TOM GARDNER

ARTIST  DESIGNER  MAKER

Bata-Ville and the Bata factory are a product of the industrial revolution, which permanently altered the human relationship with the earth; the move from agriculture to industry produced a “mechanistic” view of the world, superseding the idea of organic nature.

 

“Gardens in a Factory” proposes the reuse of the Bata Factory in East Tilbury, under heritage protection, as the symbol of the celebration of the mono-industry & monoculture. 

​

The approach to the design of space and community proposes a gradual transformation of the site into an educational centre for reconstituting relations between humans and nature which overcomes the separation introduced by modernity.

​

The campus will generate a broader learning community by teaching sustainable living strategies, remediation techniques and exploring nature through collaboration.

 

 Architecturally, the project proposes the slow erosion of the grid across scales, from the strict land use division to the dissolution of the external walls in some buildings on site.