Site Analysis - 3

    Walk-through Site Visit

When I visited the site, I entered from the left side of Hilsea Lines and started walking down the forest. There was an easily accessible pathway that takes you on a trail through the trees and nature walking next to the lake. When I was submerged in the foliage, I was taken away from the noises around me and fully surrounded by the sound of the trees rustling in the wind (it felt like the main road wasn’t there when I was in the trees).

As I was walking down to the site on my right you had the sloping of the bastions with the occasional doorway leading somewhere giving a sense of mystery. When coming up to one of these doorways It was pitch black with little to no light getting through apart from the light at the other end. 

Once walking past this and continuing you slowly come out to an open space where you can cross to the other side of the lake or continue. This area allowed you to look all the way out onto the area I just walked from which has a beautiful view when the weather is nice. 

Then when you look to the other side you can see site 1 (my chosen site). You can see a bridge where the trains run over and a small walkway for people to get over to the site. The site when I went to visit was very overgrown with long grass (thriving with nature!) and trees at this time of the year but this gets cut down through the year showing the expanse of how big the site is. From being there when its all overgrown it can seem quite small however once it is cleared it’s a decent size. 

From being on the site I felt a sense of tranquility with the lake and the swans drifting across it in front with the nature fully encasing the site making it feel safe and secure from the outside world. This is something I really feel is important to bring into my design as I want children to almost feel like it’s a second home for them and that they are happy and welcomed into the environment. This is usually achieved a lot by the design of the building however I feel it’s also hugely important on the site and if it feels achievable of my goal for the client. I chose site 1 for my site for my project as I wanted to have a link close to nature and the pond. I also wanted to make It feel enclosed in an area as the bastion flows around the space encasing it.  Site 1 is quite shielded from the noise with some noise coming from the train line however I feel this is good as it gives something for the children to interact with and be interested in. 

Changes Over Time GIF

This GIF is where I layered up tracing paper in my sketchbook with how the site has changed over the years. I took feedback given and decided to make this into a GIF to make it easier to understand and get a better visualization of the changes.