Other landscapes
A report on Unit 7’s visit to the Suffolk coast.
Orford Ness is a National nature reserve formed on a shingle spit on the Suffolk coastline. The barren windswept terrain, which holds a delicate and protected vegetated shingle habitat, was once home to the UK’s Atomic Weapons Research Establishment. Remnants of this era remain sparsely scattered around the island. Buildings deserted and gradually decaying make for a desolate world so consuming that it is possible to forget one’s proximity to the nearby Orford, connected by a short boat ride over the river Alde. Two belvederes converted from derelict structures are situated on the island. They demonstrate the power that such vantage points can have to quickly change a visitor’s perspective of their surroundings. This perspective will inform an individual design proposal and a group build project for a belvedere planned by Unit 7 this academic year.
After a visit to the nature reserve on the first day of this weekend field-trip, we spent the night in the holiday home of the Mallinson family at Aldeburgh, who kindly lent us their ideally suited accommodation. The following morning we visited Thorpeness, a resort town sited three miles further up the coastline. Much of this settlement is characterized by houses with dark stained clapperboard cladding, a feature that serves to unify the fabric of this community, allowing for individual expression to be found on other levels: a porch, a balcony, a railing perhaps. The experience prompted discussions on idiosyncrasies in design. When should a building blend in, when should it be expressive?
Two miles further north sit the two nuclear power stations of Sizewell. A walk up the shoreline, past the concrete structure of Sizewell A and the newer steel structure of Sizewell B, distinguished by a huge white globe, leads to the adjacent Dingle marshes, a reserve of importance for the bird community it hosts. Looking back from a raised point, the majestic marshland is laid out in front of the power station creating a split landscape where man and nature combine to form a surreal and undeniably captivating spectacle.
The experience of this view highlights an important point in the debate between nuclear and renewable energy – the physical footprint on the land created by nuclear power would be far less than that of wind turbines generating the equivalent energy. The walk continued to its final stop at Dunwich Heath and Forest. The Unit has started the year studying trees, and the visit to the forest enabled students to continue these explorations, allowing us to view varieties not found in London.
The flat Suffolk terrain is a habitat different to that of the rolling hills around the Hadspen Estate in Somerset, where we will be undertaking projects this year. Witnessing this contrast should benefit our understanding of such particularities in landscape and nature. The trip, one of a proposed three, continues the Unit’s policy of avoiding aviation, and as a consequence opens eyes to the fascinating and often unexpected possibilities to be found in visiting areas closer to home.
Photographs by the author.
