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Rossaveel Maritime School

Part 1 Project 2024
Agata Nyckowska
University of East London London | UK
The project is situated in Connemara, West Coast of Ireland. Responding to the Irish government’s initiative to revitalize remote islands, it addresses ecological and socio-cultural issues in the coastal region. Connemara faces population decline, erosion of traditional practices, and marine environment destruction by overfishing.

The project explores strategies through multiple layers of interventions, focusing on sustainable aquaculture to address early education and sustainability awareness. The proposed school aims to create a community offering educational opportunities like foraging seaweed and understanding marine ecosystems. It will serve as a space where play and learning intertwine with nature, promoting environmental stewardship rooted in Irish coastal rituals.

“Intimacy” addresses the coastal landscape and cultural significance. The large seaweed thatched roof shelters the old coast guard station, blurring the border between the sea and agricultural landscape. Inspired by spatial memory and Irish vernacular farmhouses, intimacy is translated into spatial conditions creating a sensory journey with light, wind, waves, and tactile experiences combined with pragmatic spaces for marine-culture research and children’s education.

Re-thatching the seaweed roof and harvesting facilitate the seaweed lifecycle, bringing the community together and restoring the relationship between the sea and people. The seaweed, used as a building material, eventually returns to the land as fertilizer, enriching the land and biodiversity.


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2024
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