Folldal is a small town beside the River Folla in Innlandet County, Norway. Mining activity in the area began in 1748 and was sustained almost continually for 245 years. As recently as 2018, investigations have been undertaken to understand the potential of the site for future extractive industry. However, in the same year the ecological condition of the River Folla was declared ‘Very Poor’. This is the result of continued disregard for the surrounding environment by the town’s historical mining exploits. Accumulations of contaminated mining spoil have resulted in large amounts of heavy metal contaminated runoff entering and damaging the river system.

This project aims to use landscape-led interventions to stabilise, extract, metabolise, and degrade the contaminated mining spoil, to cleanse the damaged riverine and riparian ecosystems and to provide a new immersive landscape for the town and its surrounding communities.

Through the utilisation of computational design techniques and a programme of phytoremediation, the project looks to create a fully situated parametric landscape inspired by glacial landforms within the context of the old mining town to combat the disturbing effects of the historical mining activities.