"Housesare the infill of mining towns. When people leave, plants grow within—nature’sway of filling the mountains once again."

Asthe structure of mining communities has shifted and populations have dispersed,

ProtoPlain Architects followed their 2020 project, The Miner withFilling the Void. This work uses the premise of youth returning to theirhometowns to question how existing buildings might be reactivated while preservinglocal conditions and meeting contemporary living needs. The project earnestlyexplores coexistence between human habitation and the natural world, respondingto the challenge of making mountain towns both habitable and livable once more.