The Davidson Prize

Our proposal looks at the potential of shared reproductive labour and communal infrastructure in the design of new rural settlements. Starting with the vernacular layout of a hamlet, the project proposes that progressive shared infrastructure can make new rural development sensitive, efficient and sustainable.

The project looks at the potential of this small but prolific rural settlement to enable national growth. The model is based on the use of high-value greenbelt, areas of natural beauty and protected arable land, and putting in place stewards of the bucolic landscape, rather than those with more vested interest in inheritance or conservation for conservation’s sake.

We propose a recalibration of the idea of public infrastructure, using a number of new small communities to form complex networks of collective domestic labour, such as childcare and laundry, which utilise the economy of scale; alongside a sharing of resource, trust and responsibility. Owners are asked to have an agrarian responsibility and a collective stewardship. Boundaries are strict and development is progressively dense, utilising the potential scale of vernacular agricultural references. A range of environments – wet and dry, heated and unheated – will provide shared, hardworking spaces, eliminating the need for every household to duplicate spaces and appliances, resulting in lower energy consumption and lighter environmental impact.

AOMD
Michael Dillon, Architect

Edit Collective
Marianna Janowicz, Research/reproductive labour

Periscope
Daniel Rea, Landscape Architect

Ruth Lang, Research/circular economy

50two
Dion Barrett, Videographer