Lauritzen Gardens
Location: Omaha, NE
Surface System Used: PlayBound Poured-in-Place
Completion: April 2025
Overview
The idea for Lauritzen Gardens, located in Omaha, Neb., began more than 30 years ago. Today this botanical center consists of 100 acres of annual and perennial flowers, a four-acre arboretum and bird sanctuary, a meadow reminiscent of Nebraska’s prairies, and many gardens, including the Festival, English, Victorian, Rose, Japanese, Woodland, and Model Railroad. Lauritzen Gardens also includes Sofia’s Play Garden, a hands-on play and educational space for children that features PlayBound Poured-in-Place surfacing.
Key Challenges and Solutions
In addition to a play area, Sofia’s Play Garden is a place where children’s educational presentations take place at Lauritzen Gardens. This includes school tours, youth organizational projects, and children’s programs. As such, the surfacing in this space was critical, because it needed to be safe while complementing the aesthetic of the gardens surrounding it.
Surface America was selected to provide 2,343-square-foot of PlayBound Poured-in-Place surfacing for Sofia’s Play Garden, because of its high-quality standards and installation capacity. PlayBound also meets a variety of critical fall heights – its IPEMA certified to meet critical fall heights up to 13 feet per ASTM F-1292 – and can be mixed and varied to complement any playground setting.
A 2-layer system, PlayBound features a basemat composed of polyurethane and 100 percent post-consumer recycled SBR, and a top layer of recycled post-industrial EPDM rubber or TPV granules, and aromatic or aliphatic urethane binder. Because JC Safety Surfacing mixed and applied the rubber and urethane components on site, the surface in Sophia’s Play Garden could allow for custom colors and geometric shapes to be permanently incorporated.
Sophia’s Play Garden features 10 different colors and several custom-made patterns. In addition to a traditional playground, which features equipment supplied by Outdoor Recreation and Landscape Structures, Inc., Sophia’s Play Garden is filled with miniature homes, roads, and floral designs, offering a safe, accessible space for educational experiences.
Lauritzen Gardens can rest assured the PlayBound surface in Sophia’s Play Garden will last for years to come. All materials are made and assembled in the U.S.A., and the system features a 7-year warranty. PlayBound is also ADA compliant per ASTM F-1951 for playground surface accessibility.
Back to Articles & Projects »