Following the Dragons' Den presentation with MIF, Harry, Tertius and the 5th years have been invited to develop and realise their favoured concept.

What did the students think?

FT: " It was really fun."
MTH: "Great vibes. Great people. Great structures."
KZ: "Rewarding projects and great opportunity to exchange experience :)"

Click the link below to view some files from the Events weeks:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bx76HGUwXDRTWVAyWnVQMVV5VDA

The video describing the two weeks and two festivals is up! Thanks to everyone involved, was a pleasure working with you all - https://vimeo.com/216490857

We like numbers:
Gross internal floor area = 35m2
Construction cost = £560
Construction cost per m2 = £16/m2
Value.

Celebrating with lunch after the structures were complete.

Some photos from the opening night of Threshold Festival

The artists setting up in the structures that we designed. They were really happy with the structures we had designed and were thrilled with what we had created.

Close ups of the junctions of structures. A lot of effort was put in in the design stage of the project to create beautiful details for these simple structures.

The structures are complete!

Once the structures were up, we started draping the fabric that would create the dark enclosed space to house the artwork for Threshold Festival.

The team celebrates finishing the frames and the prospect of some post-work refreshing beverages.

We have conducted several wobble tests and left them overnight but they remain standing. Relief.

The final section of frame being connected to the rest of the structure.

The Big Erection. The whole team was needed to lift the frames into place while our professionally trained ladder climbers connected the beams that hold them together.

This is the moment we realised how big it was actually going to be and began a search for longer ladders.

The structures comprise of 70 timber planks each which all had to be sanded, drilled and layered up in the correct sequence with the correct size threaded rod connections at each junction. (Our 'modular' system somehow proved remarkably complex). With limited time to complete we had to get both structures on the go at the same time but the undergrads had the confidence to work independently and had the structures ready for erection in no time at all.

Threshold Festival have tasked us with building two enclosed spaces to display art installations and hold theatrical performances. We had a modest budget and two and a half days on site to complete construction before the festival kicked off on the Friday. Here we are explaining the design and construction sequence to the undergrads in the cafe at the Northern Lights warehouse venue where some of the festival takes place.

With the MIF work finished for the Events weeks we travelled over to Liverpool to start on our next temporary festival project for Threshold Festival. Here we are having a look around Albert Docks, the Baltic Triangle and the derelict Cain's Brewery on Wednesday morning.

The 'Timber Frame' group being introduced to the MIF board, festival organisers and designers from OH OK, Ferrious, EXYZT and Practice Architecture. The guys weren't fazed and produced a confident and surprisingly energetic performance. MIF have been in touch to confirm their desire to develop and realise a couple of the designs with the undergrads in the run up to the festival in June.

Here is our [DRAFT] video of our events weeks, thanks everyone for a great two weeks! https://youtu.be/WLi_zvePpJw

On Tuesday we presented are threshold ideas to the MIF panel. They were very impressed with the work the students had produced in such a short space of time. The MIF team are now looking at trying to realise one or two of the ideas for this year’s Manchester International Festival. Which will be a great opportunity for students looking past the events weeks.
Everyone presented well with great ideas and great confidence. Well done everyone!

Today's Dragon's Den presentation at MIF HQ went really well. The panel liked aspects of all of the designs and appreciated all the effort that had been put into the project over the past 6 days! Tomorrow, we head to Liverpool to continue work on our Threshold Festival structures.

Some really interesting and exciting designs have emerged from last weeks design process - here is the concept model from the 'Tension' group.

While the groups worked on MIF, some of us sawed and filed threaded rods, ready for the Threshold Festival structure.

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!

Gemma and Pakeezah from MIF were thrilled by today's presentations! They gave us some useful new information about the site programme and we shall consider these developments in our next design stage.

We've been preparing for tomorrow's interim meeting with Gemma from MIF. Over the past couple of days we have seen lots of models, drawings, montages and 3D computer work.

'Designers Paloma Gormley and Nicholas Henniger are creating new structures to welcome the 125,000 people that will visit to enjoy delicious food and drink, experience music, talks, club nights, free DJs every night and much more. Some of the UK's best chefs will be cooking on Festival Square, including Gary Usher, Mark Hix and Paul Heathcote. Media partners the BBC, the Guardian and Manchester Evening News will all have a presence on Festival Square; look out too, for walking tours themed around MIF commissions.'

Today, we visited Albert Square and have begun initial studies into material, movement and form.

Check out the MIF and Threshold project briefs on our Facebook page. See you tomorrow at 10am in CH611.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/480638375657703/

On 1st March, the MIF team met to discuss the festival. We travelled to London to meet Nicolas from Office for Crafted Architecture and Paloma from Practice Architecture to get a preview of their festival commission.

We discovered an architecture studio called PUP Architects who produce some beautiful work. Check them out here;
http://www.puparchitects.com/

We shall be coordinating with Manchester School of Art to create a holistic vision for MIF's Festival Square. On Tuesday, we took part in an Interior Design workshop with students from Unit X, Nicolas from Office for Crafted Architecture and Joe Hartley from Oh OK.

Find out more about OH OK Ltd here;
http://ohokltd.com/

Manchester International Festival revealed their events line-up today and we had the exciting opportunity to go to the launch event in the slightly decrepit but stunning Mayfield Centre near Piccadilly Station.

For further information and to see the revealed acts and events, visit:
http://mif.co.uk/

We've got some exciting weeks ahead of us and we're looking forward to meeting you all in Chatham 611 at 10am on Monday 20th. We shall be ending the day with a site visit to Albert Square so don't forget to bring your cameras and sketching materials.

Join us on our Facebook group;
https://www.facebook.com/groups/480638375657703/

What's the plan?

We are more than happy to talk to you about the projects, so feel free to approach us at University or drop us an email;

andrew.scoles@stu.mmu.ac.uk
andrew.singer@stu.mmu.ac.uk
morgan.wild@stu.mmu.ac.uk
alexander.gaul@stu.mmu.ac.uk

With Manchester International Festival (MIF) we shall be proposing architectural interventions that announce and signify arrival and departure from Festival Square.

Find out more about the festival here;
http://mif.co.uk/

The festival will be taking place in a disused warehouse at Cains Brewery in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle.

Find out more about the festival here;
http://thresholdfestival.co.uk/about/

Yesterday, after months of correspondence, we met Andy, Emilia and Jasmine from the Threshold Festival team. We were excited to visit the site in Liverpool and to discuss the exhibition space that we shall be designing in collaboration with the festival.

Unfortunately, Threshold missed out on Arts Council funding this year but the show must go on and they have launched a Crowdfunder campaign here;
http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/threshold2017/

We have the exciting opportunity to contribute to two festivals during our Events weeks: the globally acclaimed Manchester International Festival (MIF) and the seventh year of Threshold, an independent arts and music festival in Liverpool.

Under the creative guidance of London based designers, Practice Architecture, we will design the entrance to the MIF festival site on Albert Square and present our schemes to the MIF organisers. While, during the second week, on site at the Threshold Festival in Liverpool, we will construct temporary enclosed spaces for art exhibitions based around the theme of 'light and dark'.