The Quarry Collective: Architecture Fostering Rehabilitation of Extracted Landscapes

“The Quarry Collective” is an architectural study delving into the architecture accompanying rehabilitation. The project operates at the intersection between architecture, ecological and social studies, stating the interdisciplinary future of the architectural profession.

The Rüdersdorf limestone quarry, situated 30 kilometers eastbound from Berlin, stands as a testament to centuries of industrial activity. This vast landscape, with the hustle of extraction gradually declining, now seemingly lies in wait, marked by the scars of its past but rich with the promise of renewal. 

Scars and scales
Limestone extraction at Rüdersdorf has profoundly disrupted natural cycles that have evolved over millions of years. One piece of the quarried stone takes us back 250 million years, to a time when the area was an ocean basin, its depths accumulating layers of microorganisms that would eventually become limestone. The challenge now is to navigate the vast temporal scales of natural processes needed to restore the balance disrupted by industrial activity.
Modern industrial landscapes often suffer from a short-sighted approach, leaving behind barren expanses once resources are exhausted. The Rüdersdorf quarry, operated by CEMEX, will cease operations in 2062, necessitating a comprehensive rehabilitation plan. The costly and complex rehabilitation of Lusatia's coal mines of Brandenburg serves as a cautionary tale, underscoring the necessity of integrating rehabilitation efforts from the very beginning of mining operations. The LMBV company responsible for the Lusatia’s case concluded that starting rehabilitation early is crucial to mitigate complexity and cost.

Generational care and unpredictable future
To approach the notion of non-human time scales, we turn to the concept of collective management. In the midst of the Swiss Alps, the Oberallmeinkorporation has sustainably managed local resources for over 900 years, demonstrating the effectiveness of long-term, community-driven stewardship. Applied to Rüdersdorf, such stewardship could ensure that rehabilitation efforts are sustained over the long term.
To address the unpredictability of the future, we developed a board game within our project. This game serves as a model for negotiation and learning in the context of rehabilitation. By simulating various scenarios repeatedly, it provides tangible insights into the potential outcomes of different collective dynamics and external ecological factors. The internal impulses of collective development, combined with external ecosystem events, shape the spaces that host our collective, fostering adaptable and responsive architectural interventions.

Architecture of rehabilitation
In the span of the proposed 150-year rehabilitation roadmap for Rüdersdorf, we envision several adaptive interventions: embedded for the zone not affected by the future flooding, and non-invasive for the affected zone.
The initial stage focuses on soil and plant experiments. Geologists, soil scientists, and enthusiasts will transform the southern quarry slope, embedding their working-living quarters into the landscape to prevent erosion while cultivating new soil and plant life.
As the collective grows, the focus shifts to knowledge sharing and community building. Educational programs will be established in the expanded camp building to foster a deeper connection to the land and ensure the continuity of rehabilitation efforts across generations. 
In the most challenging environments of the formed biotopes going through slow-paced flooding, non-invasive and dismantlable huts and pavilions will protect emerging ecosystems, allowing for human care without disrupting natural processes.
The final phase centers around water, transforming the quarry into a water-centric habitat. As the quarry floods, floating retreats will be introduced, promoting water care and habitat creation. These retreats will serve as educational and recreational spaces, encouraging visitors to engage with the landscape as caretakers rather than mere users.
Successful rehabilitation is not just a technical challenge but a social one, requiring deep engagement and long-term stewardship. Through the mindful consideration of time, we aim to create landscapes that reflect the enduring bond between humanity and the earth, demonstrating that effective rehabilitation requires a commitment to continuous stewardship, adaptability, and the integration of human and natural processes over the long term.

 

Specific designs developed during the course of the project include:

A1 Field research base
The landscape of the southern quarry slope is to be transformed as a patchwork of different techiques and experiments held by the the first members of the collective coming to the quarry: geologists, soil scientists, students and enthuthiasts, interested in a first hand knowledge about the quarry geotop, experiments on the alkaline substrate and research trips.
The cell-like huts of the camp are submerged into the soil, partly being the supporting system of the slope.
The small volumes are staggered down the slope, defining the relationship with the quarry land: being one to one with the rocky hills, submerging into the calm and wild nature.
Here the fossils are to be collected and cared of, the new soil recipies to be tested annd impleented, local seeds to be stored and the new plants nurseries to be established.

A2 Community education hub
As the collective grows and develops, the knowledge base grows as well. At a certain point, the collective practices turn more towards sharing the knowledge, and are ready to invite new members. To facilitate the growth, it needs a larger gathering space and a new programmatic framing.
Ecological camp can facilitate both the ongoing practices, and a program for new generation of pupils, graduates and students, who will inherit and continue the collective activities.
Inside, the camp is centered around the main space, where members gather and exchange. Programmatically, they observe, co-habit and take care of the land while living on it. Children learning at the camp then have a chance to come back as tutors next year, and later on join the collective to pass on the learnings — which is an ancient and natural way of passing the knowledge, and also helps to deepen the bond with the landscape.


B1 Natural monitoring station

The expansion phase of the collective development could involve exploration of the morst challenging and exciting environments of the quarry: to biotop oases, where unique ecosystems have already formed on the previously extracted areas.
The interventions for these areas are non-invasive and highly transformable, functionally focusing on protecting the species while allowing care and observation when it is needed. Permeable vertical station provides shelter for the human and animal visitors, and allows one to descend into the reserve without disturbing its inhabitants.
In the “gorge” we create spaces that establish a dialog between the humans who come to care for and oversee the recovery process and the animals who receive new spaces to shelter, gather food and water. In the lack of high vegetation, many species of birds, bats and insects left the area during quarrying. In an area defined as a “natural reserve”, human permeability is limited to certain trails and the role of observer and helper. The station hosts ornitologists, naturalists and biologists, as well as guides enthusiasts in a non-harmful way.

B2 Floating Retreat
Closing the final phases of the flooding, the landscape is to be drastically different from how we know it now. Most of the quarry surface being underwater, the water itself becomes the most important attraction point and habitat for the species of the regenerated ecosystem. At this phase, the processes will most likely have transitioned from active towards more passive, being mostly monitoring and balanced coexistence between the human visitors and the nature. This can be facilitated by a floating retreat, where the highly anticipated bathing and water recreation facilities are combined with water care: filtration, chemical balance monitoring and water species habitats.
Traditional saunas and pools become part of a reciprocal natural nutrient cycle, where the pool water is filtrated by the plants in cleansing ponds. For visitors to be able to observe and participate in the natural cleaning of the water is to be able to feel like a part of nature, to be carers rather than users, fulfilling the purpose of the quarry collective.