FOREST SCHOOL DESIGN CONSULTATION

Cover page for the 18 page ideas plan report highlighting that it is sugestion only.

A forest school is a highly important aspect of teaching and childhood development. Through networking, I was asked to help prepare a design plan and preliminary response to Netherbrook Primary’s Forest School. I viewed and held a consultation meeting in early January of 2023, where I surveyed the site and talked through my design ideas with the teacher appointed with taking charge of the regeneration. I then produced an 18 page report in which I presented my research and suggestions, whilst including plant brouchers for extra consideration. I included the design ideas from the meeting and expanded on them by giving reasoning, analysis, soft and hard material pallets, suggested suppliers of both, and suggested placements. As a young adult who hasn’t had a lot of experience with children and design around schools, this bridged the gap and exposed me to concepts that I can apply to other designs, such as the concept of private play and introducing visually closed spaces allowing for children to be alone in.

For Chaumont, the brief was to create a garden that focuses on Resilience in regards to the current climate crisis.

The team and I considered many concepts for our entry. We decided on ‘Harnessing Nature’ as we believe that we as humans must draw influence from and use nature’s systems in order to increase our ability to properly combat climate change and global warming.

In our design we chose to have a one way route through the garden, in which you enter to a white room, that represents humans dictating space. You would then move through to the main part of the garden where nature influences the space. In the center of this section of the garden is a refuge area, where visitors could sit within nature and reflect.