Orchestrating Geochronology | Dungeness, UK | Unit 21 | 2021

Awarded the Bartlett School of Architecture Medal, BSc
Awarded First Class Honours

Geochronology is the field of geology concerned with determining the age and history of Earth’s rocks, sediments, and fossils. Time is inherently encoded into the landscape; this project aims to quantify varying scales of time across numerous architectural elements. The scheme proposes a geochronology museum, archive, and research facility.

Graphic notation and scripting were used to identify and separate the rhythms, cycles and occurrences that make up the landscape of Dungeness–as if isolating the layers to a piece of music to de-construct and re-form a different reading of the site.

The scheme aims to quantify time. The stratigraphy of Romney Marsh–the area that sits behind Dungeness–is made up of and formed by the layering of tidal sediments, called tidal rhythmites. The project constructs an artificial geology based upon the original formation of the landscape through the rhythms and cycles of the lunar calendar by using physical manifestations of Dungeness hourly tide records. Stacking such data forms a stratigraphy that encodes time into the very building blocks of the project.

This project acts as a proponent for reflection and drastic environmental change, alongside encoding and quantifying various scales of time to construct an architectural geological landscape.

Orchestrating Geochronology

This project encourages drastic environmental change, encoding and quantifying various scales of time to construct an architectural geological landscape.

Geochronology Museum, Research Facility and Archive

A process of stacking data (in geometric form) generates an internal geology, deconstructing the site’s tidal rhythmites to from a stratigraphy that encodes time into the project.

Time Classification Plan Classification of different time durations corresponding to tidal datasets and their individual physical forms.