Landscape Masterclass with NSC

Feb 28

2 min read

Updated: 9 hours ago

Hosting a Landscape Masterclass with the National Saturday Club and Activate Learning at Merrist Wood College, in collaboration with Landscape Institute South East Branch.

This was a brilliant opportunity to connect and engage with students aged 13 - 16 years old. The location provided a wonderful setting to inspire the students creative work, and was exciting to see how their different ideas came together to create this landscape journey.

The students were guided through an exploration of how landscape design can shape identity, inspire experiences, promote and protect wildlife and support wellbeing across areas of the beautiful Merrist Wood College campus.

The session highlighted how the grounds serve as:

✨ A landmark students connect with

✨ A welcoming first impression for new visitors

✨ A calm retreat supporting student wellbeing

✨ A haven for local biodiversity

We then took the students out for a walk around the campus grounds to investigate the landscape, the plants, the views and the sounds of the varying spaces. Once returning to the session room, the students then put these ideas into practice by designing their own landscape-inspired spaces and creating 3D maquettes, using the campus as their source of inspiration.

They worked with the concept of the Landscape Journey, which spanned five distinctive zones. Each zone could be glimpsed from different viewpoints across the campus, drawing the eye forward between trees and creating an engaging and immersive route through the College grounds.

It was an inspiring morning of creativity, observation and design thinking—and a wonderful opportunity for students to learn from a leading professional in the field.

A huge thank you to Samantha, Toria, Kellie, Lauren and Mark for supporting this!

We look forward to hosting more sessions and collaborating with other landscape professionals, if you're interested to get involved - do get in touch!