Challenge
How to make a scientific collection public without killing the specimens through footfall, flash, and souvenir-taking.
2025 · Lake District · Landscape
Moss Archive
A living library of 214 moss species
- Year
- 2025
- Location
- Lake District, England
- Type
- Landscape
- Status
- Built
- Area
- 1.8 ha
- Client
- Lake District Council
Moss remembers humidity the way timber remembers load. The archive is a sequence of cedar rooms open to weather, each holding a micro-climate and a drawer of field notes.
A hillside archive where moss species are cultivated, named, and studied as climate witnesses.
Approach
Raised walkways of reclaimed cypress, a drip irrigation fed by hillside runoff, and night visits only — moss photographs better in darkness, and visitors behave better too.
Outcome
214 species cataloged. Landscape Institute Medal, 2025. The night program is booked six months ahead.
Credits
Lead
James Morrow
Botany
University of Edinburgh
Joinery
North Woodworks
Next project
Thermal Commons