Events 2017

1:1 Prototype are really starting to come on. Everyone is starting to get excited to present the chairs at Ralph Cappers.

This group is modelling an external cafe area adjacent to the beehive,

Pop up bar detail design concept

One of the groups has began modelling their conceptual site map. Using materials found on the site itself they've been able to show how their structure will be nestled amongst the slope of the site in a dada-esque style.

Felix Exton-Smith, Sarah Sharif, Anna Meerson, Shreya Kochatta.

Ivan's begun work on his group's 3D drawing. His use of collage creates a textured, emotive site context for his building drawing to sit on.

Starting to produce the final models for each groups idea. This group are producing a storage wall, incorporating bookcases, tables and stools within.

This morning we've started making our final prototype. Three of the designs are using the CNC machine to precisely cut out parts for the chairs.

The students all presented their schemes exceptionally well and received some insightful and positive feedback from the community group and a local architect (Jane Leach). Steven Beeney from the community group was intrigued by the designs and wanted to take photos of the initial renders that have been created! All in all a successful day. The clients were pleased with what had been created so far and the students gained valuable experience in pitching ideas to clients,

Planning out our exhibition space on the 2nd floor gallery landing, Benzie Atrium. The exhibition will be comprised of the students’ conceptual schemes for the Merz Shed and Merz Museum, depicted through dada-esque models and drawings, in a variety of mediums. Alongside this, the event film will be projected.

The exhibition will be live from this Friday 31st, remaining up for the following week.
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Joy Hewlett (the client) from the local community group gave a brief introduction on why they want to see bandstands back in parks in Manchester.

Some interesting models were used by the students to help convey their scheme ideas to the client.

On Friday morning the 1st and 2nd years put the finishing touches to their presentation in preparation for the client coming in. We offered tips and advice on how to present and sell their schemes.

Another sketch model, repurposing a candle from the Merz Barn. Quickly and effectively achieving dramatic spatial qualities, with a unique link to the site.
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Felix Exton-Smith, Sarah Sharif, Anna Meerson, Shreya Kochatta.
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Sketch model using materials found on site.
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Felix Exton-Smith, Sarah Sharif, Anna Meerson, Shreya Kochatta.
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Day 3

Group 1 test model. The modular family unit is going to assemble individually. Later on, it could be assembled in different ways depends on clients' different requirements.

Day 2

On Tuesday, we split into two groups and started the design. We tried to use same assembling process but designed our own wikihouse. Two groups are going to make different scales prototype. One group is going to make 1:10 modular housing unit, the other group is going to make 1:5 single unit which could be added or reduced easily.

Day 1

Today we started with introducing flat pack houses to the group. We used online available wikihouse drawings to make the first 1:10 prototype. We started to analyse the structure of Wikihouse and assemble the first beam. From the analysis and assembling process, they had a basic idea of how wikihouse work.

Over the weekend the students are required to:
- Find suitable precedents: Images of other installations that excite you and might be appropriate for the space
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- Explore a Concept/theme: what message does your installation want to convey?

- Find/consider Materials: What materials can you get a hold of? And what technique do you want to use?

It would be great to see some initial sketches and precedent images of what you are proposing, so please bring these along to show on Monday.

Friday ended with a conceptual consideration of the topics we were trying to explore through the installation. Murals like the example image were discussed and the potential of the opportunities and limitations of the space within the Whitworth were explored!

Editing the footage so far for the film.

Started to piece the content together from the past week, documenting all the stages of design and the incredible places we visited.

"As we travelled, we came near a very great hill, called Pendle Hill, and I was moved of the Lord to go up to the top of it; which I did with difficulty, it was so very steep and high. When I was come to the top, I saw the sea bordering upon Lancashire. From the top of this hill the Lord let me see in what places he had a great people to be gathered. "
George Fox

24.3.17 Morning session
We tried to sew the star modules together to assemble a part of the installation to investigate hanging methods and arrangement

Rich pattern formed with tessellated paper origami. The white colour of our installation compliments the dark space of the site very well.

When things get a bit messy! Our origami modules can be worn as hats! This Friday with had a very relaxed session and we made sure that we had some fun on the side as well!

Our first 1:1 mock up seen from underneath ! Connections need more work, but the visual effect is there.

One of our first years, Hayley, being taught how to do a dowel joint, to test the effectiveness of it for the 3 legged stool.

The girls finished figuring out the complicated weave of the hammock chair on Friday. Materials, joins and weaves are now known which means they're ready to go on Monday morning... 1:1 here we come!

Day 5! Conceptual sketches, analysing the given site with a no "objects" technique by Phil Watson.

Day 5! Workshop with Phil Watson! Sketches depicting an alternative site analysis technique.

Conceptual sketches by 1st and 2nd years, before modelling them into 3Ds Max!

The balloons and 'Hugo the Ball' en route to the fifth floor...

Day 5
Today we got the students to show their current progress to the rest of the group so everyone could get a chance to understand how others were progressing. This was also a good chance for others students to provide comment on people's work.

Day 5: In keeping with the group's themes of exercise & sport, we participated in a yoga taster session to end a successful first week.

Today the groups worked in their new thematic areas to pursue cohesive design proposals that take into account costings and construction. We're nearing the end of our MIF project and have begun preparing parts for our Threshold build next week in Liverpool!

Great first week! Every group has managed to produce a 1:3 or 1:2 scale prototype model. Looking forward to building the 1:1 prototypes next week.

One of the groups presentations from today. The groups are currently developing their ideas for interventions within the Beehive, these interventions include storage, adaptable spaces, play areas and a cafe.

Day 5: And thanks to Stuart (MSA graduate) from SimpsonHaugh who was impressed with all presentations and the amount of work produced in less than 4 days.

Day 5: Following deliberation, it was decided we would proceed to build Group 3's concertina board and bench idea which interacted with the existing football artwork in the column and which was inspired by the striking image of Geoff Hurst's volley for England's 3rd goal in the 1966 final (the one that clearly went over the line)

Day 5: Following yesterday's reviews and after further refinement of their sheets, the three sub-groups confidently presented their ideas for the installation to Stuart from SimpsonHaugh and Eleanor from MMU Estates. It was great to see how much work had been produced in less than 3 days - be it sketch, model and digital - not to mention the convincing ideas behind all three. Well done to all who presented!

Our test installation, we've produced today and the team

The exhibition was a great source of inspiration, it gave us an insight into how works are curated. The works themselves provided precedent for possible mastercrafts such as photography and silk screen printing prior to our inductions later in the week.

Design Preview Consultation Invite

Public exhibition, taking place at Brierfield Library. Showcasing the proposals put forward by In-situ and the 18 MSA students for both the Pendle Hill Shelter and Mobile Shepherds Hut projects. The exhibition opens on the 30th March with a private viewing for the client and respective people including councillors, land owners and fellow artists. The exhibition officially opens to the public 31st March for roughly two weeks.

Brierfield Library

31st March - 14TH April
Monday 9:30am - 6pm
Tuesday Closed
Wednesday 9:30am - 5pm
Thursday 9:30am - 5pm
Friday 9:30am - 5pm
Saturday 9:30am- 1pm
Sunday Closed

Spent the day working on scale models of the chairs. Ready to start working on the final chairs next week.

Day 5

Day 5 – Finishing a Productive First Week
Discussing plans to further the designs over the weekend, we look forward to interim presentations on Monday morning!

Day 5

Back in Manchester
Arriving back in warm, sunny Manchester, the team was quick to get back indoors to the studios to continue with the design process of each project. Modelling materials started appearing and interesting visuals begin to be drawn. It’s great to see the designs begin to come to life.

Residency - Day 4

We would like to thank the Barley Village for kindly hosting us for four days and in particular for allowing us to use the lovely village hall. The trip has been a fantastic success and opened many of the students eyes to the undiscovered landscape on Manchester's doorstep.

Residency - Day 4

With it being our final day in the Pendle area and with the weather being the nicest it had been all week, it was decided that the afternoon should be spent exploring more of the area. The walk took us through Barley and out alongside two nearby reservoirs. Several of the group had good fun capturing the range of colours ad foliage which appeared. Rob in particular got very excited with the opportunity to gather some video footage for the 3-minute film required next week.
The day ended with a group photo back in Barley, before everyone making their way back to Manchester via bus. Overall, the residential part of the trip was deemed to be a great success, not only in the quality of work which had been produced but also the overall bond of the group. Everyone had spent the last three and a half days living, eating, drinking and working together which had created a level of trust and encouragement that would not have been possible otherwise.

Residency - Day 4

As part of the walk, we were keen to visit a nearby Sculpture Trail which had been advertised within our cabins. As luck would have it, the trail was set up by a friend of Pauls, so he was able to give us some further context behind the project. Apparently, most of the work is totally self-funded, as sculpture trails are notoriously difficult to secure arts council funding for as they are deemed to be a dated concept. In any case, we all enjoyed the works and thought it was great way to end the residential part of the trip. It would have been a shame to have spent the final afternoon inside, when there was so much to gain from experiencing more of Pendle. The trail allowed us to see how local artists have responded to the area and there is now a possibility that the founder and major contributor to the trail, Philippe Handford, will be present at the consultation next week.

Residency - Day 4

One of many stunning photos by 2nd year Wiktoria Krzekotowska, This was our pick of the bunch which has managed to capture the light, depth and colour of Pendle Sculpture trail wonderfully.

Residency - Day 4

Having packed up and said goodbye to the cabins, the morning was spent further developing designs in Barley Community Centre. Having an almost free reign within the centre meant that groups took advantage of the range of rooms available. The main hall, which had been utilised as a base for the mountain rescue the night before, was once again used to develop ideas at a 1:1 scale. This provided a useful insight into what was an appropriate height for windows, ceilings etc. When not analysing their proposals at human scale, everyone congregated in warmest room of the centre which created a vibrant space full of discussion and ideas.

Day 1 - Once we were all introduced and we had discussed the outcomes and initial schedule for the two weeks, we visited the Whitworth Art Gallery to see the current 'artists rooms' collection which is exhibiting a variety of work by Andy Warhol.

Human scale testing of the design :P

A retractable canopy for the external play area. The students will be developing a membrane that can create shelter from the rain but will allow natural light through the fabric ! Excited to see the results!

A concept model for furniture that can be folded and stored within the walls !! The students will continue developing this idea by adding bigger size furniture for adults and experimenting more with the use of colour and materiality.

Awesome section and axo of a leveled playground! The students will make a sectional model at 1-20 and a refined axo for final presentation. Great work!

Very cool idea for a Beehive storage shelf! This group will explore the different possibilities of this concept through a physical model!

An awesome concept sketch of an external seating space for the pop-up cafe! Students will incorporate a canopy to protect people from the sun and the rain, and it will also include the 'playful levels' that they used for the sitting area. This will give the cafe space an awesome look and identity!

A very cool perspective of hexagonal storage that drops from the ceiling! Each hexagon contains chairs and furniture that can be kept away from the open space when unused.

Awesome concept sketches of an adaptable peace of furniture ! For the final presentation students will develop a booklet with assembling instructions! Excited to see the final result !

Posters are up and we're on social media! http://www.facebook.com/events/153807098475198/

Starting to build the bar and it's all systems go!

Today we began with a lecture on things to consider when preparing art installations. We then discussed the concepts that the groups had come up with yesterday and tried to develop them further. It seems as though the majority of the group is interested in working in the space underneath the stair within the Petherbridge exhibition, however as we know there is the opportunity to work in other spaces.

On Monday we are heading back to the gallery to measure up the spaces properly, so we want everyone to come up with a concept for Monday and think about the materials and techniques that might be suitable for the installation. Looking forward to seeing everyones ideas on Monday!

Graham very kindly gave up his time to come to the University and talk to the students about his experiences working with Mustard Tree and give key feedback to further inform the narrative and design of our bespoke furniture

An informal crit for the students to share ideas and discuss the best way to approach the brief

Nathan from Mustard Tree very kindly showed us around their facility and spoke to the students passionately about the important work that goes on there. We also got a chance to see a little preview of OMI's proposal for their office refurb.

Getting the paints out!

Day 4 afternoonupdate.

Unfortunately due to problems with publication and unforseen circumstances, the LikeThisPress-BlackNoise Anthology book launch event (sheduled in the sessin plan) has been moved to the end of April outside our events schedule. The day was adjusted to be an extra drop-in session for years 1 and 2

To rebuild you have to debuild!!

First day! We started the event by presenting the project and what we expected for the students to produce. We showed them photos of previous work and explained the schedule for the two weeks.

Third day: Another group is explaining their idea of maximizing floor space by hiding chairs and storage in the unused attic space!

Third day: To explore their concepts the students used larger versions of the three-sided boxes that were used for the modelling game. This allowed them to quickly give form to their concepts and explain it to the rest of the group. This group modelled their pop-up cafe idea!

Third day: Following the site visit, the students were split into groups and chose themes to work with! After exploring their initial concepts they presented in front of all of us for feedback and ideas..

- Benzie Balloons -
Quite a crowd gathered yesterday. The balloons installation went according to plan and a little happiness was spread in the Benzie atrium yesterday afternoon! It was interesting to see everyones positive reactions to the spectacle.

We inflated 600 balloons, and, splitting into groups, the students devised two different interventions, to materialise in the Benzie building atrium.

The first intervention would fill a lift with balloons, recording people's reactions as the lift made its way down the floors, inevitably losing a few balloons as the doors opened on different levels.

The second intervention would use Jackie's balloon sack to orchestrate a balloon drop, from the fourth floor of the atrium. The balloons would each have a word written on them, so there was an ordered randomness to the way the balloons fell, then an interest in how passers-by would act with them. As Jackie observed, a "Dada poem".
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Yesterday the students presented to our client, Gareth, at St Phillip's Church. The presentations went very well and Gareth was impressed with all of the proposed ideas. We have decided to combine elements from all three groups. These consist of: painting and lighting, a display wall and seating.

To introduce our "AIRHOLDERS" workshop, Jackie showed us examples of her previous balloon investigations. Here, Hugo the Ball (a word play on Dada artist Hugo Ball) sits atop the sloped roof of the Merz Barn.

Jackie uses balloons to occupy and draw attention to spaces in an alternate way, questioning their formality. Filling nets or large strongly-sewn sacks, she creates a large impact with a quick and lightweight medium.
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The Day of the Dada Poem (BALLOOOONS!)

Our morning started with a presentation from Manchester-based practicing Dada artist Jackie Haynes.
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The winning team is teaching the rest of us how to produce the origami modules used for the installation!!

Later, we mapped out the restricted area were we could host the installation on the floor in studio, giving us a chance to visualise the proposal.

Later, in the afternoon the team had a round-table discussion on how to realise and rationalise elements of the installation. It was great to see everyone get involved in the discussions.