The 'Green Wave' Slide, Malmö Sweden, Anders Dahlbäck, 2012

Photo:  Anders Dahlbäck

Photo:  Anders Dahlbäck

photo:  Anders Dahlbäck

Photo:  Corocord

UPDATES:  Ander Dahlbäck, landscape architect for the city of Malmö has been in touch with additional information and photos.   It turns out that the Green Wave slide is actually in the same park as the Puckelball pitch, and the excess dirt from excavation of the pitch was used to build the hill for the slide.  It's part of a complete adventurous space that also includes a concrete stage with motion-activated water jets, paths through the trees, and a circular route that kids can traverse without ever touching the ground.  Thanks Anders!

Okay, back to the original post:

Malmö Sweden's Krocksbäcksparken, home to the Puckelball pitch, has added another morphic form to its play repertoire. This time it's a giant communal slide, design by landscape architect Anders Dahlbäck (couldn't find a website for him, any help?) with nets by Corocord.  
Though undoubtedly the central feature, he slide is only a part of it of a long narrow strip of ground enlivened first by forming wave-shaped hills--yet another example of great new play spaces based on shaping the ground plane.  Playgrounds-should-not-be-flat.

You've seen Corocord's climbing nets before; most notably in the Annabau playground in Wiesbaden.  But this time, rather than being attached to posts, they're attached to lateral climbing panels that are also playable.

There are some good lessons here...without the shaping of the ground plane, this would be just another set of equipment.  Utilizing the hill forms turn it into a landscape; a playscape.   This is essentially a bigger and fancier version of the hill slide that is one of the best additions to early childhood playscapes.  It also reminds us that wide slides are way more fun than narrow ones because they allow the sliding to become group play. Hooray for communal hill slides!