For Unit X, our starting brief is 'FAIRGROUNDS'.
The prospect of starting a new project always excites me; the uncertainty of what is to come, the apprehensive feeling as to where the journey will take me...similar feelings that you get from a roller coaster. During our first research week, we participated in a visit to Blackpool's Pleasure Beach and for my first visit, I couldn't have wished for better weather!
The Pleasure Beach was founded in 1896 by Alderman William George Bean and along with businessman John Outhwaite, created a park which would 'make adults feel like children again and inspire gaiety of a primarily innocent character'. The first major attraction to open was the 'Hiram Maxim Captive Flying Machine' in 1904, and along with 'The Big Dipper', is still running today.
In 1930 Leonard Thompson took over, and after his death in 1976 William "Geoffrey" Thompson and his mother steadily extended the Pleasure beach business. Whilst the Pleasure Beach was under Thompson's reign, the business expanded fairly drastically; buying two separate amusement parks (Pleasureland Southport and Frontierland, Morecambe), as well as investing in food-and-ride trade at the Pleasure Beach. During his life, Geoffrey Thompson built himself a reputation within Blackpool, which earned him a highly positive status amongst other Amusement Trade Businessmen, and was often regarded as a main influence into the steady growth of amusement parks worldwide.
Whilst walking around the pleasure beach, one thing that caught my attention in particular was the surrounding structures that reached high into the sky and towered over me. The variety of geometric shapes and linear qualities of the rides created an excitement of how they could be developed.
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