Learning is understood as a form of accessing new undiscovered portals in other worlds and being able to understand those worlds through studying them. This idea is framed around forming new ways of seeing reality and its ability to convey new information within just the frame of an image, a central form to which people connect today. This intention is envisioned through the presentation of a slate quarry as a classroom. Inserted screens act as spatial tools that connect distant locations and intense narratives, encouraging questioning and reimagining of how places, stories, and functions are linked
Just pulling one connectivity string out of the whole system,
The Slate Quarry was the site with its potential connectivity with all the other sites in the research, which include Bude Central, Crowdy Reservoir, and Widemouth Bay cliffs. These sites shared a common theme on their own, which was about the threshold between the material and its purpose; in other words, the study of material circulation.
By reorienting perception through these visual thresholds, the space implies a critical reflection on how reality is constructed—and how alternative ways of seeing can generate new knowledge.
BEGINNING OF THE JOURNEY
As you walk along the route, at first, you would be exposed to the new ways of seeing material processing and the geological history of the land that you stand on. In these two interventions, you would encounter a quarry and the Widemouth Bay cliffs in geological dialogue with one another. Both places contain slate as their primary material; yet, by visually layering their textural features on top of each other, you begin to see different states and appearances of the same material, but from different locations. This is because the same material can be formed differently depending on the location and its condition. For example, Bude is known for its rigid cliffs. This place formed not only due to the collision of tectonic platestration of fossils, such as ammonites and crustaceans, but also due to the high concen found on the coast in Bude. It exposes the stone to these bright colours and crackly textures that are not visible in the quarry, for example, as it is located further in the land and has completely different conditions there. Studying the rocks through sectioning them helped me to identify what type of stone it is and how it has been formed. Screen portals allow us to study the geological diversity of the material formation.
MIDDLE WAY
As you walk along the route, you will begin to experience the new visual realities of how the slate has been transformed from its raw state into new forms. I positioned three image portals above the water to represent Crowdy Reservoir, a site that highlights the importance of storing water for the future development of the towns. Crowdy Reservoir is situated in an area underlain by Devonian slates and shales. These impermeable slate layers naturally assist in retaining water, rendering the site geologically suitable for a reservoir. The stability and waterproof characteristics of the slate-rich ground reduced the need for extensive artificial sealing. Through the image portals, you can discover how the material has been integrated into something new and far more significant.
THE END
As you approach the end, I aim to connect Bude Central with the Slate Quarry as the final study of material circulation. This last chapter highlights the extraction process that drives the development of towns like Bude. Just like the quarry, perched on the rugged cliffs, Bude and its canal were originally constructed to facilitate the shipping of materials and to build a community around the shipping point. The quarry’s slate has been continuously transformed for all kinds of purposes in Bude. Its destination represents a crucial aspect of industrialisation in northern Cornwall, as well as trade and further economic activities.
The proposal makes the landscape to be seen not just as isolated parts but as a living system of material, spatial, and historical relations. It aims to make these hidden networks visible, transforming the act of mapping into an experience of connectivity, where the physical and the digital, the past and the present, converge.