Parys Mountain, an abandoned copper mining site in Wales, has a unique post-extraction ecology that can thrive under hostile conditions and process toxins. The initial design started to take shape by using specific hyperaccumulator species to respond to various environmental conditions.

Designed around experimentation, planting, and harvesting, species are encouraged to compete and evolve to become increasingly tolerant of contamination caused by mining. The site also looks upon mining contamination on a global scale. In this proposal Parys Mountain and its diverse terrains act as testing grounds for mining sites elsewhere. Re-purposed for ecologists, scientists, and tourists the design experiments with the local conditions such steep cliffs, riparian planting, large mining cavities, sand dunes, and planting of delicate species to find solutions to mining contamination. The aim of the design is to redefine the concept of ‘wasteland’ and find purpose in the abandoned industrial landscapes.