For Everyone

The Merl Park playground aims to set a new standard for inclusion, offering barrier-free play to children with and without disabilities. Among its first visitors were Maxime, who uses a wheelchair, and his friend Max. The two boys, who live together in a facility run by the association Tricentenaire, can play side by side, with or without mobility aids. Water features are a particular highlight for them, and the playground is designed so that Maxime can join in just as easily as Max.[1]

The playground's design is not limited to specialist equipment for children with disabilities; instead, all areas and features are accessible to everyone. This approach, emphasised by Nicole Spindler from Tricentenaire, means that children can play together naturally, without separation. Even the picnic areas are shared, allowing families to sit together and ensuring that siblings without disabilities can enjoy the space just as much as those with additional needs.[1]

A playground where the wheelchair and the running shoes end up in the same place. The water feature is not a separate accessible water feature. It is a water feature. The picnic table is not a separate accessible picnic table. It is a picnic table. The design philosophy is simple: do not build two playgrounds, one for disabled children and one for the rest. Build one playground, and make it for everyone. The city that is the best in the world for quality of life has a playground where a boy in a wheelchair and his friend who is not in a wheelchair can both reach the water. Both things are true. Both things should be true everywhere. In Merl, they are.[1]