Where the past and future meet,
Where nature and man meet,
Where permanence is crumbling,
There are paths that lead to nowhere.
There’s a moving line in space.
And there will always be a moving line in space.

The project site falls on the eroding cliffs along the coastline of East Yorkshire, England. Withernsea, like many other small towns on the countryside coast, has seen its land disappear to the sea. Part of the town is protected through sea defences such as groynes and a seawall. These defences increase the severity of erosion down the shore as the other parts of the coast continue to collapse. Fishing communities and holiday makers make up the majority of the cliff dwellers living on this windy landscape.

The project looks into designing with the phenomenon of the collapsing cliff instead of trying to prevent it. How can we design for a space which will continue to shrink and vanish? What can the land leave behind for the people before it is engulfed by the waves?

The proposal forms a timeline that addresses local issues today, marking the past and preparing the land for the future. The design becomes a continued process built and rebuilt over time as the little town shrinks into the surrounding agricultural fields.