Darrell’s Island was once a critical hub for seaplanes crossing the Atlantic; today, it’s a sleepy picnic ground.

For the past three years Bermuda Institute students have been reimagining it.

Their 11ft by 3ft model has a seaplane museum, glamping areas, restaurants and an underground Imax theatre.

Art teacher Richard Sutton launched the project in 2020. Covid-19 prolonged the effort.

“I did a similar project years ago while teaching in New York City,” he said.

“I had my students redesign Governors Island, in New York Harbour.

The students came up with ideas such as putting a shopping mall there, an amusement park and a school. Years later the city did actually redevelop it into a place for people to picnic and relax.”

When he came to Bermuda to teach in 2013, he wanted to do something similar. He felt it was a good way to introduce students to urban planning, design and architecture and get them thinking about the future of their community.

“I decided to do the project with Darrell’s Island because the Bermuda Institute often goes out there at the end of the year,” he said.

“The 12th graders camp there for several days and the school takes the younger children there to picnic for a day.

“We were looking at how we could offer people another space in Bermuda to go with their family and relax.”

The project started with a field trip to the island, which is in the Great Sound.

“We talked to the caretaker and we walked around. We were only familiar with the eastern half of the island. On this trip we were able to explore the western part of Darrell’s Island and see what the landscape was like.”

The airport was built in 1938. Parts of it were still there but too derelict for the students to enter safely.

“But we were walking around and getting the idea of the scale of everything,” Mr Sutton said.

“We were looking at the rock formations and wondering if we could keep them and build on them.”

After the field trip, Mr Sutton and his students had lunch at the Hamilton Princess & Beach Club.

They came up with an idea for two restaurants and also a lazy river.

“They were looking at how a nice experience like 1609, which is outdoors and airy, could be put on to Darrell’s Island,” Mr Sutton said.

“You get your burger and fries, then sit on an inflatable and eat your food while travelling around this river.”

He bought tiny foliage, trees, people and other material for the model using the winnings from a mural competition sponsored by the Green family in 2019.

“I started by identifying the students’ skill sets and putting them into teams,” Mr Sutton said.

“One of the students had a strong background in Lego concepts and building train sets so his father donated some materials, which also helped.

“In terms of the building, they used papier-mâché underneath with plaster bandages on top of that.

“Someone was tasked with being the landscape architect. Another student was a planner in terms of the ferry system, bringing people from different points to Darrell’s Island. Scheduling was a part of their responsibility. It was an interesting project to push through.”

Some students were naturals when it came to applying the concepts he taught and would go away and build roofs, solar panels or walls. Others who struggled were tasked with creating trees, grass and foliage.

Gabriella Ratteray, 17, built a restaurant.

“It wasn’t hard, but it took a lot of time,” she said. “It was a new experience.”

Because of the task, Sacoy Lightbourne is considering architecture as a career.

“I really enjoyed the experience,” the 17-year-old said. “The biggest challenge was proportion and making everything fit to the tiny characters.”

The students were asked to design with the island’s landscape in mind. Their plan was to build structures that would blend in with the environment rather than clash with it.

“On one side there was a really steep slope,” Mr Sutton said.

“They decided to get around this by building a step so that visitors could have some more park space.”

When they told the caretaker they were considering building an underground Imax theatre, he warned them that the deeper they went the more likely they were to hit water.

Their solution was to put glass walls around it, so the theatre resembled a fish tank.

Rickai Lightbourne was asked to research the island’s history.

He talked with his “grandmother and people in her seniors’ club”.

The 15-year-old was surprised to learn that Darrell’s Island was once the location of a 1956 American television show Crunch and Des, starring Forrest Tucker and Sandy Kenyon.

The students completed the model and submitted it in the annual Senior Schools Art Show at Bermuda Society of Arts in April.

“Because of its size, it had to be turned sideways, carried out and put on the back of a truck to get it there,” Mr Sutton said. “I would like it to visit another space, so more of the community can see it but I don’t know where yet.”

The students then presented the project to friends and family. Ernest Peets, the Minister of Youth, Culture and Sport, was also in attendance.

Mr Sutton hoped that the Bermuda Government might be inspired enough by the project to develop some of the students’ ideas.

“There is so much to learn from the students,” he said. “I definitely think the underground Imax theatre would probably be a no as that would be the most expensive thing to build, but I don’t see why there couldn’t be a museum, glamping and restaurants out there. That definitely seems doable.

“But I am most proud of the experience and the end result. I love the way it looks. It is something for the people. Bermuda needs spaces for everyone.”

Architect Tika Gilbert has expressed interest in working with BI students on similar assignments in the future.

“She was happy to see a project like this in Bermuda,” Mr Sutton said. “She said this is exactly what she envisioned when she came back from school in London.”

The model also captured the attention of Charity Espina. The programme manager for The Exseed Project, an experiential STEM programme at Loma Linda University in California was on the island “doing professional development”.

“Charity is an advocate for project-based learning and thought this was a great example of that,” Mr Sutton said.

“She wanted to either fly the model out to California, or have a model duplicating this one built out there. She thought it would be a great example of project-based learning for Caribbean and North American educators to see when they visit the university.”