✂️ Ribbon-cutting ceremony ✂️

...and the roadshow is declared open!

Our exhibition was opened following a presentation by Prof. Richard Greene (Pro-Vice-Chancellor Research and Knowledge Exchange, MMU), and Prof. Tom Jefferies.

The significance of the research undertaken at the university and its impact on policy-making was stressed as a vital connection between academia and the authorities.

We hosted our event this evening at the Business School which provided a generous space to exhibit our work, a vibrant atmosphere, and an imposing architectural backdrop to knowledge exchange.

It was a desirable venue for a number of reasons but not least because it demonstrates the synthesis of the academic research undertaken at the University and it's impact on policy-modelling, innovation and social enterprise.

The whole team assisted with transporting the modular framework to the South Atrium of the MMU Business School where we debuted the prototype roadshow with a ceremony launched by senior professors and executives of Manchester Metropolitan.

This morning the final touches were made to the exhibition boards. Once printing was completed and the squares trimmed to size, we decided to use velcro to keep them in place on our timber framework.

This gives us the flexibility to change the layout and coordinate the addition of any evolving or updated work during the roadshow and following the MSA degree show.

It was interesting to see which schemes were most popular with the public, and our speculative user-groups.

Chris (retired planner), currently lives in a 4-bed detached house with his wife near Stockport. His favourite qualities were a close match with MArch student Meera Lad's scheme, which utilises staggered blocks with roof terraces, surrounding shared courtyards.

On the other hand, Harold (retired accountant), currently lives with his wife in a 3-bed semi-detached property in Salford. His preferences we're most closely aligned with attributes of MArch student Alec's scheme, a higher density 'village' typology. However, the project places an importance on communal living arrangements and has a high percentage of common space.

Great to see the hard work of our student teams come together today at the community engagement event. Emerging video footage was used to inform our guests of the design-research we have undertaken this week and through the course of the year, and to demonstrate the activities for the afternoon.

The event was well received and our guests seemed very much in favour of alternative housing models. Much of the discussion made known the feeling that there is a lacking offer for age-friendly housing which is NOT age-exclusive. Many were also very keen to see innovation in design which allowed them to age in place, in a supportive and neighbourly environment.

Everyone's final 'swatches' are presented here to conclude the exhibition catalogue / co-housing booklet.

The aim of this booklet is to bring all the students’ work together in a coordinated format in order to compare and contrast them against six key variables. We have experimented with different characteristics, eventually settling on six variables which we saw as the best fit to describe the projects.

The booklet divides the schemes up page by page, specifically focusing on the best representations of each variable, and a key explains the different qualities examined.

🎥 ACTION SHOT 🎥

A video reel playing through the exhibition will highlight atelier MSAp and the PHASE research groups' evolving design-research methodologies and collaborative practices.

We have the capacity as future architects to explore different ways of practicing, and these may result in different formal expressions.

“Design today is not merely the conjuring of an object, but a problem-defining, problem-solving, information structuring activity that defines a specific course of action.”
Peggy Deamer, ‘The architect as worker’ (2015)

This just in from MSA anchorwoman Mig...

Today's top story is that our swatch booklet is finally complete. The students assisted with printing, binding, and then creating a script for a video in which Migena talks through the projects we are showcasing to the public.

It was great to see that the undergraduates now have a firm grasp of the issues regarding age-friendly housing, our architectural propositions/responses, and the design-research methodology of atelier MSAp.

Paul McGarry (Strategic Lead of Greater Manchester Ageing Hub and Age-friendly Manchester), gave an adress stressing the importance of age-friendly strategies in the development of the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework.

Planning for the future rather than reacting to crises is a key priority for developers in the Manchester city-region. Increasingly shifts in demographic forecasts represent an opportunity for real change amongst provisions for later-life, including new models for collaborative and flexible housing.

The real question is how we develop planning policy to enforce consideration as a built-in condition rather than just as a bolt-on or after thought?

No. 70 Oxford Road hosted today's PHASE Academic roundtable, with members from groups 4 and 19 attending to oversee debate, contribute to counter-discussion and help coordinate proceedings.

The event brought together academics from Manchester Metropolitan University, researchers from the The British Society of Gerontology, and policy-makers from the Greater Manchester Combined Authorities for discussion and debate.

Thanks to the great work from the co-housing curation group we managed to have our first proof print of the swatch book ready for today's roundtable discussions.

It was a great aid to the conversation amongst the academics and policy makers, and we were able to demonstrate the variety and complexity achieved through atelier MSAp's co-housing solutions.

There are a few final tweaks to be made before we are ready for our community engagement event, where the swatch book will be used to engage with those who might speculatively be looking for a more aspirational housing offering.

We have finished the template for the booklets, which we will distribute at our community engagement events to accompany the exhibition.

The design we have chosen will compliment the existing Spatial Capacities document. It will provide an individual colour swatch for every Co-housing scheme which corresponds to the themes identified in Friday's workshop.

We have been working on a prototype model for the exhibition and thought we would test the sublimation printing technique in miniature.

The results have been tested for colour, transfer and to find the most ideal texture.

Today we sifted through the MSAp fifth year portfolios, and rated everyone's schemes based on a series of variables for comparison.

Each project offers a unique variation on the co-housing model and being able to compare these quickly will give us a better idea of public preference at the community engagement events over the following weeks.

We have sought permission from the Manchester Fashion Institute to use their textile facilities for printing our exhibition material.

The Sublimation printer will take a full reel of synthetic fabric so it should give us a neater finish. 📌

Once we have our material curated and exhibition designed, we will need to build a prototype for our final events.

Our preferred prototype uses canvas fabric to display our work, but also keep the exhibition lightweight and easily demountable.

Today we have explored some of the options available for printing directly onto textiles in the School of Art.

That's the first day of introductions and presentations complete.

We are meeting to discuss activities for the rest of the week.

Our exhibition design is well underway, materials have been ordered and our team are set for a productive week of curation and prototyping.

We are planning on running an introduction session and design smash this Thursday 4-5pm in CH513/ 514. You should have received an email, which will give you the information.

We would like this to be a productive session, so please come prepared with some ideas or precedents for exhibitions, and have an understanding of who the collaborators are.

We got our heads together yesterday to discuss our proposed schedule for the events weeks. We've got some exciting things planned (essential tea and cake agenda too!).

Hopefully you've received your invitation to the facebook group - this will be a fundamental tool, as we will use this to communicate and organise the calendar.

Stay tuned for a full schedule.

And we're off! Introductions done, we are now preparing our brief and getting things in place ready for events week. We will keep the blog updated with regular posts so keep an eye out for more content.