The project proposes the regeneration of the former Cliftonville Lido as a multi-programme building dedicated to the promotion of coastal foraging, and, by extension, low-impact living and environmental stewardship.

Inspired my Margate’s rich history with the sea, the building becomes a threshold space between land and water, straddling the shoreline and nestled in the chalk cliffs of the Thanet Coast. As coastal foraging in the intertidal zone is only possible at low tide, building usage and occupation are rhythmed by the diurnal and semi-diurnal patterns of tidal change, emphasising the transitional and liminal qualities of the space.

Coastal foraging is an inherently low-impact approach to the procurement of food and sustenance. The sustainability of the practice depends on the responsible & respectful behaviour of foragers. It calls on individuals to only gather what they need for personal consumption, recognising their own individual potential at destabilising an ecosystem through their actions. In that sense, the concept of environmental stewardship is particularly relevant in the context of climate emergency and planetary ecosystem imbalance.