{ Transgression }

Form flexibility | experiment through different methods to test out the material behaviour

DAY THREE // Today we are developing the programme of our buildings. Our concept is to turn the cornerhouse into a brewery, connecting the surrounding pubs and cornerhouse buildings. The brewery will be housed in the 1930's cinema, and the cornerhouse building turned into a brewing journey, including packaging, storage and distribution. At the top of the building will be a bar open to the public, suitable in the very nightlife driven area. We want to create a void which opens up the whole building to reveal the programme on every level, today is about experimenting with how the programme will work on each level.

hand immersion in warm-wax

DAY 2
Some of the model that we've produce during the induction! Can't wait to see the final outcome for review!

wax-selfie

Day Two - In the morning we did a site visit to the Cornerhouse and did some site analysis, including sketches, diagrams and photographs. We diagrammed our initial feelings towards the site and the how the building related to the surrounding context. We then visited 'HOME', to compare it with the original Cornerhouse building. In the afternoon we started to think about our initial ideas and how we may evolve the buildings.

Following our experiments we decided we should photograph our end results with different light intensities and at different angles. In some cases the wax sculptures represented inhabitable spaces. From this we will continue to develop our concept by using wire which will hang the wax in an installation.

The result from pouring the wax into the water is different every time and depends on the amount of wax, the temperature and the materials which are used to manipulate the wax when in the water. The wax remains translucent at different levels depending on its thickness.

We began events by experimenting with the equipment and developing a concept in groups of four. Using wax and water we decided to make abstract natural forms and experiment with their interaction with light.

The first session was very interesting, getting to grips with the whole project and its outputs. We were then divided up into sub groups and told we were to compete for the exhibition space of the final output. Should be an exciting couple of weeks!

Day 2: introduction of how to handle wax in our very own chem workshop!

photomontage of St Luke's bombed out church in Liverpool

Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral

Day one - On the first day we were introduced to the project and given the brief. We then went away in small groups to find a case study of a building or space that been altered in some way from its original intended purpose. We studied the Highline in New York and put together a small presentation with our findings.

Exploring potential geometries
Rhino 5 + Grasshopper

Day 3 - Fragmented Hut

Day Two: Afternoon

Programme development

The Pubs the thirsty scholar, the salisbury and the grand central are all under threat of closing due to the proposed expansion of network rail. As well as this, other surrounding bars would be affected, and this is the primary function of the surrounding area. From this we derived a programme to design a real ale brewery that could then distribute the beer the the local pubs and bars. Not only would this unify the area it would create a hive of activity and encourage local networks and interaction. The diagram above shows how the buildings would be divided up into production, storage and distribution.

DAY TWO // In order to gain a wider understanding and knowledge of our site, the Cornerhouse, we went on a site visit to both the old and new Cornerhouse buildings. We sketched, diagrammed and photographed the old Cornerhouse site, looking at aspects of the building we would want to maintain and understanding how the building connects and responds to its environment. We then walked down to the new building, HOME, which is very different to the old building. The staircase in the building is beautiful and well considered, delivering an experience. However, the rest of the building I was not fond of, lacking character and inspiration.

Day 1 putting all our ideas together

Today was a brainstorming day in which we all presented ideas and tried to weigh the pros and cons of each one. I felt though, that the brief for this event was quite ambiguous and flexible so it was more difficult to get people to finalise on one thing quickly

DAY ONE // Today we began our events by been given a short presentation overview about continuity in architecture. We then split into groups and researched buildings which sat within the categories of 'insertion/intervention/instillation'. As a group I researched the highline park in NYC, unveiling that parts of it connected to all three of the groups given. This gave us a good understanding of what repurposed architecture looks like.

The design the clients chose was a parabolic string arch, which will be developed further this week to translate the initial design into a feasible build structure.

Day Two: Morning

Site Visit and New visit:

Spent the morning analysing the corner house site and surrounding area, to see if a programme could be developed. Then went onto the corner houses new location, now aptly names "home". The building it is now housed in is fairly generic, going for the industrial, unfinished look with exposed services and raw concrete. The problem is, that all the corner houses character has now been lost. The one redeeming character, however, was the staircase as its design had actually been considered. The change in ceiling heights from landing to stair well opened up, creating a transitional space.

Day two - Students developed their proposals in the morning before presenting to the Student Union and Kantorovich workshop staff in the afternoon.

Day One:

In a group of four we had to research precedents that somehow repurposed architecture. Within our group we looked at the New York Highline, because it synthesised the three categories defined by the events leaders:
Insertion
Instillation
Intervention - terms categorised in Re-readings by Sally stone and Graeme Brooker. In the Corner House re-appropration scheme I will look to also include elements of all three repurposing tools.

On the first day we're just planning on the structure, dimensions etc. of the ladders. Ordered materials from the workshop. Second day, real work began! Marking, drilling holes, screwing and unscrewing and screwing again.. & chatting! I'm impressed by how productive we are... haha :P Two ladders in like 3 hours..? Thank you, everyone!! Looking forward to more great time working (and chilling) together! x

Day 2. Had a productive day working in the workshop and we are half way through.

Day 1. Planned how to construct the partitions and sourced materials. Due to some minor problems, we changed the original design a little bit.

Today was aimed at creating one set of cohesive plans and sections for everyone to use in the next stage of the design process. Having consistent measurements will be helpful when combining and solidifying concepts from different people.

Day 1. (11/05/2015)
My first thoughts of the site were that the area is environmentaly friendly and many accessibility roads with All Saints and the Oxford Road.

After collating together the plans and sections we produced following our trip to Z Arts, we began to discuss initial ideas as well as looking at precedents.

-11.5-In our first meeting we've defined what shall we do and we grouped three small groups. Our group discussed where could be our site. we also decided to meet on 12.5 so we had time to find some precedents. It is so glad to meet some new friends!

Day 1. (11/05/2015)
We visited our site for the event, which is Birley campus. After exploring it we exchanged our first impressions of it and initial ideas of making the area a better place for students, staff and locals.

At the first session of the events - 11.05 - Monday, we wre introduced the brief for our event. After giving us the schedule for the next 2 weeks we were split into groups and started working. We had to look for a site for our instalation and to come up with initial ideas of what we are going to do.

Spending the first day calculating the dimension of the ladder shelf and making two ladders on day 2. Having great fun with Andrei, Amber and Mimi in the workshop. Many problems existed while making these ladders but we are really happy with the output.

Printed site plans all ready to start designing.

Laser cutting done!
Second day of Events week we've spent on laser cutting the parts for Wittgenstein's hut that we will later have to redesign and reassembly using these (existing) pieces of the façade.
After the laser cut we spray-painted all the bits for our future model: we used white paint to mark all the previously existing parts of the hut and blue to designate the extended segment of the building.

The wetland area feels very isolated from the main square, especially given it being partially fenced off. Although it should be appreciated for being sustainable, it has not been integrated into the remaining campus; a major design fault.

Day 2 (12.05.2015) – While at site we met Ian Hunter, an artist and the current owner of the Merz Barn which has suffered from long neglect after Schwitters’ death. He is working closely with the Littoral Trust and has gained funds for the restoration of the Merz Barn and the development of 3 new installations next to the associated farm buildings on site. Ian explained the visions and ideologies he has of the new developments and what sort of materials and budget he has to work with. He then asked us to come up with the visuals for his ideas which we will start to develop over the next few days. For many of us it was the first opportunity to see what it is to work with a real life ‘client’ and how to create the compromise between their needs and expectations as well as effectively ask questions.

Today we gathered yesterday's work, such as plans, sections and various diagrams. We got the chance to discuss which elements work and which don't work in our drawings and we kept on working on basic aspects such as light and circulation in order to understand how the room could potentially function. Furthermore, two sixth year students, who are currently designing a playground presented their work to us, which was really inspiring, and helped us understand that the key to finding creative ideas for such a project that includes kids, is to try to see the world from their perspective! This is a bubble diagram that depicts through the use of photos the pathway that we followed when entering Z arts, to get to the room we are assigned to work on.

Day 2 (12.05.2015) – An early start for group 14. We took the 7:45am train to Windermere in Lake District to visit the Merz Barn where the famous Kurt Schwitters worked on what was to be his last and only Merzbau in Britain. It was important to see how artists such as Schwitters, fled from the political regime of the Nazis,and influenced post-war architecture through their works, which could be realised in countries such as America or England. The historical context of the site will definitely be one of the most important factors in this project.

Day 2
We spent today exploring New Islington - the site we have chosen for our CPO. It was clear from today that the council is trying to gentrify this area by removing lower priced housing and replacing them with expensive modern apartments and houses. The community was moved out in 2003 and this is what the site looks like after 12 years. A Void. Many of the people had lived there for over 50 years and are now living in houses further out of the city centre and paying more. Others moved out of Manchester for good. This example of a 'Compulsory Purchase Order' is one that has been done badly, not thinking about the local people instead of Manchester appearance to the outer world.

Today we scouted for locations for our film. We began by watching clips from the BFI Northwest Archive at Central Library, and eventually made our way up to several rooftops in the city centre to create test shots for our film.

Today we visited the Cornerhouse site as well as the relocated site and new venue called HOME. Despite a very interesting and successful staircase (as shown above) I found HOME's use of concrete and wood with mid century furniture generic, similar to other recent projects in Manchester such as the MMU Student Union, and lacking in character. This was disappointing as I felt the original appeal of the Cornerhouse was its unique atmosphere the building created. Consequently, I want my project to compliment this positive atmosphere and take advantage of the prominent location of the building. My initial thoughts are to create a temporary homeless shelter with architectural installations to cater to needs of sleep, eating and washing.

We began by looking at Case Study's which exhibited an installation, interference or insertion into a building or space. Personally, I liked Richard Serra's sculptural installation in the Guggenheim Museum and how its large scale, enabled it to be interactive for visitors. A temporary installation such as this one by Serra seems appropriate for the Cornerhouse- a space with an uncertain future that's longevity could be preserved if the flexible nature of the building is upheld.

Laser cutting the pieces, ready to make our model reinterpreting Wittgenstein's hut tomorrow!

Day Two

First Thoughts.

Sketching initial ideas on program and key moves in response to individual observations of context.

Day Two

Visit to HOME/Group Discussion

_What does this new building say about the 'moving' of the Cornerhouse?
_Continuation or New Start?
_Oxford Road Corner vs First Street

Day Two

Understanding Oxford Road Corner

_Recording the site.
_Exploring architectural features.
_Sketching + Analysis

Day 1- Travelled to Liverpool to see St Luke's Church to do site analysis and to explore the city.

On our second day we started off by comparing the drawings we had done from the previous day, attached is a photomontage I created. We then had a talk from some sixth year students about what they had discovered when designing spaces for children.

On our first day we went on a site visit to the Z-Arts Gallery and were given a tour by Creative Development Manager, Saskia Metcalf. She gave us a tour of the whole building so we could get more of an idea of what the space we are designing would be used for. We measured the space in order to draw up accurate plans and sections as it stands now.

Nicholas and Derek in the making of wooden partitions. Very impress with them working efficiently and effectively. Keep up the good work!

Andrei, Amber and Jessie worked on two wooden ladders today. They are ladder experts now, hehe, all thanks to staffs at MMU workshop that were being so helpful in the process. Two more ladders to go tomorrow. Go team!

It's good to see that students are being very productive today. There is no such thing as one furniture is easier to build than the other, and every team has issues to solve. We have students working on making tables and hangers partition at St James' Building and students making wooden ladders & movable wooden partition at MMU workshop. Everything goes very well as planned, in fact better, with design ideas from 1st and 2nd year students.

Day Two
Today was spent working as a group on getting out a set of scaled drawings of the given site. We were also privileged to have some Year 6 students talk to us about designing spaces for children.

Today we started to think about the designs of our wax sculptures. We have decided to hang our different wax forms using wire.

Day 2 - Wittgenstein's hut ready to laser cut

Day One - Z Arts
We did a site visit on the first day to get a better understanding of the whole project. Besides getting the basic measurements, going into the given space gave us a better understanding of the spatial quality within.

Initial site visit to MMU Birley Fields campus 11/05/15. Although construction work isn't fully completed, the newly-created large open space felt very isolated with little activity taking place.

Day 1, discussed the base of the 'hanger wall', timber blocks were made as the base of the structure for the first test.

On our site visit today I sketched and photographed the Cornerhouse and the surrounding areas, in order to begin to think of new programs for the building. What I noticed most about the building was the difference between the street level appearance and the floors above. Due to the grey cladding, the lower section of the building looked much newer than the rest. I had not noticed this before when passing by, it was only once I began studying it that it caught my attention.
Also visiting the newly built HOME building I noticed a stark contrast between the warm character of the Cornerhouse to the cold, new HOME building. There is little atmosphere to this building and I much prefer the Cornerhouse. This led me to start thinking of possibly creating an installation within the building which acts as a protest to the opening of HOME and the closing of the Cornerhouse.

Day 2, tested different layouts of the hangers. 2

Day 2, tested different layouts of the hangers. 1

Day 2, first test of the 'hanger wall'.

Site visit at the Brooks Building, Birley Fields.

Large quadruple height area inside the glazed entrance, with plenty of stairs, chairs and students to consider.

Today our group laser cut the components for the model and discussed on the various ways to approach the new design.

The substantial Piranesi volume. Note the (sweaty) latex gloves.

The death of the architectural sketchbook..

Louise from Special Collections ran through the artifacts that will be used: two Vivianne Westwood bodices, two Barnett Freedman lithograph posters, a drug jar by Cantagalli, a femur stool by Assa Ashuach and Giovanni Piranesi's Le Anchita Romane book.

Our first attempt at stacking hangers to form a screen.

Day two: Polish Yoghurt Cake // Special Collections Meeting / Prospective Site Visits

Double takers were introduced to the artifacts at special collections in the Kenneth Green library, and then the three sites: part of the first floor in Mabel Tylecote, the atrium of the Brooks building, and the ground floor corridor of the John Dalton building.

Having split into their groups, they were given building plans and asked to explore the potential of each area as well as the limitations.

Double takers at the Whitworth..

The Whitworth, Sarah Lucas.

The Whitworth, Cai Guo-Qiang - Unmanned Nature.

Gunpowder mural set against an indoor pool.

#deathbydesign. The remnants of our beautiful screen after issues with an unstable base. Hangers vs gravity

The Whitworth, Cornelia Parker.

Flattened brass instruments suspended from a ceiling grid.

The Whitworth, Cornelia Parker - Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View.

An exploded shed hanging from a suspended metal grid.

12/05/2015
Day 2

Today, we went on a site visit, to do a bit of analysis. We visited the Cornerhouse and the buildings surrounding it, before heading down to HOME, the site of the relocated Cornerhouse. There was a noticeable lack of emotion at the new site, making it seem like it was only the function of the Cornerhouse that was relocated, and not the emotion and atmosphere. Having wandered round, and gotten an idea of what HOME was like, we headed back to uni to discuss what we had found during the site visit and were asked develop any ideas that we had in pairs.

11/05/2015
Day 1

Today, having been introduced to the event, we were sent away to find precedents of re-modelled Architecture. This fell under three categories: Insertion, Installation and Intervention. Our group of four managed to find an example that had aspects of all three, the New York Highline, a repurposed trainline that was turned into a linear public park spanning 1.49 miles

Day 2: Today's meeting started off with each individuals sharing their initial concept (image at top and bottom left showing mine), then four categories of approach to the memorial intervention were named. We then made our choices of groups to get into according our interests. Jobs were also delegated to each group to carry out research, site analysis and context studies.