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Mall Play Area Space and Capacity Planner
Two numbers decide what a mall unit can hold: the activity area you can give to play, and the clear height to the lowest obstruction. This planner turns them into a peak capacity figure, a level band and a surfacing area, using the same densities the main page publishes.
Plan the Unit
Unit Inputs
Activity area
Peak simultaneous children
Level band
Surfacing area
Project scale
Area per child at your target
The child count is our design density, not a code occupant load. Occupant load for egress is calculated by your code consultant from the occupant-load factor your jurisdiction applies to the occupancy classification, and that calculation counts staff and accompanying adults as well.
The Rules Behind the Output
Density
We design to about 3 m² (32 sq ft) of activity area per child at simultaneous occupancy. Peak capacity, not total area, is what caps a Saturday, which is why this planner reports capacity before it reports anything else.
Clear Height Bands
| Clear height to lowest obstruction | What the planner reports |
|---|---|
| Below 3.0 m (9 ft 10 in) | Below the minimum we design a soft play system to |
| 3.0 m to under 4.0 m | Single-level soft play |
| 4.0 m (13 ft 1 in) and above | Multi-level, with the level count set at design stage from the height actually available |
Why No Level Number Above 4.0 m
The main page states that above 4.0 m the level count is set from the height actually available, not from floor area. This planner reports the band and stops there rather than returning a level count the drawing has not established yet.
Surfacing Area
Surfacing sits under the use zone, and the use zone is read from the drawing rather than derived from floor area. The planner applies the allowance you enter to your activity area, so the figure is your own use-zone assumption made explicit, not an assumption of ours.
Minimum project scale: a complete play system starts from about 100 m² (1,076 sq ft). There is no fixed order minimum and single items are accepted below that.
Take It Further
Send the floor plan, the clear height and the column positions, and we will confirm which play families fit the unit before anything is priced.
