About

Aims
This research investigates the creative potential of certain geological materials that are currently discarded during limestone quarrying and masonry processing in Purbeck, Dorset. These materials include the clay found between the prized limestone beds; the high proportion of offcuts due to the limestone naturally occurring in relatively small sizes; and the waste stone dust produced by sawing. The Purbeck quarries are finite resources for the construction industry, and complex ecological and cultural sites.

Research Context
In the context of the climate crisis, there is an increasing imperative to reconsider undervalued, low carbon and locally abundant materials. Sedimentary limestone embodies multiple registers of time;  from the deep time evidenced by its fossil record, the centuries of erasure by quarrying beneath the local topography, one year’s seasoning required to work the dug stone, daily commercial time-pressure and craft processes of the workshop, the durability and weathering of a construction, and stones’ future potentials for reuse. These expanded time-frames invite consideration of ‘use-time’ and ‘waste-time’ (Viney), and the rich potential of quarried materials that currently fall outside the ‘task-scape’ and ‘lifeworlds’ (Ingold) of the masonry works. 
 
Methods
By focusing on both sourcing and using materials close at hand, this research uses creative and community-based research methods to  generate new uses for one quarry’s leftover materials. Undertaken in practice, between architecture and sculpture, allows for material and social inquiries that range from the functional to the poetic. Navigating between collaboration, complicity, and resistance to the industry’s commercial practices will foster critical and constructive reciprocity. 

Outcomes
The research will support the local industry by proposing applications for its undervalued materials, while also designing and making independent and public-facing creative work. To enhance the critical relevance and accessibility of the outcomes, members of the local community will be involved throughout.