Polytown: The Living Lithium Factory
As technological progress accelerates, we carelessly jump from one finite resource to another. Whilst this use of our environment is in some ways inevitable, as architects, we look for less invasive strategies of powering a sustainable future. This particular project examined the extraction of lithium, and looked to celebrate the existing industrial heritage of a Cornish tin mine, whilst providing a community driven piece of infrastructure to last long into an uncertain future. The idea of a lithium future is somewhat flawed, as a finite resource is inheretly non-permanent. However, by providing an adaptable industrial hub for direct lithium extraction which uses flexibility as a method of achieving longevity lithium can be the intial propulsion point to a green future, and in this way is infinite. The concept of Polytown acts as a foil to the idea of the monotown, an outdated concept in which a settlement relies solely on a single industry, ultimately leading to its demise. To avoid this situation in the Geevor mining community, the masterplan looked to implement a variety of energy sources such as a geothermal plant, aquaponics and gravity batteries, initally funded by a scaleable but also de-scalable lithium production plant, which could be repurposed down the line.
The building itself acts as a medium between landscape and industry and between settlement and factory, with efficient and smooth typological transitions being at the heart of the programme. As a result, the factory can constantly adapt to a changing national political landscape, whilst maintaining an uninterrupted and continuous emphasis on the local villages which it aims to serve.
