Scavenger Hunt Project

The purpose of this scavenger hunt was the induction of students of architecture into analysing a building or area by visiting a site and through effective group communication and using a team approach to solve a set of instructions. My group’s visit was to Maida Vale. Our aim was to look around the area through a series of twenty-one riddles, devised by another team, and making objects along the way. The whole point of the exercise was for this research to be done on site rather than in a library: for example to take a cab and ask the driver about where he takes his clients, or by talking to an estate agent, or taking a guided tour organised by Maida Vale library.

Maida Vale is quite a residential area, there being no museums, theatres or galleries and the canal has shaped the growth of the area. The presence of water gives the neighbourhood a charming and peaceful atmosphere in Little Venice. Looking at the an area of a city, one realises that going to a place once, leaves you with a first impression, but in order for the details and the atmosphere to sink in, one needs to revisit the same place several times more. Site visits enable the visitor to re-think a different aspect of the area each time, such aspects as history, urbanism, recreational areas. The difficult part of structuring the game for another team was to illustrate the history of the area in an easily accessible way to the other team playing our game.

It was nice to work in a group of motivated students because it gave us the opportunity to get to know each other better. We all contributed, whether it was to devise a question, find the right location for the next step, or to check if the game was feasible. We also contributed by taking pictures and writing a summary. I personally enjoyed the team exercise very much.

The emphasis we, as a team put in, was in keeping the other team curious and getting them to the next step of the instructions rather than focusing on the presentation of the game itself. I feel presentation is very important and we should have put more effort into it. Had we had more time, I would have used a range of colours and associations with the sites, to facilitate a visual solution to the riddle. It was not easy to devise a path short enough, which would still give the other team a realistic impression of the area. In the end it was the ingenuity of the group that allowed the construction of a coherent walking path for the other team.

Overall though, there was one big constraint, which we forgot to deal with: light hours. In November, it gets dark quite early. As we enjoyed looking around, we did not realise how long it was going to take to complete all the tasks. Towards future improvement, we should consider better time management.

498 words

Bibliography


Books:

O’Sullivan K., “Dial “M” for Maida Vale”, Published by Westminster City Archives, London 2000

Paddington Waterways & Maida Vale Society Local History Group, “Glimpses into the past, Paddington, Little, Venice and Maida Vale over the years”, Hans Norton Edition, London 2005

University of London Institute of Historical Research, “The Victoria History of the County of Middlesex”, Published by Oxford University Press, New York 1989

“London A to Z”, Geographer’s A-Z Map Company Limited, 2003


Internet Sites:

www.admissions.ucsb.edu/Pdf/SHTQall.pdf, 25th October 2007

www.mathforum.org/ces95/scavenger.html, 25th October 2007

www.maps.google.uk, 10th October 2007

www.thewaterwaystrust.co.uk, 10th October 2007

www.urbantech.org/scavenger.cfm, 25th October 2007

www.museumof london.org.uk/postcodes/places/w9.html, 10th October 2007

Magazines:

- Time out, London