DUNGENESS DRIFT CO-OP.

The Dungeness Drift Cooperative is a monument, outpost and economic hub that stands as marker to the headland position of Europe’s largest cuspate foreland comprising large exposed shingle deposits. Superficial geology, once known to the British Geological Survey as ‘drift’, is the sedimentary deposits laid during the most recent period of geological time. These hold a mixture of fine material (silt, sand and clay) and larger gravels, all used as key ingredients in the construction industry as aggregates and ceramics. The co-op is a hub for the sustainable extraction of building industry materials from Dungeness and the wider region in the English channel, erected as a pier that will slowly disconnect from the wider shoreline and that stands as marker of the ever shifting coastline of the promontory. The linear core of the hub transects through the beach section, jutting into the open channel to harvest the wave power of the natural forces that are moving the shingle mass to provide energy for the building and its infrastructure. As the land of Romney Marsh and lower lying parts of Dungeness evanesce into the sea, the institute serves as a monument and museum to the lost landform, itself a product of historical hydrologic engineering.