Breaking Ground Part 2 Project 2021 Connor TulipDovydas Simkus University of Sheffield | UK A groundbreaking ceremony is an event held to celebrate the onset of construction. It formally perpetuates a continuous mobilisation of materials, labour, and energy for years, decades or even centuries to come. But we have forgotten that building is loss. In forgetting that, or thinking we can overcome it has brought us here, to a climate crisis. Sheffield is a city that loves to tell stories of itself: ‘The Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire’, ‘Music City’, ‘City on the Move’, ‘City of Makers’ and, of course, ‘Steel City’. As the city moves away from its carbon-centred past and towards a zero-carbon future, Breaking Ground begins with an investigation of how the material history of our city can chart a way forward. In collaboration with Sheffield Climate Alliance, this project envisions a Climate Action Centre of Sorts; comprising spaces for learning, a workshop, builder’s yard, excavation site, and an experimental public place which explores themes of power, process, beauty, and authenticity. This project is the work of many hands. It is a collection of references, a provocation, a conversation and an insight into the way we think and might think about our city. It is part of an ongoing process that has no end. Connor TulipDovydas Simkus Tutor(s) Carolyn Butterworth