The rumbling of a kick drum, muffled and distorted by dense layers of timber, emanates faintly from the woodland.

Once the centre of British rave, the closure of The Sanctuary in 2004 lost Milton Keynes its place as a culturally bold city, a playground for counterculture. The city needs a new avant-garde dance venue to fill this void.

Traces of Rhythm nestles where techno, neolithic tradition and woodland management converge. By exploring these themes through the notation of cyclical processes, the scheme looks to uncover natural rhythms that bind us to the landscape.

Through the regeneration of a brownfield site next to Elfield Nature Park, the project provides a sustainable source of timber for the city’s future needs while nurturing flora and fauna in a variety of habitats. Coppicing, an ancient woodland management strategy, can responsibly produce timber while caring for the landscape. At the centre of the site, a timber yard becomes an expression of the rhythms of the woodland.

By cross-programming the timber yard with a rave site, the architecture becomes a vessel for reassociating young people in Milton Keynes with the landscape, instilling a sense of care.