- Systemic changes
Britain's National Parks were formed by acts of protest and activism that led to new legislation and broader access to the landscape. The radical context in which these areas were founded is today eclipsed by a drive to preserve or recreate their original appearance, embodying ideas of patriotism, nostalgia, and continuance.
Under the looming shadow of Brexit the countryside is set to face a series of stark economic and managerial issues. In this moment of change it is necessary to challenge existing ways of interacting with the landscape, recognise the nuanced quality of its history, and utilise the opportunity to propose alternative approaches to its management, funding and purpose.
Deplorable Framework views landscape as a changing and malleable resource, reflected in propositions that break from typical and conservative forms of preservation and governance. Reinventing the British countryside may lead to more meaningful interactions between the landscape and its inhabitants.
The Peak District National Park - Picturesque management policies limit meaningful encounters with the British countryside, obscuring nuance in the history and meaning of the landscape.
Recalling The Upper Derwent Valley - An imagined seance on the edge of Howden Reservoir, within The Peak District National Park, confronts hidden aspects of the surrounding landscape’s purpose, history, and inhabitation.
The Howden Estate - A perfect square of ornate oak and larch plantations form the curtilage of a new settlement, home to vast and tiny structures, custodians of an uncanny cultivated world.
Worlds Within Worlds - A series of towers and walls grow alongside the forest over several decades and housing a local, elderly population. Walls grow as columns, invisible in the forest, breaking through the tree canopy to cut the skyline as landmarks.
Deplorable Framework: The National Park Settlement Trust - A proposal for the holistic reinvention of the British Countryside.
