On a sunny early spring day, three local schools took a journey through time to explore the world of dinosaurs here at Borde Hill.
Together with project architects Erect Architecture and landscape architects Hortus Collective from our Reinventing Borde Hill Design Team, 15 children aged between 4 and 11 participated in a STEM-focused workshop exploring the themes relating to the design of our new outdoor play and learning space in the South Park. Three schools took part: Harlands, St Peters, and Our Lady Queen of Heaven (based in Crawley). The intention of the workshop was to draw on the key themes of the design brief, and give young people the freedom to come up with design ideas centred around the theme of dinosaurs.
Inspired by the Iguanodon dinosaur bone discovered here at Borde Hill in the early 19th century, the children discussed how these dinosaurs might have roamed the land, how big they were, what their habits were, and what the landscape may have looked like at the time.
The first task was to create a set of footprints at life scale (1:1 scale) of the Iguanodon. Using research carried out by palaeontologists, the children marked out footprints of three different Iguanodon species, learning about scale and measuring in the process. The footprints were marked out with fallen found leaves and twigs from Dinosaur Wood and the surrounding landscape. Whilst in the woods, Mark – our Landscape Architect – explained about the types of plants that would have been around in the Cretaceous period, especially flowering species such as Magnolia, which are a key plant at Borde Hill.
The students then discussed what sort of dinosaurs they could also imagine at Borde, Hill and what type of habits they would have. They thought about what they looked like, how they moved, how they slept, and what they ate. Some children were inspired by natural textures such as giant pinecones or bristly dead bracken, and others designed visually captivating, brightly coloured dinosaurs and their equally sparkly habitats!
Susanne Tutsch, Director of Erect Architecture, said “the children explored scale and imagined characteristics, habits and habitats of the dinosaurs which once roamed across Borde Hill. Some of these wonderful ideas will inform the design of the roleplay area, paths and tactile traces of the Reinventing Borde Hill project”.
Inspired by some of the textures that the children picked up, the outdoor play and learning design for the South Park will incorporate these textures into the landscape. The Design Team will incorporate dinosaur nests into the plans, and the outdoor exploration features will play with the scale of the dinosaur compared to a child.
As the design work progresses and we move towards the development and eventual launch of our reinvigorated South Park in 2027, we’ll keep you posted with the latest news from the project.
