The project sets out to redefine the architecture of consumption in Castle Market, Sheffield through localising the actions of production, consumption, exchange and distribution all within a single, concentrated locale. This is achieved through creating a site of intense mixed use consisting primarily of small scale production workshops producing on demand goods for the consumer. The existing Market is redefined to function as a machine for the production of goods acting as the distributor, and place for exchange and consumption. The consumer is invited to enter the machine and be exposed to the inner workings – the gears and cogs which make the process happen.

The project originated through exploring Karl Marx’s theories on Production and Consumption as commented on in his text Grundrisse. Marx believed that the act of production is in all its moments also an act of consumption and vice versa. He also theorised that a product can only come to its full meaning through the very act of its consumption. In relation to the current market the production of the goods is a separate process occurring off site. The market currently only acts as a place for exchange between distributor and consumer. If production and consumption are immediate then affecting one will immediately affect the other. Therefore if the consumer is invited into the production process then the end product and the way in which it is consumed is altered.