Project in focus
Klugheim, a village carved in basalt.
At Phantasialand, Universal Rocks delivered the full rockwork, themed façades and painting of the Klugheim area — the basalt world wrapped around Taron, Raik and River Quest. This is how one of our largest theming projects came together.
- Client
- Phantasialand
- Location
- Brühl, Germany
- Scope
- Rockwork · Façades · Painting
- Attractions
- Taron, Raik, River Quest
On the site
The build
- 01
Reading the geology
Klugheim is built on basalt: hexagonal columns, sharp fractures, dark mineral tones. Every reference was studied before a single armature was bent, so the village would read as carved out of a real volcanic massif.
- 02
Armature and shotcrete
Steel structures follow the modelled surfaces around the coaster track, then shotcrete is sprayed by our nozzlemen. The shell is engineered for weather, crowds and decades of daily operation.
- 03
Carving and façades
Sculptors carve the columns wet, in the round, while the themed façades of the village are built alongside them — timber, plaster and stone all rendered in cement and resin.
- 04
Painting and ageing
Everything is hand-painted, layer by layer, from the shadows outward: mineral washes on the basalt, weathering and soot on the buildings, so the whole quarter looks older than the park around it.
On site
What it took
Nothing here was repeated: every column was carved once, in place, by the crew that would also paint it.
Building around a working coaster changes the sequence — armature, shotcrete, carving and painting all had to fit the clearances of the track and the park's own calendar. Our project managers held a single schedule shared with the designers and the other trades on site, and the area opened with its ride.