The Architects’ Journal Architecture News & Buildings
About the School of Architecture
Location London SW7 | Courses MArch | Head of school Adrian Lahoud | Full-time tutors 14 | Part-time tutors 80 | Students 400 | Staff to student ratio 1:16
Postgraduate
Samuel Kumar
Course MArch
Studio/unit brief א0 (ADS 9)
Project title Unloved
Project description The Isle of Portland is home to its famous stone, present on nearly every street in central London and associated with monetary and cultural value. Yet, there are mounds of the stone littering the island, abandoned at the quarry edges. This project is an evolution of the stone mine, a public space attempting to subvert the practice of stone extraction, where extraction and inhabitation become symbiotic, and carving, ornament, tectonics and art form a singular architecture. Stone is cut to form lightwells and voids, creating experiences of light and darkness as one descends into the mine. The unloved stone is then reconstituted to form architectural interventions amid the context of dismissed value. The unorthodox mine becomes a public space where ideas are shared and exhibited.
Tutor citation This project re-evaluates how a valueless material can be turned into an opportunity for a new kind of material and social engagement, examining how material extraction processes can be intertwined with the possibility of space-making. John Ng, Zsuzsa Peters, James Chung