Abigail Ashton and Andrew Porter first collaborated on their joint diploma project “Mechanical Landscapes” whilst 5th year students at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London.

The project was sited in a quarry located on the Pfaffenberg Mountain, Bad Deutch Altenburg on the Austrian Border with Bratislava. The project speculated on the future use of quarry after production ceased in the mid 21st century. The project was both an investigation into the physical nature of a specific post industrial landscape and a speculation on the cultural and political implications of post industrial society.

This formative project began ashton porter’s interest in time based and dynamic architectural systems. The project was initially developed through a series of responsive and interactive machines which instigated an architectural language of cause and effect. An architecture of events and behaviour was developed in association with a fluid framework of form.