The BIG Landscape eXperiment (BLeX) is an award winning resource available to secondary schools as well as designers. Trials have clearly demonstrated its potential for:

• promoting creative thinking about the design, use and layout of school's outdoor spaces.

• testing out ideas and explore new possibilities for those spaces before making permanent changes.

In addition the BLeX can be used to develop new opportunities for:

• teaching and learning with its positive impacts on attainment, achievement and attendance

• socialising, fun and play

• engaging the whole school as well as neighbours and the wider community

• establishing a creative dialogue between young people and designers of the natural and built environment

The BLeX was conceived by Hampshire County Council's Schools Landscape Programme. The team have worked with Quilley School of Engineering, Eastleigh, and artist-led company "Snug and Outdoor" to develop prototype resources for use by schools as well as design professionals.

What is the BLeX?

The BLeX gives schools the opportunity to turn their outdoor spaces into a flexible and experimental environment for a temporary period. This provides a chance for the whole school to explore new ways of using the outdoor spaces or test out ideas for new design before making more permanent changes.

The equipment includes:

• Foam blocks

• Outdoor carpets

• Parasols

Read more about how to Get involved including a promotional leaflet and inspirational DVD for sharing the idea with others.

Explore Your BLeX to access a range of resources to support your activity and make links with learning.

Case Studies

• 2006 The success of the first BIG Landscape eXperiment raises a question  663kb

How could this approach be shared with other schools in a way that makes it achievable and manageable?

• 2007 Quilley School of Engineering.  965kb

Whole site planning - the school develop a whole site strategy and use the BLeX to test ideas.

• 2009 Priestlands School.  805kb

Whole site planning - the school develop a whole site strategy and use the BLeX to test ideas.

• 2008 The Romsey School.  810kb

New approaches to teaching and learning - the BLeX resources are used with construction students.

• 2008 Everest Community College.  1mb

New approaches to teaching and learning - the BLeX is used as a taster for 14-19 CBE Diploma students. New School Design - the BLeX helps students discover and use new outdoor spaces

To feature as a case study complete and submit your BLeX Users Diary.  230kb

If you are a Hampshire Secondary School..

The resources here will help your school to build support for carrying out a BLeX and accessing the equipment.

• Promotional leaflet - this is a draft promotional leaflet for information.  2mb

• Inspirational DVD - Request a copy.  226kb

• Workshops and networking events - Register your interest.  225kb

• Specially designed "objects" and equipment - Book equipment.  265kb

• Transport - Information on how to Book transport.  1mb

Other Interest Groups

If you are a Designer, Artist, Primary School, Community Group with an interest in the BLeX we would be happy to hear from you.

Resources

The resources here will help you to plan and run and review your BLeX activity and make links to learning

• Guidance on Risk Assessment and Supervision  246kb

• Timetable template  230kb

• Lesson Plans  436kb

• "Thinking about Spaces" Design Workshop  226kb

• BLeX Users Diary  230kb

• Model making templates  15kb

• 3D BLeX equipment model - Contact us to request a copy of the 3D Sketchup model. (Specialist software will be needed to view and manipulate the model. It is available free from www.sketchup.com)

Review and Evaluation

What have you learned?

The Review Framework  226kb here can be used to help structure discussion with the BLeX team and others.

Here are some tips to help you carry out a successful review:

• Plan your review as soon as possible after your BLeX.

• Involve the whole BLeX team and others who you think need to know what you have discovered. This could include senior managers, governors or landscape architects or designers you may be working with.

• Share your review with the Schools Landscape Programme team so that your school can feature here as a case study.

What people have said about the BLeX:

• Extract from Self Evaluation for Arts Council England  231kb

• BLeX Stakeholder Event  236kb

News and Events

• 14th-18th June 2010 Everest Community College, Basingstoke

Everest Community College used the BLeX as part of Technology week.

Approximately 30 students ages 11-14 used the resources to learn how to design an outside space and make it work.

Through the activity they explored improvements to play and social opportunities, developed their personal learning and thinking skills and helped to build co hesion within the school.

• 12th - 26th May 2010 The Arnewood School, New Milton

The Arnewood School used the BLeX to explore the design of seating areas within their school grounds

• Designing for flexibility - can BLeX meet the design challenge?  2mb

• BLeX show cased in Building Schools for the Future (BSF) Seminar  2mb

• BLeX wins Landscape Institute award

The BIG Landscape eXperiment has won the "Highly Commended" Award in the Communications and Presentation category of the 2009 Landscape Institute Awards held in London on 19th November 2009.

‘The judges were hugely impressed by this great tool for communication and engagement.’

• BLeX featured in Skills Network 14-19.  74kb