Voir Cours Buissonières #1 : Le Tipituile

Voir Cours Buissonières #2 : L’Asterogrotte

Voir Cours buissonnières #3 : Le toboscope

Bushcraft courses – Bordeaux Grow Nature

In 2021, the Bordeaux municipal authorities are launching a vast project to upgrade the city’s school playgrounds and crèches. More than 150 establishments will be affected by the renaturation of playgrounds, the removal of waterproofing, the renewal of furniture and the invention of more inclusive and less gendered spaces.

4 groups were selected for the project. Each year, the contracting authority awards the sites to be transformed to the contractors.

We responded alongside Agence de paysage Base. As part of their consultation and implementation process, Bruit du frigo is designing a playful piece of furniture. It is similar to a tree house, whose uses and themes are defined with the teaching staff and school children during participatory workshops. Depending on the age group, the workshops are sometimes creative, sometimes playful. Our intention: to feed the specifications of the furniture to be built.

This time of creation and exchange enables us to produce a sketch that is discussed with the educational community and validated by the project owner. Most of the construction work is carried out in situ during school hours, so that the children can also contribute to its development.

2023 – Raymond Poincaré elementary school – Le Mont Victoire

The Raymond Poincaré school has over 300 pupils, and its playground configuration makes supervision a complex task. The teaching staff did not want a closed shape that would have restricted visibility over the whole playground. They asked for furniture with a generous shape that would enable the children to get together in groups, have a snack and create the opportunity for outdoor classes. As for the children with whom we conducted workshops, they identified uses where the body is in motion, with climbing, jumping and sliding being among the most frequent. The children’s role-playing game “the ground is lava” inspired us to propose the final shape.

Part agora, part play furniture, Le Mont Victoire is set up in a courtyard sheltered from rain and sun. Mont Victoire is a pyramidal shape with vertical strata around which small rocks are distributed. It takes up the initial game mentioned above and completes it with uses for collective seating, climbing, sliding and relaxation.

Constructed from Tili wood on the painted vertical sides, the climbing and sliding slopes are made from Douglas fir. The play furniture can accommodate up to 18 children at a time. The furniture consists of 6 platforms and a top. The slopes alternate between climbing and sliding, and the children’s landing is made in a layer of mulch. Around the main shape, three small pieces of furniture are distributed in the mulch area, acting as islands for sitting.

Mont Victoire is classified as play furniture.