“Dreamland: Samson”
Dreamland seeks to dispell the negative attitude that is commonly associated with climate change through a programme of activity that educates visitors of the co-benefits of leading a sustainable life and celebrates the change through an innate atmospheric essence of playfulness and fun. The scheme also responds to the emergence of climate anxiety as a recognised medical condition and creates a space for rehabilitation and holistic integration into the fabric and family community of the scheme located on Samson on the Isles of Scilly. The locality is also key to the thesis formulation – an isolated island on an isolated archipelago – once again inhabited by humankind by creating an access point to Samson that functions as a closed loop system of material and resources, providing clean water, power, food and waste management, while the larger masterplan of a theme park incorporates power generation for the whole island, utilising kelp as biomass to generate both electricity and heat to make the Isles of Scilly more resilient to climate change and less reliant on the mainland. And ultimately using fun to educate and offer a space for solutions to be created.
Exploded planometric.
The divergent areas of the scheme come together to create a thematic attraction as a starting point for a visit to the island of Samson. With areas of convalescent residential, education, celebration and discovery skewing the traditional values of a visitor centre and infusing them with an environmental agenda at every opportunity.
Final model.
The scheme is fully self-sustainable – reacting to studio readers centering on concepts of circular economy and holistic sustainability. This section slice model details the widely overlooked resource of human waste as a fertiliser for crops that are served in the restaurant, a staple of any visitor attraction as a potential revenue stream. Each waste stream is investigated as a potential valuable resource in a site-wide circular economy.
Visual – spa.
The primer for the scheme investigated the co-benefits of sustainable practice. Using kelp as a biomass electricity generator. The waste heat that is generated from this process is channelled into the creation of a hot springs spa and lido as an contextual link to the seaside vernacular and a flagship attraction for the tourist population that frequent the Isles of Scilly every year. Cornubian Batholith, the bedrock present on the Isles of Scilly, is utilised as a building resource that connects the site to the scheme, almost appearing as if it grows out of the island itself while inside.
Comic strip.
Imagined as an advertising opportunity for the scheme as a profitable venture – each activity also relates to climate anxiety as a recognised mental health condition. Treatments offered for this condition champion a connection with the natural environment which is achieved through a convalescent home on Samson. In addition to a sense of collective togetherness – of working together to achieve a viable future. While also learning and maintaining power generation apparatus for a more resilient Isles of Scilly – residents also take part in sleep research, reflecting the name of the scheme but also relating to research into the role of sleep deprivation in a modern inability to imagine a different future.
CONTACT EMAIL: jacques.doody@gmail.com
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Curated by Laura Selwood