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Post-Apocalyptic Salisbury

Part 1 Project 2011
Simon Clements
University of the West of England | UK
Post-apocalyptic Salisbury is a speculative project envisaging the city’s destruction. The scenario draws upon the global decline of vital resources such as water and oil, rendering infrastructure unusable with the population in a state of panic and chaos.
Salisbury is among the first of the UK city’s to perish as a consequence of geographic isolation and the vast consumer and tourist industries which have leached off the city’s resources for so many years. Salisbury’s demographic in-balance of an ageing population has added to the speed of the city’s deterioration.
The previously prosperous city is a shadow of its former self. The majority of the population have fled with few remaining; helplessly trying to rebuild the way of life they were accustomed to. Instead the city’s social and economic state is evocative of Salisbury’s medieval past.
The project seeks to restore Salisbury’s identity by providing energy, resources and water supplies to replenish, rebuild and preserve the city. It is proposed that bio fuel and precious resources be sourced from protected forestry’s situated in the rural planes surrounding the city. The excavation of Salisbury’s water table has taken place within the city.
The scheme proposes that bio-fuel, water and steam become the central process of manufacturing within the heart of the city. The treatment of water will provide potable water and the production of steam will be controlled to support infrastructure within a chain of industrial factories. This use of steam is reminiscent of Salisbury’s industrial past. The resources and commodities produced as a consequence of this proposed steam driven infrastructure will breathe new life into the city, accumulating and spreading growth to rebuild the city’s damaged urban fabric and restore its cultural and historic identity.
The architectural language is an urgent response to the destruction of Salisbury, theoretically representing a life support machine which restores the city’s body. Expressed through the scheme is a technological vision of the ‘machine’ through fluid forms and continuous surfaces embracing functional expressivity. The process is exhibited as organs within an architectural body describing a complex set of interconnected relationships.

Simon Clements

Tutor(s)

2011
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