Brief

The initial meeting with out collaborator Laura was centred around formalising a brief for the project and understanding the desired outcome.

5 of the key decisions were:

1. Committee involvement throughout.
As the committee have the knowledge of how the park is currently used and ideas on how this could be improved, their involvement within the 2 weeks of Events will be a a great tool for the project!

2. Multiple Designs
To ensure we are able to provide the committee with as many options as possible, and to allow for the most creativity out of those involved the outcome will involve a small number of design as a reference for the committee to later consult when choosing what toolshed to build in the future.

3. A ‘How to’ guide
We agreed that creating a ‘how to’ guide for a small number of designs will be most helpful for the committee as they look to build a toolshed in the future. It will also allow the creative ideas and innovative uses of sustainable materials to be collected into a concise document for future reference.

4. Sustainable Materials
As a community build, an emphasis will be placed on the environment and low tech solutions. The use of sustainable materials in innovative ways should be used for the project.

5. Local Exhibition
At the end of the two weeks, an exhibition will be held near the park for the local residents, gardeners and the students to discuss the final document showing the designs - and a way to celebrate everyones collaboration in producing it!

Conversations with the collaborator about the brief have been useful to ensure the outcomes will be the most beneficial for everyone involved. We look forward to further developing the project and have more involvement with the committee.

Current social outreach

The Beech Road Park committee is made up of local residents, and gardeners all of which share a common aim to improve and maintain the pocket park for the use of the community.

The current uses for the community that the park and its committee provide are:

Recreation, Leisure & Play - A children play area is located in one half of the park which in fenced off from the rest of the park which is popular for dog walkers.

Events & Activities - These include dog training activities, Christmas lanterns parade and light switch on, and the park development strategy public consultation. There are year round activities hosted in the park for all age groups.

The park is also used by other groups in the community such as Scouts who ran a Chorlton litter pick event

Annual Children's Festival with Unity Arts - A painted wall can be seen at the perimeter of the park which was created during the festival. Unity Arts continues to host events at Beech Road Park in the summer, including spray painting, circus and mono printing.

Monthly Gardening Group - The committee includes some gardeners, and a lead gardener Jo, who attends the meetings but also run a monthly gardening group which is open to anyone to join.

Arts in the Park - The outcomes of this are the parks contribution to the Chorlton Arts Festival. The outcome of this project will also be included in the festival along with the continued work of Arts in the Parl.

Friends of the Park meetings - A committee who regularly meet to voice the needs of local people and liaison with Manchester City Council to improve the park. The project will be discussed in the next committee meeting and the feedback incorporated into the design.

Future Projects
The committee are working on some additions to the park to increase the activities held there, this includes the addition of a permanent outdoor table tennis table. This is a collaboration between Table Tennis England, Manchester Active, Richard (Neighbourhood Park Officer) and MCC Ward Neighbourhood Investment. The lead gardener is feeding ideas into the events project, and when complete will enrich the area surrounding the new shed with new planting.

The community play an important part in all events run within the park, this is why an important aspect of this project will be working closely with the committee members throughout the design process to ensure the final outcome best meets the needs of those using it.

What is social value and why is it important?

Social Value has been formally recognised within the world of Architecture since 2012 when the ‘Public Services (Social Value) Act was passed. This act was put into place to primarily help voluntary and social sectors, but since it has had a larger affect on the architectural sector as a whole. It introduces a new dimensions to ‘value’ that is not financially orientated.

This concepts asks the clients to think about their investment in a wider scope that just the completion of the project, but also how investing their money could better the lives of a much bigger group of people. With this in mind, the social value of this project is both centred around the primary users (the gardeners), the extended users (the committee and local residents) and the wider community (Residents of Chorlton). The aims for this tool shed is not a stand alone piece of architecture, but something that can contribute to the wider social network when the park is hosting events throughout the year. These events are aimed at user groups of all ages to promote social inclusion and often hold an education value such as ‘Arts in the Park’ for children and the gardening events. The tool shed will contribute and enhance the park’s ability to host these events and enrich the social connections between those who use them.

This introduction of social value has expanded the role of the architect, and places a new importance of the reach a project can have - not just the immediate users but the local community aswell. This has seen the participation of end users within the design process, to ensure the needs and requirements are met within the brief. This is especially true in community lead projects when the community is involved in the build process too. The outcome of this event is a ‘how to build’ document for the committee and volunteers to later use a reference for when they build the shed in the park. The build process will include a variety of people who will learn and share skills, and promote a sense of ownership over the toolshed as it is the result of collaboration within the community.


Reference:
Morris, N. (2018) ‘Unlocking the social value of design’ RIBA Architecture. [online] Available: https://www.architecture.com/knowledge-and-resources/knowledge-landing-page/unlocking-the-social-value-of-design [Accessed 09.03.2020]

What is a Shed?

A simple definition of a shed is ‘a simple roofed structure used for garden storage, to shelter animals, or as a workshop’, but does this mean that a shed should just be 4 walls and a roof? Or could a ‘shed’ be reimagined? 
When we see the word ‘Shed’ most of us will form a pre conception of what this should look like, but what if this image was changed to something more architecturally exploratory? Just because a shed is usually for storage, doesn’t mean it has to look uninspiring and dull. 

How can we reimagine a shed? 
There are many different ways in which a shed could be reimagined, but firstly the fundamental uses it must cater for must be understood. For our shed in beech road park these include: running water, tool storage, shelter from the elements, working space and links to the outside. This shed will form an integral part of an existing community and it will be located in a very visible location within the Beech Road Park Area, therefore it is important that it serves its valuable intended use but also it that it makes a statement within the park, something for the local people to be proud of. 

Let your minds come away from what we see a traditional pitched roof garden shed and move more towards seeing this intervention as a piece of architecture that will sit at the heart of a strong and engaged community. The challenge is how this is done in the context and with limited budget, but there are low tech solutions out there and this should not stifle creativity. 
Through taking inspiration from small architecture, such as containers, pavilions, installations and even micro homes to understand how they deal with small spaces and storage solutions as well as architecturally appealing.  

Something to think about: How would you reinvent the shed to make it a useful and pleasing space to spend time in?  

Collaborator inspiration

As part of our project, we want to deliver an outcome which is both exciting for the students to create, but also fulfils the requirements and aspirations of the Friends of Beech Road community.

During meetings, our contact Laura along with the Friends of Beech Road community created a wish list. The wish list included elements to the design, which we should consider in our outcome.

The wish list included: Storage for tools, ability to access the shed (protection from Manchester’s elements), a bug hotel, Security (this shed could be considered to have valuables inside so it was important that it could not be broken into), rain water collection (this would store water which could be used to water the park) and storing tools secretly (this could be within a bench, or in a cupboard. This makes the shed more secure if its left unlocked during gardening times and creates storage space), running water (For ease, and a cuppa tea)

As the project develops, we are going to begin to include as many of the aspects above, combined with the student’s responses to the design brief to get the most out of a shed at Beech Road Park.

Brief Revisited

After further meeting with our collaborator we discussed how we could enrich our brief to make it more of a viable outcome that could be built in the future. The developments included:

1. Costing
Completing a costing exercise along side the design, to allow for the committee to compare design options through financial feasibility in the future.

2. Social Impact
As the brief is centred around social impact, and the park is used by a wide variety of people the aim of our project is to appeal to and provide uses for everyone involved.

3. Portfolio skills
To ensure the end publications is of a high quality and to learn transferable skills for future portfolios.

4. Site Visit
Visiting Hulme Community Garden to gain some knowledge about plants, garden structures and wildlife habitats that can be integrated into the design.

5. Precedent
A visit to the library will be conducted to gain inspiration for the final document. This will include looking at examples of professional publications to gain knowledge of graphic styles, effective compositions and eye catching designs for the exhibition.

No Photos, No Problem

Exploring alternative methods to record the site.There are many ways to observe and record a site. Beech Road park is a family friendly place for local people to go and enjoy, therefore photographs are not welcomed due to the sites proximity to a children play area. As part of an initial site analysis, we often assume that there will be some sort of photography that captures the essence and character of a place. 
So what other forms of analysis can you do to still obtain this information? 
 
Sketching: 
Sketching is a great tool that allows you to capture a lot of information in a relatively short space of time. As well as recording the intended view, drawings also have the ability to tell a lot more about a place. Drawings can be extremely powerful as the process allows you to understand the space in a lot more detail than taking a photograph. 
Sketching also encourages a sense of freedom and it can be a quick process that can produce valuable information to tell the story of the place, without a photograph in site. 
 
Modelling: 
Although harder to achieve whilst on site, modelling can also be a credible process to understand how a site works. It enables an overall 3D picture of a space which can help to figure out scale and proportions when designing proposals. Speed modelling can be used to quickly explore form while a presentation model can showman intricate details of a building.
 
Storyboarding: 
Creating a storyboard of the trip to site could also be an effective way of recording information. Through recording the journey of the site through this method, a sequence of the trip can be realised, with a clear understanding and timeline of events. A storyboard can be a useful way of separating a space/journey into lots of small frames/views which can build up a picture of what is important. 
 
Situationist mapping / Psychogeography
Mapping the site visit through how you felt and experienced it from a personal point of view. Using a base map, this technique allows personal reflections and to encourage playfulness through notes, collage and drawings to understand the place and the journey. It is an inventive strategy to explore the site and could be an interesting response and alternative approach to taking photos. 
 
Verb and Adjective Analysis: 
An alternative method of analysis could be using words to describe what is being experienced. Through the use of verbs and adjectives, such as playing, words can enable an understanding of the activity that is happening on the site or in a place as well as any particular features that may be important. E.g. strong brown tones. This information could be extremely valuable for understanding how a space is used. 

These methods can be used individually or a combination of them can be used to build up an in-depth picture of the site. They can also be analytical tools and be post rationalised to identify key opportunities or constraints of the site and identify key themes. During our site we will encourage everyone to use these methods to capture their version of the site.

Parti on site

Communication of ideas and information will be a key aspect during the events, to exchange ideas between the design team but also representing ideas to the collaborator and committee. One method we will be exploring throughout will be that of Parti Diagrams, and these will be used to represent information gathered on site, analysis of precedents and to communicate design decisions.

Parti diagrams can be used to show elements such as:

- Form and geometry
- Solid and Void
- Light and Shade
- Axis vs centre
- Territories vs enclosures
- Thresholds
- Routes

The purpose of a parti diagram, in contrast to other types of diagrams, is their simplicity and how concisely they portray information. One of the tasks when we are onsite will be for each person to summaries the site in a small number of diagrams and later present their ideas back to a small group. This builds up the skills of hand drawing but also to break down thoughts into smaller elements for easy and effective communication. Learning how to do effective parti diagrams will be a transferrable skill that the students can use in future portfolios.

Week one

Week one will focus on initial stages of design. We will spend time on the site, where students will have the opportunity to interact with the site, sketch and ask questions. From here we will begin with initial concept design. At this point we will introduce Precedents with ambitions to inspire students at the first stages of design. Throughout we will discuss our outcomes between one and another, and later show our work through a ‘pin up’ exercise. Using feedback from earlier activities, we will push forward with design process with goals of finalising design responses. We will them spend an afternoon away from university, as Hulme Garden Centre, this is a great opportunity to understand structure, and materiality of successful garden builds. To end the week, our goal is to prepare a set of plans and sections, as part of an informal Crit for the following week.

The key aspects and opportunities of week one, are to understand/develop the initial stages of concept design, teamwork, gain presentation skills, visit new places with ambitions to inspire creativity, learn new skills, gain confidence.

Week Two

Week two will begin by hosting a Crit with Laura, a member of the Friends of Beech Road Community. This will be an opportunity for students to practice presentation skills and gain invaluable feedback to the design process. We will continue by fine tuning design, to match the feedback. As we move into the week, we will be joined by a guest, Jack Badger, who will introduce construction drawings and joinery details. We will use this time, to progress our design outcomes in terms of how it will be constructed. We will then begin to think about how our final outcome may look. We will head to the Library to find magazines and journals which may influence the design/layout of our final booklet. This will lead us to finalise our graphic style, followed by printing for our exhibition. On our final day, we will travel to site, where we will set up our exhibition, and present our aspirations for the Tool Shed to the local community.

The key aspects and opportunities for week two, is to gain confidence speaking in front of people, presentation skills, teamwork, construction design, Professional relations, learn new skills e.g. photoshop.

Double Diamond Process

When developing our session plan we researched design strategies to get the most out of the two weeks of events, and to ensure our preparation set us up to get the most out of the student input. The double diamond design process is one adapted by many different professions and is used to ensure a wide scope of opportunities are explored, whilst still delivering the desired outcome on time.

This can be summarised into 2 diamonds, each with 2 stages. The beginning stage is the expansive and explorative stage, and the second is the synthesising and refining stage. The first diamond is the work we will complete before the 2 weeks of events starts, and the second diamond is the work carried out during the two weeks of events with the first and second year students.

Our preparation work benefited from having this structure as we primarily focused on exploring all options, communicating with the committee to gain ideas, exploring potential guest speakers and site visits.
We then transitioned into defining a clearer brief, setting up templates for the outcomes and completing the relevant documents such as the risk assessment.

Understanding this double diamond process was especially helpful when developing our session plan and helped us understand what tasks may be included in each week, and also ensured all the work we completed was refined down to the outcome. This ensured we included tasks which gathered ideas, explored design options and research were mainly done on the first week. Whilst the second week's focus was purely on condensing the work into the document, developing presentation skills and coordinating the exhibition.

We found having this structure useful in the preparation as it kept our efforts focused onto what we were aiming to achieve. This will also be helpful during events as we will include this explanation in our introduction presentation so that all students involved share a common goal of the desired outcome.

Precedent using Parti Diagrams

Parti diagrams are a useful tool in communicating ideas and illustrating analytic responses. This is especially useful when looking at precedent studies, and during the design process we will utilise this tool to collect a wide range of precedent studies to inform our design.

Precedent studies can be used to understand aspects of projects that have already been built, and can be used to test ideas against. The thinking towards precedent studies should be analytical, questioning why and how things have been done so lessons can be learnt and applied to the design project. Some ways of doing this include: overlaying drawings (plan or section) onto the current site, understand the orientation and scale of the build on a site plan, details of the construction to understand the use of materials.

Parti diagrams are a useful tool in summarising elements of a precedent into smaller aspects that can more easily be applied to the design project. These parti diagrams can show aspects on a detailed or strategic level, and often an amalgamation of parti diagrams from different precedent studies can be the beginnings of a design.

To demonstrate how parti diagrams can be used to analyse precedents, a short presentation will be given by the 5th years. The precedent used will be the allotment den designed by Matt+Fiona in Hull. This is a den designed with a group of children from a local primary school, and is situated in the corner of an allotment. The diagrams for this have been used to portray the scale, location in its surroundings, connections to the context and the dynamic form in a solid and void style diagram. These are all transferable ideas that could be used for other precedents and inform the design of the toolshed.

Reference:
Mull, O. (2017) Dezeen. [online] [Accessed 12.03.2020] https://www.dezeen.com/2017/06/03/matt-fiona-pupils-made-in-oakfield-outdoor-classroom-hull-allotment-moving-walls/