SINGAPORE: Following a scare in its ball pit last week, the operator of suspended net playground Airzone in City Square Mall has reassured guests of the attraction’s safety.
In a post that has since gone viral on social media, blogger Vivien Low – who runs a parenting blog – detailed how she panicked after losing her balance in the pit.
“We’ve been in contact with Vivien since her incident occurred, and we’ll continue to work through that,” said Mr Steve Wood, technical director at Ultimate Entertainments Group, which operates the attraction.
“We’re constantly reviewing all the safety aspects and we’ll continue to do so. The ball pit has been the most successful and talked about attraction on the Airzone.”
The ball pit. (Photo: Howard Law)
Airzone had also stated that it was “impossible” to drown in the pit, given that the 7cm balls were big enough and created an “extremely porous” pit.
“As it is not a safety issue, rather it is the guest experience that is paramount in this instance, we are still monitoring feedback from our guests and will decide in due course whether to change the current offering,” Mr Wood said.
When this reporter entered the ball pit on Wednesday (Feb 7), it was not difficult to maintain balance. You could fall over and find yourself completely submerged, but with a few kicks and swings, you would find your footing and emerge.
This attraction, however, is more than just 40,000 blue and white balls in a bouncy pit.
The crawl maze. (Photo: Howard Law)
Like a giant multi-layered hammock hanging more than 30m off the ground, Airzone also offers a wide play area and a crawl maze on different levels. Guests shuttle between the floors using slides and sloped passageways.
Each level, which holds a maximum of 20 people, will also have up to three first aid-trained staff who are taught to spot guests who need assistance. Children below the age of seven need to be accompanied by an adult.
“In terms of the engineering, we can put more people in,” Mr Wood said. “But we want everybody to have a great experience.”
One of the slides in the attraction. (Photo: Howard Law)
The best part about the attraction? “Being at 36m and being able to look to the floor, thinking I’m on what would appear to be a thin net, but really you’re very safe in this environment,” Mr Wood replied.
The nylon nets are attached to steel cables with “plenty of redundancy throughout”, allowing each square metre to endure more than 7,000kg of loading. This means the net can hold two fully loaded buses, Mr Wood said.
“It’s 12 times as strong as it needs to be in every single aspect, or greater,” he added.
The nets certainly held sturdy when jumping around in the play area, which was filled with three large Zorb balls. The highlight was falling backwards and feeling the “weightlessness” of being suspended in the middle of a shopping mall atrium.
While installing the attraction took only two weeks with the help of boom lifts and gondolas, Mr Wood noted, the engineering behind it took two years.
This is because he had to work with the Singapore Civil Defence Force to ensure guests could evacuate in 30 seconds, and the Building and Construction Authority to ensure the mall structure could support the added load.
“Because this is an existing building, we have to get the original plans,” Mr Wood said. “It’s quite challenging in terms of making sure all the parts are put together.”
Climbing up the floors. (Photo: Howard Law)
Mr Wood, a mechanical engineer who has worked on rides at the Marina Bay Carnival, said he decided to put Airzone in a mall to “take the attractions to the people and make it accessible and affordable”.
An hour in Airzone, which officially opens on Thursday, will set you back S$20, though an opening promo gives you 10 per cent off until the end of February. A four-session pass costs S$65.
Mr Wood said response has been “extremely successful”, with organisations like SAFRA and the Ministry of Education enquiring about the attraction.
“We can do dodgeball,” he noted. “It all depends on what they’re looking for, because everybody’s looking for something different.”
Attractions in Airzone can be modified to go higher and faster. (Photo: Howard Law)
Mr Wood is already thinking of bringing Airzone to other malls, but said its activities have to be tailored to the crowd there.
“There’re many different things that we can customise this space to,” he added. “Whether it’s laser tag, a ‘lepak’ one evening when it’s a sleepover, or a silent disco. The possibilities are endless.”
