In a self-initiated brief, I conducted a vast amount of research and site visits to compose the basis of the aim of my project: to reveal hidden processes, using crystal growth to create a living, growing environment that is manipulated by the temporal changes of the site and by using the growth of crystals for use in jewellery making, developing skills and creating treasures unique to the Isle of Sheppey. Iron pyrite grows naturally in the clay cliffs of Sheppey, which can be collected on the beach. To mimic this process, the building uses the eroding clay from the cliffs to extract aluminium, which  is turned into aluminium potassium sulphate salt and added to a large chamber that fills with sea water at high tide. This solution is then pumped to the top of the building and trickles through the building walls and forms in pools on the roof. Once the solution evaporates, crystals form and can be picked.

 

 

 

_This image demonstrates my concept ‘the tip of the iceberg’. It shows how I felt about my trips to the Isle of Sheppey during my site analysis of the island. The collage represents visits to the island as fleeting views of the landscape, exposing the integral processes and cyclical movements of the island as hidden secrets. I have visually layered these processes in terms of people’s consciousness, from birds migrating (high level of consciousness), to the damage of pollution on living organisms in the sea (low level). This piece of work helped me to realise that I wanted to look deeper into the landscape and expose these fluctuations and changes, in order to reveal these ‘secrets’ to visitors of the building.