Ashpit Retreat Part 2 Project 2024 Connor Curley University of Sheffield | UK The Ashpit Retreat is a centre set amongst the marshes of south Essex. Set in the not-too-distant future, it provides a place of sanctuary for persecuted followers of Transhumanism, the position that human beings should be permitted to use technology to modify and enhance their minds and bodies.In Tilbury, a town caught in the growing flood zone of the Thames Estuary, a group of like-minded individuals join to celebrate a few pagan festivals and create a home in the salt marshes. Over time, this transformed into a large branch of a global organisation, a DIY outpost for healing and safety.Here the members created an island on the abandoned concrete foundations of a demolished power station. The building functions as a quasi-monastic retreat, a crisis centre, and as a sensory hub, translating data from innumerable sensors in the water, soil and air into feedback that users can tap in to.Drawing together the threads of the human and non-human, the retreat aims to bridge the gap between the current blighted post-industrial landscape and a future where the bounds of human nature are expanding. Connor Curley Tutor(s) Mark Parsons