Walltopia, a leading climbing wall manufacturer, will be announcing details of its latest product, The Tree Course, at IAAPA Expo 2019 in Orlando.
Walltopia is pleased to announce its latest product, The Tree Course, a new interactive and entertaining ropes course. Attendees at IAAPA Expo 2019 in Orlando, Florida, from 18 – 22 November will be able to find out more. Meanwhile, Konstantin Karamfilov, Architect and Product Manager in Active Entertainment at Walltopia, explains a little more about the latest product.
Karamfilov has been with Walltopia since 2018 and previously worked for the Walt Disney Company in Paris, as well as at ARCAS Architecture and Urbanism Paris, headed by Maurice Culot, one of the students of Frank Lloyd Wright and Paolo Soleri. He is a graduate from the Ecole National Superieure d’Architecture Paris-Belleville and is a member of the French Architects Association.
He says that The Tree Course, which stands 85 feet (26m) tall and sports a spectacular design with distinctive obstacles, is the most rewarding project he has worked on to date with Walltopia.
The Tree Course
“It was also the first big project I was given, almost immediately after I joined the company,” says Karamfilov. “It was a big challenge as back then I wasn’t very familiar with the rope courses as a product. At the same time, I had to create something that doesn’t exist and to look at this from functionality and design. I am proud of the end result and its complexity allowed me to explore and solve problems that I haven’t met before.”
https://youtu.be/f4c1STKlaDw
The Tree Course is designed to be a statement while allowing for high throughput on a limited footprint. Karamfilov wanted to come up with a new nature-inspired architectural design that could become an anchor attraction.
“The goal was to create a structural sculpture with a small footprint that will combine the functionalities of the classical ropes course with a visually striking and appealing design. The most important thing for me was the visual aspect and I didn’t want to make any compromise with it.”
The active entertainment trend
The Tree Course takes the traditional ropes course format and updates it to move with the trend for active entertainment.
“Classical ropes courses are more oriented to a “form follows function” approach. They are high, industrial structures that are made to be functional and the designs are not that important,” says Karamfilov. However, Walltopia wanted to design a product that helps visitors to develop a connection with the attraction, one which was engaging and told a story.
“The new active entertainment trend is trying to enhance the classical experience of the visitors with the introduction of innovative design, storytelling and theming. In The Tree Course project, it was the nature that inspired us. If you think about it, trees are very similar to obstacle courses – you have to climb the trunk, then reach the branches that have different forms, you have to chose the right spot on every step to reach the top where you can have a great view and see everything around.
“So, we tried to combine those two experiences with the idea that when people visit The Tree Course it feels like they are coming to climb an enormous tree with a variety of obstacles with different level of difficulty. And when you reach the top of the tree a big platform awaits for you where you can have a break, take a photo, enjoy the view or even take a flight back to the ground.”
Karamfilov adds that he also took inspiration from the tradition of treehouses, which again helps visitors to make a deeper connection with the course.
A dynamic environment
Speaking of his role at Walltopia in the architecture design department, Karamfilov says that he enjoys the dynamic environment:
“I work on many projects and with many clients in a constant search for new ways to combine or reinvent our products to better respond to their needs. That makes every day different and gives me a feeling of constant learning and exploration.”
He also teases some information about a future product from Walltopia, the RollGlider Hub: “It will help us expand our “tree forest catalogue”. I have just started working on this one but I’m super excited about it as it will be the most complex attraction that we have ever done. So stay tuned!”
Walltopia also recently announced the release of the Gamifier by Techtopia, a new interactive platform designed to engage guests and empower operators. Attendees at IAAPA Expo 2019 are invited to visit Walltopia’s booth #1686 to test the core functionalities of the Gamifier on a wide selection of Walltopia products.
