Three Loops

Words & Photography: Karin Bürki

Brutalist housing estates introduced a radical new type of playground design: concrete polygonal shapes, ramps or holes in walls encouraged children to take risks and explore the tough world out there. One of the most striking brutalist playscapes in Switzerland can be found at Grünau social housing estate in Zurich Altstetten.

Ralph Bänziger, a young man working for architect Walter Moser, was tasked with designing the estate’s school yard. Bänziger came up with three concrete loops that could be entered and walked around in. Varying in tone from ‘brut’ to washed-out terracotta, the playsculpture blends elegantly into the schoolyard as well as into the pre-existing wall separating the school from the residential area. The original setting also included a shallow pool, but it soon proved too costly to maintain. Bänziger’s congenial loops were an instant hit. But not quite in the way he had intended.

Zurich’s first (unofficial) skating ramp

Max Bill’s ‘Infinity Loop’ (1947) may have served as an inspiration, but in the eyes of the school kids, the loops looked like perfect skating ramps (the craze hit Switzerland shortly after the playsculpture’s completion in 1977). A clear no-go for both the architect and the school authorities. Metal skirting boards were added, which killed much of the fun. But the hard surfaces still spell danger. This may explain the loops’ enduring appeal to local youngsters.

Fun fact

In the joyless lockdown winter of 2021, Tages-Anzeiger newspaper declared Three Loops to be one of the few Zurich sculptures that put people in a good mood (‘It looks as if someone had thrown down soft, elastic waves with oversized strips of chewing gum.’)