Aimee Salata

Hershey, Cuba, has sat dormant since 2002. Built in 1916 by Mr Milton Hershey, the town was set up to produce the sugar for the American Chocolate Company located in its twin town in Pennsylvannia, USA.

At a moment in time when Cuba is at a tipping point of much potential change, the project stages the future of Hershey within the light of Acceleration. The emergence of graphene, and its production using the resources and processes of the sugar industry, poses an exciting regeneration opportunity for the town. Discoveries within the production of bio-plastics from sugar and sustainable concrete from sugar ash also pose exciting futures for the industry.

Staged in response to the current proposal for Hershey which aims to create an industrial heritage tourist town the project re-imagines Hershey as a new industrial research town where material and immaterial labour exist simultaneously along side the productive landscapes and the tourist industry. The project explores the concept of a new industrial landscape which counteracts the monoculture that was the sugar industry and the model town of Old Hershey. 

The project deals with several scales. From the 1:1 level of the construction materials to the architecture of the two mega structures within their urban context. Whilst simulataneously considering the regional and national implications of the scheme.