How coal shaped the buildings, landscapes, and social infrastructures of modern Europe.
Coal was more than an energy source
It produced settlements, institutions, technologies, and landscapes that shaped modern European society. ACME is a five-year research project investigating the architectural and spatial legacies of coal mining across Europe. Through archival research, site studies, and visual analysis, the project examines how coal generated interconnected ecologies of housing, health, education, industry, and landscape.
Themes
Coal mining left its mark on the landscape, the buildings, the bodies, and the minds of those who lived through its expansion. Explore our research across five interconnected themes.
- Settlements and Housing Planned towns, workers’ housing, and domestic life in coal regions.
- Medical and Hygiene Health infrastructures, welfare provision, and industrial medicine.
- Education and Exchange Training, expertise, and circulation of knowledge across borders.
- The Modernised Industry Industrial architecture, technologies, and systems of production.
- Excavating the Coalscape Landscapes of extraction, infrastructure, and environmental change.
