Charlie Pye Y5
Unclaiming the Land
Unclaiming the Land looks at reevaluating how low-lying fenland is used, proposing a recreational and conservational reimagining.
The project, situated on the Ouse Washes, proposes a new landscape to protect the local Welney Wildlife Reserve. The landscape harmonises conservation, forestry, and agriculture. This is achieved by employing traditional drainage and land forming techniques as well as utilising timber structures for water retention.
The site over time will adopt recreational facilities for sea cadets to manage and shape the land, slowly integrating the local communities that will eventually become displaced by rising sea levels. The unclaimed land would become the new village of Welney, allowing communities to have an active role in the water management of the surrounding fenland and slowly returning it to the sea.
