A park in the heart of Austin
The newly remodeled 11-acre park in the heart of Austin features a thrilling rock slide - Richter's first - and an expansive climbing structure. The granite slide is ideal for warmer climates. It embodies Richter's commitment to natural materials and feels comfortable even in the Texas heat.
This very special playground was created under the direction of the renowned New York landscape architecture firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates Inc. in collaboration with the German company Richter Spielgeräte GmbH. Waterloo Park has slopes with large natural stones that were to be equipped with slides. The only problem is that stainless steel slides heat up quickly and strongly due to their high thermal conductivity. As the use of stainless steel as an outdoor material is always under discussion, the Frasdorf-based company Richter Spielgeräte set out to find a suitable solution. In the end, Richter came across granite, a material with particularly slow thermal conductivity. The next question was how different parts of a stone slide could be manufactured in such a way that they would fit together exactly during assembly. Richter came across an Austrian stonemasonry company via an Italian manufacturer of CNC-controlled stone milling machines. The Kienesberger brothers produced the individual slide elements based on CAD models, which were then trial assembled in Frasdorf on the Richter Spielgeräte premises before being packed and shipped to the USA. In the fall of 2021, the playground in Austin, Texas, was officially opened with Richter's first granite slide.
