Located in the abandoned Victorian-era Chelsea Waterworks in Seething Wells, this project aims to uncover the imperceptible geological timescales of the overly manicured ‘Arcadian Thames’. Specifically, this project focuses upon the layers of chalk and seashells that were imported to the site during its original construction. Chalk is relatively rare within the local context but can be found in the nearby Hogsmill River–one of Britain’s few, endangered chalk streams. Natural timescales of deep time below ground are unable to keep up with the commercial exploitation of chalk streams above ground, creating an imbalanced ecosystem that threatens local grassland species.

A proposed landscape of leisure–including a theatre, gallery, and community centre–is to sit directly across from the pleasure gardens of Hampton Court Palace. Yet these activities are spatially subordinate to a chalk research facility whose purpose is to remind inhabitants of the threat that Britain’s resources of natural chalk now face destruction through urban development. Much like how chalk acts as a purifier for fresh water, the project seeks to use chalk to function symbolically as a mediator between quick, hedonistic, human-centric timescales and the slow, deep, geological timescales which create uncanny but ethereal theatricalities of chalk.