An Island seeks to invert the relationship between an architecture of extraction and destruction to one of production and reinvention.

Current geological time has brought a new question, a question that is no longer dominated by natural processes but rather dominated by man’s actions on the landscape. Actions driven by economical and territorial power.  Our relationship to minerals extends beyond the scope of need and use to one of domination, exploitation and global influence. These relationships can be seen in properties of landscape management such as mining and damming and the cast off that they produce.

Within the manipulation and reconfiguration of industrial landscapes lies the thesis of the project. The projects seek to invert the relationship between an architecture of extraction and destruction to one of production and reinvention by returning life to Hashima Island. An Island located in southern Japan, which was consumed by the extraction of coal from 1887 to the late 20th century – later to become obsolete and forgotten. In the project, the existing infrastructure serves as the identity of the island while new mechanisms serve as the strategy. Techniques, that were formerly known for mineral exploitation are repurposed and redeployed as generating techniques in revitalizing the abandoned island into a productive ecology.