- in Copenhagen

East of the sun and west of the moon - is the name of a new accessible playground located in the south-eastern part of Copenhagen. A Norwegian fairytale has inspired to the design of this new 4.000 square metre playground.

The fairytale is about a prince, who has been transformed to a gigantic polar bear and a poor girl, who set out for a dangerous journey. She has to go through a lot of challenges, before she manages to save the prince. On her way she meets a lot of fantastic fairytale figures.

There has been a close co-operation between the City of Copenhagen’s professionals and brilliant craftsmen, who have transformed stones of granite and tree trunks into fairytale figures and unique play equipment.

It is a public place for all children to come irrespective of age, rank, ability, disadvantages and competencies.

From the beginning of the design process accessibility was given a high priority.

There are winding paths up and down the hillocks. They have different degrees of slopes, which gives the children different challenges. If one can’t get up and down the steepest path one must choose the slightly less steep path. The paths kerbs keeps wheelchair-users and the blind “on the right path”.

A path with obstacles

There is a special path with different obstacles for the children to master. Here they can climb, crawl or jump from one obstacle to another and develop their gross motor skills. At the same time the path gives one, many tactile experiences, the muscular system gets strengthened as does the fine motor skills: catching, letting go, adjusting one’s footing and experiencing different kind of surfaces. Experiences of different materials, different smells and colours gives identity to this special path.

For the disabled the obstacle path provide a challenge for them to crawl forward on their stomachs if their legs are paralysed to develop their arms strengths.

Although the place is special designed to meet the needs of disabled children, it gives challenges to children who are not handicapped. The unique equipment has different functions and can be used in lots of different ways.

The polar bear, the poor girl and the ugly princess with the long nose are amongst the many figures to be recognised in the playground. All the sculptures are there to be looked upon, touched, climbed on or lifted upon or just to charm the children.

The play equipment has been built with degrees of difficulty. It can be used by children and youngsters wit different types of handicaps. There are many different sense experiences in the shape of pretty flowers beautiful plants and fantastic natural materials which one can see and touch. Everything has been built using good solid materials and used imaginatively by the artists.

The national committee for the handicapped 2003 has supported the production of a leaflet, which was sent out to all the 270 counties in Denmark to inspire and encourage everyone to think about, how playgrounds in the future throughout Denmark can be accessible to every child.

Building owner: The City of Copenhagen
Landscape Architect: Stine Cecilie Brink
Project Manager: Helle Nebelong
Artists: Arabesk and Ebbe Laurs Sørensen