Pokiddo Indoor Playground Design Case Study: A Family Sports and Entertainment Center in Ávila, Spain
Project Overview
In Ávila, Spain, a city whose medieval walls are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and whose old town is full of stone alleys and Gothic churches, Pokiddo has designed a family sports and entertainment center within a city shopping mall. They've strived to make it a real "crowd-pleaser"—a top choice for weekend family outings and corporate team-building events. Most importantly, it fills a gap in Ávila (a city with approximately 160,000 inhabitants including the surrounding area)—previously, there wasn't a decent indoor playground where both children and parents could comfortably enjoy themselves. The existing options were either places where only the children could play while adults waited, or outdoor parks that were unusable on rainy days.
Project Name:Trampoline Park
Size:1200sqm
Target Audience:All Ages
Key Attractions: Ball pit,Slides,Naughty Castle
Amusement park project requirements: Identifying the right direction from local recreational needs.
After receiving the project modification request, we communicated with the client for nearly a week. The client spoke with parents in the shopping mall, the owner of a street-side coffee shop, and the heads of several local businesses, and identified two concrete pain points:
1. It's so difficult for parents to raise children: We wanted to find a place to take the kids out, but our options were limited. We could go to an outdoor park outside the city, but it's the rainy season in Spain, so we'd get soaked. Alternatively, there are small playgrounds in the city center, but they only have a few rocking horses and a small slide. The kids get bored after half an hour, and the parents just sit there scrolling on their phones, with no real opportunity to participate.
2. Nowhere to go for company team-building activities: Local companies are mostly small, and their team-building activities usually involve either hiking in the suburbs, which is too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter, or playing icebreaker games in a meeting room, which doesn't really motivate the employees.
Therefore, this project didn't take the "simple children's playground" approach from the beginning, but instead prioritized "shared enjoyment for all ages." For example, the location was chosen on the third floor of a shopping mall in the city center, right next to a supermarket and restaurants, so parents can easily eat and shop after their children finish playing; the playground equipment not only strictly adheres to safety standards (all equipment meets EU EN1176/EN1177 standards, and even small details like the soft padding in the soft play area and the springs of the trampolines are sent for third-party testing), but also focuses on "whether the whole family can participate"—as we've observed during operation, it's common to see three generations of a family playing together on weekends, with children playing on the slides, parents challenging themselves in the climbing area, and grandparents resting next to the soft play area, each enjoying themselves in their own way.
Below, let's take a look at the project functions that Pocket House planned for its design case in Ávila, Spain.
Five major functional areas: not just a collection of amusement equipment, but the creation of "interactive scenarios."
1. Trampoline Competition Zone: More than just jumping, it's the main stage for parent-child interaction.
This area is designed for children aged 7 and above, as well as adults. The trampolines we've chosen meet PAS 5000 and ASTM F2970 standards – adults can jump up to 86 centimeters high, and children can safely jump to a height of 75 centimeters.
Based on the experience gained from operating dozens of Pocket House stores, this area isn't just for children; parents often get even more involved. For example, on the Spider-Man sticky wall, you often see dads wearing sticky suits, competing with their children to see who can jump higher and stick better, while moms stand by, filming with their phones and laughing even harder than the kids. There's also an NBA-style dunking trampoline with a 4-meter-long buffer zone. One 10-year-old boy practiced for half an hour and finally made a dunk; his dad immediately told our staff, "This is much more meaningful than playing video games at home."
Now, this area is becoming a "mini-competition ground" for local teenagers. On weekends, a group of middle school students spontaneously organize trampoline obstacle courses. We've gone along with it, providing small prizes, and as a result, these kids have become regular customers and even bring their classmates along.
2. Slide area: Different slopes to suit different ages, providing "fun" for everyone.
The slide equipment features two different slopes to ensure that everyone can enjoy it. The 45-degree dry slide is particularly popular with young children and the elderly; the nearly 90-degree extreme slide next to it is a favorite among teenagers, who say, "Every time I slide down, I feel so relieved, it's much more relaxing than doing homework at home."
For safety reasons, we also specifically designed a double staircase for crowd control – people going up the slide use the left side, and those coming down use the right side. In addition, staff members are present on weekends to supervise and prevent collisions during operation.
3. High-altitude rope course adventure challenge zone: The ultimate icebreaker for corporate team building.
This area (suitable for ages 8 and up) was originally designed for teenagers who enjoy challenges and is also a popular choice for corporate team-building activities. The art climbing wall is color-coded by difficulty – the green route is the easiest, suitable for beginners; the yellow route is of medium difficulty, suitable for regular players and competitive challenges; and the red route is the most difficult, suitable for experienced climbers. When local companies come for team building, employees can be divided into groups to compete on the climbing wall. Colleagues who weren't very familiar with each other before often end up patting each other on the back and saying, "I didn't realize you were so good!" There's also a 3.5-meter-high diving platform with a 1.2-meter-deep foam pit below, so falling into it feels like sinking into cotton.
4. Adventure Challenge Zone: A place where the whole family can "play together."
The most lively area in the entire park has to be the Adventure Challenge Zone – whether it's a four-year-old who just started kindergarten or parents in their thirties, everyone can find something fun to do here. Take the Ninja Obstacle Course, for example, with obstacles like balance beams, rings, and electric challenges. Imagine this scene: a father and his six-year-old son are tackling the course. The child is clinging to the rings, afraid to move forward, his face red with fear, constantly shouting that he's scared. The father quietly reaches out and offers a helping hand: "Make sure your feet are steady before you move, don't rush, once you're stable, grab the next ring with one hand." Finally, the two of them cross the finish line hand in hand, and the child jumps up and down, shouting, "I won!"
For the 3v3 mini-football field, we've surrounded it with soft fencing, so even if children and adults are playing together, there's no need to worry about anyone getting hurt. Sometimes on weekends, when there are more people, we even form "parent-child teams" against "adult teams," and the losing team has to perform a short show, creating a fantastic atmosphere.
5. Soft Play Area: A safe haven for young children.
For the soft play area designed for children under 6 years old, our top priority is "peace of mind for parents." The slides and play structures are all covered in soft padding, so even if a child falls while running, they won't get hurt. The ball pit also features interactive projection games; when children throw the balls, patterns of stars and bubbles appear on the ground. Many children can play there for a whole morning. In the design, we specifically added a separate area for toddlers, separated from other areas by soft fencing to prevent older children from running in and bumping into the younger ones.
Choose Pokiddo as your amusement equipment manufacturer: We create "practical, all-ages amusement parks."
1. Avoiding a "one-size-fits-all" design: A multi-generational playground isn't simply about piling playground equipment together. Instead, like the Avila project, it starts with understanding local needs. For example, knowing that grandparents in this area enjoy accompanying their grandchildren, they specifically included gentle routes in the slide area to allow older adults to participate;
2. Safety goes beyond mere compliance: EU standards are the baseline, but we add many extra details, such as the height of the fences in the soft play area and the anti-slip mats in the trampoline area, which have all been repeatedly adjusted;
3. Operations are driven by user needs: We don't just open the park and then forget about it. We constantly adjust staff arrangements and area guidance based on weekend peak traffic and parent feedback – because ultimately, the success of the park depends on the user experience.
The project in Ávila, Spain, was a very meaningful experience for us: designing a place in a thousand-year-old city where people of all ages can find joy, seeing parents and children laughing together, and colleagues having fun together – that's the meaning behind our creation of this all-ages family sports and entertainment center.
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Vivian Jiang (Sales Manager)
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Email：sales03@pokiddo.cn