Golden Swing Award for Madrid RIO

The City of Madrid has won the “Golden Swing” award as initiator of the ten children’s play areas located in the Salon de Pinos in Madrid. The playgrounds are designed by West 8 urban design & landscape architecture and MRIO Arquitectos and are part of the master plan for the reclaimed riverbanks and the new urban area on top of the M30 freeway tunnels. The competition was convened by ExpoAlcaldía 2010 and the awards were presented in Zaragoza this week.

ExpoAlcaldía 2010 honoured the ten playgrounds for their harmony with the environment and their accessibility, safety and originality. Spread along the Salon de Pinos, in ten different locations, they offer children all kinds of challenges and surprises, which stimulate imagination and creativity. Visually integrated into the landscaped strip of pine trees, the play areas together form a magic forest of Robinia trunks with in it different types of playground equipment. For every age group West 8+MRIO designed a range of balancing, slide and swinging objects, also suitable for disabled children. They are constructed from timber using hemp ropes to create cobwebs, hammocks, suspension bridges or climbing vines. For the production of the objects, West 8+MRIO collaborated with Richter Spielgeräte, Germany.

ExpoAlcaldía 2010 is an international trade show of equipment and services for municipalities and territorial entities in Spain, held this year in Zaragoza from 2 to 4 March. This year’s award jury includes representatives of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces, certification companies AENOR and Ases XXI, the Spanish Association of Parks and Public Gardens and the Manufacturers Association for Street Furniture and Playgrounds.