Design Studio 12 Master of Architecture (MArch RIBA Part 2)

TUTORS: Ben Stringer & Mirna Pedalo

Coastal Futures

DS12 is interested in where and how the food and materials we consume are made – and disposed of. Translated into architecture, this is envisaged by more sustainable production and recycling industries.

What roles can inshore seascapes play in a more sustainable future for the UK? To what extent can new sustainable materials, food and energy be produced in such terrains, while also improving marine and coastal biodiversity?

This year we asked DS12 students to collectively design a sustainable productive settlement somewhere in the Thames Estuary. Having undertaken some exploratory trips, the coastal town of Sheerness, on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, was identified by the students as the site they wanted to focus on, in part because of its proximity to major industrial plants (some recently closed), port infrastructure and its threatened coastal environment.

Sheerness’ rich naval, agricultural, industrial and tourist history contrasts with some of the challenges it faces today including rising sea levels, water shortages and unemployment. While Sheerness has a busy port that facilitates large quantities of international imports and exports, we envisaged it also as an area of local production and sustainable technologies. Within this complex setting, each student designed a project within a cluster of ‘plants’ intended to interact with each other, and the town, and to provide jobs, energy, water and local produce of various kinds.

As well as taking trips to Sheerness, we went on a field trip to Copenhagen and visited Knauf’s plasterboard factory near Sittingbourne in Kent.