Veinyard of the Batholith
Some Kind of Nature situates itself within a Post-Humanist lens, decentring the human experience and driving architecture to a polyphonic, holistic future. While the Atelier does not specifically focus on climate change, the most prescient issue is that of the Anthropocene, and the human effect on the planet.
My project is set in the Clay Country of Cornwall, where the historical mining industry is being revived to extract lithium, a resource essential for electric car batteries,the extraction of which has a detrimental effect on its context. The thesis explores the impact of a revived mining industry on the area and Cornwall, looking at opportunities for local communities, effects on the already scarred landscape, and how architecture can guide the polyphonic web between human and non-human relationships.
Industrial and environmental change is deeply rooted in the culture and folklore of Cornwall, and it is in this context of a contemporary folk tale that the architectural proposal draws from. Combining conceptual inspiration from historic Cornish ruins, geological processes and granite extrusions, the building houses a space colliding culture, folklore, industry, science, community and landscape into a polyphonic building for the future.
