Sellafield Nuclear Memorial Hostel Part 1 Project 2020 Austin McGrath Oxford Brookes University Oxford | UK The Cumbrian coastline is home to Sellafield: Europe’s largest nuclear reprocessing plant. With its closure in 2018, the plant’s clean-up and deconstruction is expected to take a minimum of 100 years.This project wishes to question the Contemporary cannon of sustainability and construction though its radical design. It sits atop of the southernmost point of St Bees Head, serving as a halfway house for the two day hike from Whitehaven to Sellafield along the Nuclear Coast, as well as the starting point for the 182mile walk from St Bees to Robin Hood Bay. The linear stone structure is designed to undergo an accelerated yet controlled ruination process using the waves of the Irish sea as its catalyst. The building becomes an instrument to perceive the passing of time, eroding into the sea in parallel to the plant’s decommissioning process. In contrast with the neighbouring nuclear site, the hostel allows for a decomposition process that does not pose any threat to the environment. After all of the hostel rooms are reclaimed by the Irish Sea, what is left of the building turns into a ruin, acting as an Arcadian memorial to the Sellafield Nuclear Facility. Tutor(s) Johanna Just Vanessa Lafoy Agostino Nickl