Schoolyards of the future
The design of a schoolyard or kindergarten has always been part of the classic project portfolio of a landscape architecture firm. But just like our urban spaces, these “learning and educational spaces” have become more complex in terms of their function and planning. In the March issue, we discuss 21st century learning and educational spaces and present the latest schoolyard projects in our profession.
In future, the city of Munich wants to open at least two school playgrounds (three in the city center) per district to other users on afternoons, weekends and vacations. This was reported by the Süddeutsche Zeitung at the end of January. The Kölner Stadtanzeiger reported a similar idea for the city of Cologne in November 2021 and Sächsische.de in September 2020 for the Dresden district of Striesen. However, the idea has not yet really caught on. Local authorities and schools fear vandalism and protect their schoolyards like garden gnomes: with fences and video surveillance.
Should this actually happen in Munich – should school playgrounds really soon be able to be used by the wider urban community as leisure spaces outside of school hours – then the Bavarian capital would definitely have a much happier landscape architect. We are talking about Peter Wich, founder of TERRA.NOVA.
“We have been discussing the issues of borders, fences and opening up public spaces in schoolyards with the Munich Building Department for years. But we’re not getting a millimeter further,” Peter Wich told us in an interview at the beginning of January. According to the landscape architect, fences and boundaries are anything but forward-looking. His colleague Carlo Baumschlager from the architectural firm Baumschlager Hutter Partners agrees that a school must be woven into its surroundings in terms of urban planning and use.
