HISTORY
The site for the project is Valley Gardens, located in Brighton. Valley Gardens is a green area of commons running from St Peters Church all the way to the Palace Pier, and consists of 23 acres of gardens and lawns. Valley Gardens was never built over due to it having a stream (wellesbourne stream) running under it. This meant the area would often flood and be very swampy.
A sewer was then added under the Steine from 1792-3 and extended under the whole of Valley Gardens which then controlled some of this flooding.
USAGE OF VALLEY GARDENS
Within 1773 the new town commissioners at the time re-managed the use of Valley Gardens as a public space, adding footpaths and greenery. Before this, the space was used for drying nets and storing boats.
Within the late 1820’s a lot of the areas within Valley Gardens was developed, with trees being added as well as areas for pleasure added. This then further developed in the 1920’s with more land being changed with flowerbeds and gardens. On top of this, many of the elm trees were added (which can be seen in the National Elm collection). Adding the pathways and plants helped to create depth and strengthen the community, as well as the history of Valley gardens.
SITE VISIT TO VALLEY GARDENS – WALK THROUGH
From these first images I took you can see how the site is already battling some of the biodiversity issues within Cities by having strips of meadow plants and grass to widen the range of biodiversity and ecosystems. Two of the plants shown in the second row are:
- Sothern Globethistle = Flowering plant native to southern and eastern Europe. It attracts many butterflies when flowering.
- Fatsia japonica (paperplant) = Evergreen shrub with large leathery leaves. Native to Japan.
Within the last image showing the meadow sections you can see many of types of meadow grass as well as some herbs and flowering plants.
As I moved through The Level there were many things which gave me inspiration and one of these was the columns which were holding up a pergola. I found this beautiful with the plants draping down from it creating a shelter. I liked this idea and decided to draw it as well as take ideas of it for my pavilion design.
The area shown in this image is the area of the site I am planning on placing my pavilion. I really liked this area as I feel it links to the biodiversity due to it being placed in an area with the meadow spaces and Elm trees surrounding it.
These images are showing some other areas within the southern end of Valley Gardens. From these images you can see very clearly how the area has been developed to make it more accessible, but also to help with biodiversity.
VIDEOS AND SOUNDS ON SITE