Description of Activity
As a part of the University of Portsmouth’s partnership with the Victorious Festival, students and staff worked together to design an interactive installation inspired by the Luna Park Sculpture of an Ultrasaurus, which was resident on Southsea Common until October 2010.The installation consisted of two key parts – a giant sandpit designed by a group of BA (Hons) Interior Architecture students, and a series of acrylic, three dimensional dinosaur puzzles designed by recent School of Architecture graduate Jenny Ngan Thuong.
The sandpit was built using 88 softwood railway sleepers laid in a carefully designed overlapping pattern to maximise it’s stability, and was filled with 30 tonnes of play-pit sand. A group of staff and students spent two days in the lead up constructing it.
Sam Gill, a student in the School of Architecture and one of the student builders, said “My experience working at such a varied event as Victorious, with all the people and families that attended, affirmed for me my place in Portsmouth and was a great example of how the University, staff and students integrate into the city”.
The dinosaur puzzles were laser cut in various colours of acrylic and ranged from 75cm to 1.5m in height. The pieces were buried throughout the pit, and families were encouraged to dig them up and then build the models by students and staff running the enclosure.
Terri Stannard in the Victorious Event Management Team said “The University of Portsmouth dinosaur dig was a fantastic, engaging & interactive experience for children & adults alike. The University archaeologists were on hand to help with information, clues to where the bones were buried & to construct the dinosaurs when found in the sand. The University of Portsmouth Installation Team was full of child friendly information about dinosaurs & fossils which the children I saw participating really enjoyed.”
| Period | 3 Jun 2016 |
|---|---|
| Event type | Workshop |
| Location | Portsmouth, United KingdomShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | Regional |