Bedrock
Artefact, Albion Stone, Civic Square, JCLA, Webb Yates, B-Side
When once the character of our towns resulted from locally available resources and skills, today materials for our carbon hungry buildings travel from afar. The island of Portland is synonymous with the limestone that lies in abundance underground, that embodies its history and offers a low carbon building material of the future.
Bedrock is a new model for bio-regional housing on Portland, made from stone waste in a redundant quarry. A stone demonstrator hamlet, it enhances the social, environmental and economic ecosystem of Portland, drawing on Civic Square’s expertise in creating ecologically and socially just neighbourhoods.
Bedrock has a positive circular vision of extraction and renewal, upcycling Albion Stone’s Admiralty Quarry by carefully balancing the need for new homes with ecological restoration. Sheltered from the infamous Portland wind, ‘downscrapers’ are embedded within the dramatic topography of the rewilded landscape. Residents live in harmony with the rare butterflies and wildflowers that thrive on the exposed limestone surfaces.
To address the shortage of affordable housing and a lack of jobs and skills for young people on Portland, Bedrock harvests the funds allocated to restore the quarry into seeding new intentional housing. Smaller homes with generous shared spaces prioritise collective living at reduced cost to attract a younger demographic. Flexibility is built into the design through soft spots, allowing homes to expand. Constructed via a skills programme, locals are involved in building the community, renewing indigenous stone masonry knowledge to fuel the new stone age.
Artefact
Benedetta Rogers, Architect / Team Leader
Daniel Marmot, Architect
Albion Stone
Michael Poultney, Portland Quarry Director
Civic Square
Charlie Edmonds, Social, Economic and Neighbourhood Strategist
JCLA
Rebecka Gullstrand, Landscape and Ecology
Jonathan Cook, Landscape and Ecology
Webb Yates
Steve Webb, Structure (stone specialist)
B-Side
Sally Watkins, Portland Cultural and Arts Program
