Native UK stone has gained renewed interest as a structural building material, due to new structural stone technologies and its low levels of embodied carbon.

The Stone Language Centre therefore addresses the future of obsolete UK stone quarries and is established to re-activate the dormant granite quarries of Nant Gwrtheyrn, North Wales. Nant’s quarries were abandoned in the 1930s, following a decline in the demand of granite. The Welsh Language Centre reclaimed the Nant in the 1980s, and the valley experienced a shift from exporting natural resources to exporting knowledge and culture. The Stone Language Centre aims to draw on the rich cultural and industrial character of the area, acting as a laboratory for innovation, education and construction. The project advocates a revival of structural stone construction and demonstrates the whole-life benefits of stone, from extraction to material recovery and reuse.

The project creates a new form of productive landscape. It re-works natural resources and by-products of the site to form new hybridised landscapes, which stabilise and reinstate the original profile of the valley of Nant. Monolithic stone buildings house spaces for the Stone Language Centre, creating a space for learning and discovery within the rich Welsh landscape.