1. The Roswell Pits site in Ely is a place of extraordinary beauty. The fenland landscapes attract walkers, rowers by the river ely, rare birds such as the 'Bittern', and completely unique sunrises across the fenland landscapes.
2. The site was chosen by our unit teachers as a site to explore the possibilities of developing a building - any building, that would fit into the landscape, and be a true asset to the community.
3. Local studies explored the majority activity of those that visit the area, and this revealed how the biggest attraction was the bird watchers, who would come to try and find the bittern.
4. However, there was no shelter or form of signage to help in these searching efforts - other than the trodden paths already made by a history of walkers. I felt that this provided a brilliant opportunity to make a subtle but memorable addition to the landscape that could aid the existing activity of bird-watching.
5. Following these bird walkers, we discovered the method of finding them - we knew the bird resided in the reed-beds of the site, and when there, bird watchers, keeping a distance, would listen for the unique birdsong - from this, they would be able to locate the bird. The element of locating through sounds became fundamental to the design.
6. I chose to develop a device that could do just that - a device that could amplify the birdsong, thereby making it easier to locate it. The temporary portable structure focussed sound waves onto a thin vibrating layer, where iron fillings were located. Upon the sound of the birdsong, if the device was pointed in the correct direction (using a parabola curve structure), the vibrating layer should vibrate therefore indicating the presence of the bird.
7. From this experiment, it shows the natural frequency of the tracing paper is roughly between 620Hz and 784Hz, which is 3,400Hz away from the average frequency of the bittern birdsong. This is why, when testing this device on site, where was trouble noticing any resonance on the layer. The ideal thing would have been to find/ manufacture a material that has a natural frequency close to 4,000Hz and experiment from there.
8. From this temporary structure I developed a brief to propose a permanent structure which would represent the phenomenon of the birdsong, but would mainly stand as a monument to the presence of the bittern - facing the home of the bird, whilst reflecting the sunrise to mirror the golden light that reflects from the river. This beacon of light in the landscape would be seen from the distance, and would also double as a shelter for the bird watchers during rainy weather.
9. The structure itself would also be erected from the ground itself - the ground composed of clay, the structure would be constructed on site, and fired into a permanent form, where the hole created from the excavation would be filled with water, as to maintain the neighbouring reed growth, and the platform would cantilever under the shelter of the arch.
10. The structure's face would be clad with golden brass sheets to reflect the light most brightly.
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