Mining Memory : Three Land-Stories from Cerro de Pasco
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Date
2024-05-10
Authors
Babcock, Reese
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Waterloo
Abstract
High in the Peruvian Andes, the four hundred year old city of Cerro de Pasco is being swallowed by an open pit mine. For its entire history the city has depended on mining to fuel its growth, but the industry has displaced its urban fabric and poisoned its population. The city’s parasitic relationship to extraction has challenged its very existence and it’s been forced to decide whether it will preserve its history or protect its future. This thesis will explore how architecture, operating at the intersection of the industrial landscape and the city, might serve as the medium for local histories and collective memory to survive.
The industrial landscapes surrounding Cerro de Pasco, on the Bombon plateau are aliens, constructions of a global industry occupying revered and symbolic places. Their proposed remediation strategies are a new form of pseudo landscape which threaten further perversion of local stories. Mountains made of mine tailings, a historic city with a pit growing at its center, and a lake used as storage for ancient mine waste are all operating within the symbolic landscapes of the Andes. These inevitably affect local traditions and identities which are rooted in a pre-extraction, land-based agrarian lifestyle. Using on-site documentation and site mapping to understand the technical, political and material processes of these industrial sites will inform three design projects that graft onto remediation strategies to connect people to the collective memory of a site’s history.
The research presents methods for designers working in the context of extraction landscapes which begin with story-telling. It posits that amidst the tension of global industries and cultural sustainability, architecture may emerge as a conduit for preserving local histories, ensuring their resilience in the face of transformative site forces. Through this exploration, the thesis offers insights to empower designers in honoring stories while shaping healthier futures for Cerro de Pasco and similar contexts.