What happens when an adventure tunnel doesn’t just end somewhere, but suddenly leads to a gem-filled grotto, a stairwell turns into a play area, and new stories keep popping up across multiple floors? That’s when a world of play emerges at the Familotel Kaiserhof in Berwang—one that can’t be explored all at once.
Across several projects, we have designed and expanded various areas at the Kaiserhof. Existing play areas were not replaced, but rather supplemented with new play ideas, connected to one another, and further developed in terms of design. Gradually, a cohesive indoor play space has emerged that guides children through the hotel—with little detours, secret nooks, surprising transitions, and plenty of reasons not to want to head back to their rooms just yet. For us as playground manufacturers, this development is particularly exciting: playground planning doesn’t necessarily end with the first completed facility. Sometimes a play world only truly begins when it’s allowed to grow.
The Adventure Tunnel serves as an important starting point for the play world. A rock bench, a magical fountain, climbing rocks, and tunnels all tell the story of a world where something could happen around every corner. A mine car ride, a treasure chest, and a slide add excitement to the play experience. And of course, there are plenty of places to hide—after all, that’s one of the most important features of any good indoor playground. Things get especially exciting where the playground design combines different types of play: climbing, sliding, hiding, exploring, and role-playing all flow seamlessly into one another. The “Animal Clearing” with trees expands the scenery and leads to an interactive ball-and-wall game.
New additions include more play ideas that continue this story. The Fairy House is located in the area leading to the movie theater. A color wheel in the ceiling changes the play of colors, transforming what starts out as a small room into a space where the atmosphere is constantly shifting. A photo spot with small and large chopping blocks rounds out the area. And anyone who thinks the story ends there hasn’t counted on the Gem Grotto. The grotto adds another room to the adventure tunnel, creating a new highlight of the play area’s design. The backlit picture boxes invite children to discover hidden worlds. A marble run with sound effects brings movement and sound into play. Seven sensory puzzle boxes centered around the “Council of Animals” engage different senses. In the middle of the cave, a campfire awaits, and a moon shines from behind the cave’s opening in the ceiling.
A stairwell is usually a place where you get from A to B as quickly as possible. At the Kaiserhof, things are a little different. The stairwell connects the adventure tunnel to the adjacent passageway and carries the story forward across several floors. Architecture becomes a space for play. The journey upstairs turns into a little adventure trail. Each floor is equipped with different play activities.
On the ground floor, visitors will find, among other things, a wall-mounted marble game, a bench, a signpost, and a distorting mirror. On the first floor, you’ll find a wall-mounted memory game featuring animal tracks, another bench, and a signpost. In the basement, there’s a fairy library under the stairs with the “Seesaw Track” wall-mounted marble run. At the very top, things take a fairy-tale turn: the witch’s room, with swing seats, seating areas, and the tube marble run, marks the end of the vertical play journey. The result is a playground that isn’t confined to a single surface. The playground equipment is distributed throughout the existing space, making the architecture itself an integral part of the concept. This is particularly interesting for hotels: Good playground design doesn’t always mean completely rebuilding a large space from scratch. Sometimes, the play value is already inherent in the areas that are already available.
The special quality of the Kaiserhof project therefore lies less in any single piece of playground equipment than in the connections between them. Older and newer areas do not stand side by side in isolation. They intertwine, carry stories forward, and constantly create new opportunities for play. The Gemstone Grotto extends the Adventure Tunnel. The Fairy House complements the transition area. The stairwell connects different levels. The marble runs and interactive elements ensure that even a short walk to the next play area can become a little adventure.
For Kletterparadies, as a playground manufacturer, this is a great example of what customized playground design can achieve. A high-quality indoor playground doesn’t necessarily have to consist of one large, contiguous facility. It can also grow—step by step, room by room—to meet the specific needs of an existing hotel.
Materiality also plays an important role here. Wooden design, thematic elements, light, color, and interactive playground equipment are combined in such a way that an atmospheric and durable play environment is created. The result is an indoor playroom that doesn’t feel like a foreign element within the hotel. It’s part of the Kaiserhof. And perhaps that’s the most beautiful way to design a playroom: not simply building a place to play, but creating a story in which children themselves decide how it unfolds. Today through the adventure tunnel, tomorrow through the gem grotto, and the day after tomorrow, of course, back to the witch’s room.
Because at some point, adults ask, “Should we start walking more slowly now?”
Most of the time, kids just hear, “One more round?”
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