the play sculptures, especially the climbing frames, are preserved to this day. Some deserve to be included in the list of monuments, others perhaps just to be maintained so they can continue to carry the everyday memories of the city.

References

Fabrizi, Mariabruna (2018) “Human Structures and Architectural Archetypes: Aldo Van Eyck’s Playgrounds (1947 – 1978)“, https://socks-studio.com/2018/02/11/human-structures-and-architectural-archetypes-aldo-van-eycks playgrounds-1947-1978/

van den Bergen, Marina (2002) “Playgrounds by Aldo van Eyck”, https://www.archined.nl/2002/07/playgrounds-by-aldo-van-eyck/

Bronovitskaya, Anna and Garage Museum of Contemporary Art (2017), “Russian Playgrounds”, http://architekturfuerkinder.ch/russia/

Gorokhov, M et al (2022) “Soviet Playgrounds. Playful landscapes of the Former USSR”, Zupagrafika

Fibich, Peter (2016) “Von Kletterpilzen und Rutschelefanten”, http://www.freiraumkonzepte.com/spielplaetze-in-der-ddr

Burkhalter, Gabriela (2020) “Spielplätze und skulpturen in den DDR: industriell und individuell”, http://architekturfuerkinder.ch/ddr/

Ivanova, Nezabravka (1981) “Design for the child”, p.27-29, Promishlena estetika. Dekorativno izkustvo.1981/3.

Hein, Dirk (2017) “Da werden Erinnerungen wach: Hier steht Dresdens letzter DDR Spielplatz”,  https://www.tag24.de/amp/spielplatz-dresden-ddr-osten-klettern-aachener-strasse-285671

Fibich, Peter (2022) “Ostmoderne Spielskulpturen – robuste Spielobjekte aus vergangener Zeit”, https://www.spielplatztreff.de/blog/ostmoderne-spielskulpturen-robuste-spielobjekte-aus-vergangener-zeit/

Дизайн за детето. Незабравка Иванова

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