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The Sandstone Reserve

Part 2 Project 2020
James Harrison
Nottingham Trent University | UK
Responding to social and economic collapse caused by the climate crisis, Nottingham has value in a resource abundant in the area, sandstone. With stone having a low embodied energy, it is the most local and expedient solution to the problem of construction. The sandstone quarry shows acceptance in a scenario of a social collapse in an area prominent in Nottingham’s history.

The cave systems of Nottingham are vast and were greatly explored along the Narrow Marsh cliff. The quarry is an extension of the cliff façade and the caves inhabiting it. The quarry is able to have a mixed function with the areas of material removal becoming part of a larger system. The quarried spaces are carved with ornamentation to show the potential of the material and process. The quarry functions as a sandstone machine; digitally and robotically cutting and carving blocks to fit any need of the city. With the grandeur of the quarry, a bespoke carved facility within the cliff to manipulate the stone is a prominent space to describe the process. To govern the sandstone, an assembly chamber and accompanying offices inhabit the higher levels of the quarry with the physical process of carving below creating a hierarchy of power built into the cliff face.


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2020
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