Francesca Foster Moseley
Building Ruin - School of Natural Studies and Wild Workshop
Facade Render - Approach with view of recycled material wall
Responding to the brief for a school of rural studies, ‘Building Ruin’ is a proposal for an education centre that promotes both the support of local ecology and sustainable building practice.
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Building Ruin is an exploration into the way that we value discarded building material. It looks to the way that we experience ruin, and the beauty of crumbling structures, and attempts to create the same feeling by building from the ruins of demolished buildings. It is an investigation into the way that we might re-fold these products of demolition into new architecture using non-conventional systems, and anticipates how they might in turn, be taken apart and reused again later. In keeping with the spirit of re-use, the programme of the building is focused on the careful consideration of waste material. In function, this presents itself in the ‘wild workshop’ which uses found materials in the creation of micro-structures for habitat support in the local area. The centre of natural studies promotes the education and practical support of local wildlife and trusts such as the Scottish Wildlife Preservation Trust. The scheme is located in Duddingston on the edge of the loch. It spans a network of old walls, placing itself in direct contact with the historic village. The new structure sits within a master plan that aims to protect the historic edge of Duddingston, and respond to the materiality and character of the old village.