"OF HULL & HEART"
Of Hull and Heart: Reuniting Community Through 'social vessels'
Of Hull and Heart is a speculative architectural proposal responding to the post-industrial fragmentation of Whitehaven’s fishing harbour. Amidst national fishing restrictions and regional inequality between East and West Cumbria, this project reimagines the harbour not as a nostalgic relic but as a dynamic infrastructure that reunites public, private, and professional life.
At its core, the scheme dissolves the traditional boundaries between process and consumption. By placing the full fishing supply chain on display—from catch to preparation to plate—the building invites the public to witness the rhythms of local labour firsthand. Fishermen land their catch directly into wet markets, chefs train in open kitchens, and food is prepared and served within a spatially and socially integrated structure. This convergence fosters public understanding of food provenance, celebrates community knowledge, and reinstates trust in a sector often hidden from view.
The architecture itself becomes a “social vessel”—a hybrid timber structure inspired by maritime forms and Eastern philosophies of transparency and modularity. Glass walls, suspended walkways, and split-level dining platforms choreograph movement and visual connectivity across user groups. Tectonic details amplify this ethos, drawing attention to structural honesty and lived labour.
Beyond community engagement, the proposal has a strategic regional function: to provide chef training that links Whitehaven’s fishing sector to the Lake District’s fine dining economy. By doing so, it transforms local expertise into regional opportunity, offering sustainable employment pathways and cross-sectoral growth.
Through careful policy utilisation, embedded cultural narratives, and environmental design strategies, Of Hull and Heart offers a blueprint for regenerative coastal development—where architectural openness fosters social cohesion, economic resilience, and a deeper connection between people and the landscapes that sustain them.
