MSA Live 24

Hi there, I'm Kingsley!
Atelier: &rchitecture

I'm originally from Macau and Hong Kong, but I've been in Manchester for almost five years! During my time here, I've had some fantastic experiences studying at MSA (Atelier FLUX in BA3) and being a Part 1 architectural assistant at SimpsonHaugh.

My focus in studies and practice has been on community and residential design with a colourful and practical approach. I also love making indicative diagrams! I'm excited to invite you to join us in designing an interactive space for people in Stockport. Let's work together to create something great!

Posted 28 Feb 2024 12:52

Hi there, I'm Diyanah!
Atelier: Flux

I am from Brunei and have been working for 6 years before joining MSA, one year in Practice as Architectural Assistant in Brunei and 5 years with the Government of Brunei related to Architecture Role. I studied my Part 1 in Arts University Bournemouth back in 2016.

I am interested in creating something meaningful and a memorable experience to a space. I love traveling and exploring new places. Looking forward to be part of the team and meeting amazing people! Join us for creating an interactive space for people in Stockport.

Posted 28 Feb 2024 14:02

Hi everyone, I’m Jing!
Adaptive Reuse

I come from China and finished my undergraduate study in XJTLU. I have interned at the city Planning Bureau and private architecture studios during the past.

I'm interested in the redesign and reuse of the site, making the abandoned site become revitalized again which is very exciting and changing the use of the site will bring a new experience to people. Our task now is to build a new pocket park on the ruins of the original building, which we hope will make a difference to the residents of Stockport!

Posted 28 Feb 2024 19:40

Hello everyone! My name is Chris and I am from the Flux Atelier.

I'm from Malaysia and this is my first year here in Manchester, I completed my undergraduate in UCSI University Kuala Lumpur and have worked in architecture, landscape and interior studios as a Part 1 Architectural Assistant.

I am interested in residential and small-scale design that has a personal touch and narrative that creates a unique experience. I am excited for the Stockport project which presents a unique opportunity to learn more about creating community spaces!

Posted 4 Mar 2024 15:03

Hey everyone, I’m Matt!
Atelier: Infrastructure Space

I studied my undergraduate at DMU in Leicester, before working as a Part 1 Architectural Assistant in Manchester.

I am interested in residential design, placemaking and masterplan development! Getting the chance to work on a pocket park in the centre of my home town is an exciting opportunity and I look forward to meeting everyone involved soon!

Posted 4 Mar 2024 15:24

On the 7th February 2024, our team members had a site visit at Deanery Way North alongside our collaborators, Stockport Council!

The site visit allowed our team to have a better understanding of the current conditions of the site, and provided a wonderful opportunity to assess possible solutions for the project. It was also a fruitful session with the collaborators as we get to exchange diverse perspective and expertise, fostering a rich exchange of ideas and insight.

We're grateful for this opportunity to learn from our collaborators and understand the site better, and we can't wait to visit in spring again!

Posted 19 Mar 2024 17:25

After the site visit, our team sat down together to brainstorm ideas to ensure our project is aligned to the expectations of the collaborators and to explore the possible proposals. The outcome of the meeting allowed us to come up with a solution which will include a permanent landscape proposal and a temporary one. This team meeting also allowed us to allocate tasks and divide up responsibilities among team members!

We also had meetings with our tutor to make sure our progress timeline is up to date , and to get feedback on our project proposal. This allowed us to fine-tune our proposal and get constructive feedback regarding this project. The team is really happy with our project proposal and we hope to work with you during the action weeks!

Posted 19 Mar 2024 17:47

Here we go! Kicking things off bright and early at 10 today! Today was all about getting to know each other as a team and starting to break grounds on understanding the site! We started with an ice breaker to tease out people's interests and get an understanding of what interests them architecturally!

Following on from that we discussed the site, project outcomes and client expectations for the project. Having previously discussed everyone's interests architecturally, sparked a huge discussion between temporary and permanent solutions for the site and how to divide the groups!

To finish off the morning session, the team spent some time brainstorming, exploring and generating initial ideas for the site. This afternoon we take a trip to Stockport to see the site for the first time!

Posted 8 May 2024 11:26

Post lunch, Group 21 descended on Stockport for the afternoon! A short walk from the train station past some exciting developments, we arrived at the high street a couple minutes walk away from the site! It was only a brief visit as the surrounding buildings are currently undergoing major refurbishments so access to the site was blocked off!
Looking forward to Thursday morning when we meet our collaborator on site to gain access to fully understand the site! After the site visit, the team ventured around Stockport going on a whistle stop tour to see areas of public realm that might inform the design process! It was a very enjoyable afternoon in the sunshine, what a way for the team to see the site for the first time!

Posted 8 May 2024 11:27

The second day began by sharing ideas, precedents and concepts. The team split off and began to develop ideas collaboratively! With creativity flowing, the design process moved quickly from a narrative, to zoning and then some sketch concepts for both of the teams! For the remainder of the morning before breaking for lunch we continued to create and shape what Stockport could be!

Lots of trace, scribbles and teamwork are a recipe for an intriguing design, who could have guessed! See you this afternoon!

Posted 9 May 2024 14:05

This afternoon marked the start of the process to develop the concept set out in the morning session. Ideas bouncing within groups before an afternoon presentation to each other! Utilising feedback from each of the presentations, both groups ventured onwards to create a working sketch proposal for our in person meeting with the collaborator!

To finish off a successful day, both teams combined for one final task to determine some questions for our collaborator. Many of these surrounded building regulations and site constraints with a challenging topography on the site and a fire escape intersecting the space! Very interesting stuff happening so keep your eyes peeled for more updates!

Posted 9 May 2024 14:06

A collection of sketch plans from yesterday's workshop! These options are investigating the use of temporary structures that can change use depending on the time of day. Ranging from food markets and stalls on the weekends, to accessible seating throughout the week, the temporary team are on it!

Posted 9 May 2024 14:07

The permanent team has been busy too! Take a look at some of the proposals they have come up with! They are proposing drastic changes to the materiality of the site to draw people in and create that link between the Light cinema and Merseyway. The proposal creates an interactive playground for the local community and uses a mixture of materials to really make it stand out!

Time to combine these ideas and start moving forward to meet up with the collaborator!

Posted 9 May 2024 14:16

This morning marked the first in person meeting with the collaborator. After an early start to meet in Stockport for 9:45, an even earlier one with train strikes limiting travel!

The team gained access to the full site and explored the site with the site manager Oggy, giving them the opportunity to ask any questions about site conditions and any constraints placed on the site. After the visit, the team understand more of the complex needs of the site, requiring the majority of the street to be left clear of interventions to allow access for the fire service to the high street!

The site visit was super insightful and we can't thank our collaborators enough for organising it! Time to take what we have learnt and reflect that within our proposals this afternoon!

Posted 9 May 2024 14:38

This afternoon, the team continued to develop their proposals after an intense site visit earlier in the day. The proposals are now starting to take shape with real world implications to each of the changes.

After this morning's site visit, the useable area has shrunk so the teams have had to make smart decisions to alter existing proposals to meet new criteria. These refinements are critical within the design process and lead to a richer and more developed scheme.

To prepare for tomorrow, the teams finished off by preparing materials for the collaborator meeting first thing tomorrow! Another day of hard work for MSA Live boxed off, time to rest and recuperate for another intense day tomorrow!

Posted 9 May 2024 16:11

This morning, we dove into our first meeting with the client! Our day started with a Teams meeting, linking up with the developer working on the High Street Regeneration project in Stockport. BA Members of our MSA Live team took turns presenting our temporary and permanent designs. Thankfully, both presentations hit the mark and we earned valuable feedback from the client on key areas like management, security, ownership, storage, and vandalism prevention.

Post-presentation, we huddled to mull over the feedback, brainstorming ways to adapt our designs. These tweaks will set us up for success as we dive into the technical design phase, leading up to our booklet presentation next week. It's all hands on deck as we refine our vision for an in-between space of Stockport's revitalised High Street!

Posted 10 May 2024 17:21

In the afternoon, the master's students showcased their portfolios, offering a sneak peek into what future academic years might hold for bachelor students. Matt led the charge with his PS2 portfolio, delving into Infraspace's meticulous requirements for detailed master planning. His presentation covered everything from regulations to cost management, energy calculations, and practical design approaches.

Next up was Kingsley, who presented his PS2 portfolio for &rchitecture. Unlike Matt's approach, Kingsley took a creative spin, exploring futuristic interactions between people, humanity, and waste. His portfolio showcased a diverse range of creative skills, including oil pastel drawings, renderings, and model making. These presentations provided valuable insights into the standards and content expected in future academic endeavours.

Posted 10 May 2024 17:29

After the weekend, the team came back with fresh minds and are ready to tackle today's task!

The day started by translating the sketches and concepts from the previous week into AutoCAD and SketchUp. As some of the team were unfamiliar with these tools, an impromptu masterclass was held for both of the programs to improve workflow and increase the understanding of how such tools are used within a practical setting!

The latter part of the session was spent studying the previous landscape architect's proposal for the site in 3D to try to understand the levels of the site, and the solutions proposed. After this analysis, it ensured the team now fully understood how to deal with the levels and ensure that any requirements needed to meet Part M were factored in!

This afternoon, the team will take a deeper dive into the proposals and start to look at completing a drawing pack for the client to review for both solutions!

Posted 13 May 2024 14:37

After this morning, the team sat down and discussed the best way to tackle the tasks at hand. The teams devised a plan of attack for the rest of the afternoon to complete the 3D modelling of the site to ensure that diagrams of program, use and interaction could be produced for the client drawing pack.

The teams carried on the development and modelling of the site using the insights that Kingsley and Chris had given them this morning. It was rewarding seeing the use of new modelling techniques shown earlier in the day! It certainly had an impact on the workflow and the outcomes starting to pop out of the models were astonishing!

We look forward to giving you an update of where both teams are in due course! For now though, we hope you have a lovely evening and we will see you all again tomorrow for another action-packed day!

Posted 13 May 2024 17:31

We started off the morning with a portfolio sharing session for our BA1 and BA2 Team members to discuss their own personal design approaches and methods. It was a fruitful morning session as it allowed all team members to learn from each other and explore opportunities to translate current design knowledge that can be applied to our MSA Live project.

After the portfolio review session, both the permanent and temporary team continued developing their design proposals through 3D modelling, which allowed a better representation of the how each proposal functions on site. Both teams progressed quickly and it was a fulfilling process to see how everyone's idea were brought to life!

It has been an exciting morning full of conversations and discussions that helped to boost the team's morale, and we can't wait to share the progress of the team this afternoon!

Posted 14 May 2024 14:51

The afternoon's session began by continuing to model the proposals, working towards the next exciting step of the process! The developed model allowed the students to start producing diagrams of the site in use and how the proposal has developed from the initial sketches. It was incredible to see the progress made over the last week from initial sketches to the proposals you will see at the end of the week!

The groups have begun to populate the booklet with amazing hand and digital sketches. With both teams taking a different approach to capturing the design process, the permanent team opting for digital representations of sketches and the temporary team sticking to trace. This decision was made to play and experiment with the idea of temporality within our representations.

The afternoon concluded with a presentation from both teams to show the progress of each proposal and to strategise for the remainder of the week! What an amazing end to a day seeing boxes being ticked from both teams!

Posted 15 May 2024 15:22

Wednesday began with models being finalised for a complete set of drawings to be produced. Both teams were working in separate spaces today, with the permanent team taking residence in the CAD Lab in MTC and the temporary team working in the studio space. The teams are both working hard to iron out the creases before the afternoon's session, where we will be receiving a visit from Gemma Porter who works in the Design Department at MMU.

The team began to collate images in to a presentation for the afternoon, to highlight and showcase the design intentions for both schemes with work well underway to creating the booklet! The morning session has certainly been action packed but it will be amazing to see all the hard work pay off in the afternoon!

See you after lunch! :)

Posted 15 May 2024 16:14

The afternoon session began with our visit from Gemma, she is involved with coordinating the university-wide Arts Council Cultural Development, which is a funded project for the Stockport Creative Campus. Matt introduced the project and talked through the brief from Stockport Council, explaining some of the intricacies of the site and the finer details required for the project!

The temporary team began the presentation explaining the narrative and how the initial ideas had been developed over the course of the past week. The presentation then moved on to a visual walkthrough of the site utilising Enscape as a design tool to emerge Gemma within the proposal and highlight the use cases for the modules! The permanent team followed on from that with an amazing presentation walking through the design stages and the latest iterations, with draft plans and elevations being showcased to help 'sell' the project.

Before the teams finished for the day, some initial cost estimates were completed for both the proposals to ensure that they are feasible within a local authority budget. By doing these cost estimates, it gives the collaborator an idea of what each scheme will cost and an idea of how elements from each design can be taken forward and combined to create a workable solution for them!

A massive thank you to Gemma for coming along and giving some insight in to creative brands located in Stockport to further strengthen the team's narrative. Can't wait to showcase what both teams have been cooking up later in the week!

Posted 15 May 2024 16:14

The second to last day of MSA began with a review of the booklet so far! The teams combined to discuss the narrative of the booklet and have further input into the work being added. With each member having favourite drawings and so much work to choose from, it will be a difficult task to decide what makes the final cut!

After the discussions, it was time to continue to develop the proposals! One of our outputs is measured drawings that could be used to submit a planning application to take each proposal forward. The team spent some time exploring the ins and outs of AutoCAD, learning about plot styles, line weights and shortcut commands! The elevations for the permanent team will be finished off later this afternoon and taken into Photoshop to have some textures added, whereas the temporary team will focus more in-depth on a shorter section of the elevation to highlight 2 different use cases for the proposal!

This morning has certainly been an interesting one, filled with discussions, learning and skill development. We hope the team have enjoyed learning a thing or two from us! See you later for another update!

Posted 16 May 2024 14:06

Have a look at these amazing images created by the team to showcase the proposals in use!

The temporary team have developed a modular structure that can be modified and altered to suit all purposes with ease! The use case changes from a fun, playful seating area to market stalls with seating over the weekend to bring some of the heritage from Underbank and the Stockport markets into the site. The structures are made up from wooden rods with connectors allowing for easy disassembly for the Council, to store or install the proposal across the entirety of Stockport if this first intervention is deemed a success.

The permanent team has investigated a more extensive intervention with hard landscaping being proposed to deal with the site levels and make it accessible for all. The In/Between space is plastered with colour to reflect the playful nature of the space. The canopies drawing people into the site create a sense of play with the light projecting through the recycled plastic with local artists being brought in to help develop a sense of ownership for the site.

We cannot wait to show the collaborators what we have been working on since the first initial meeting and we hope they are just as blown away by the quality and quantity of work produced by the team throughout the action weeks! See you in the morning for the final day of an amazing journey!

Posted 16 May 2024 17:38

The final morning of the action weeks is upon us!

The team made final preparations for the presentation to the collaborators and spent some time rehearsing and going through the running order! We ensured that all comments raised in the previous meeting had been discussed and dealt with, and most importantly the team knew how to explain that to the collaborator!

Meeting time! The collaborators loved the proposal and the team absolutely smashed the presentation, we couldn't be happier! The feedback we received was incredible and the questions and concerns raised were all answered amazingly by the students. The proposals will be sent over to the collaborator for their use for future projects and will hopefully inform some of the future design decisions in Stockport!

Thank you for an amazing week! We can't thank our team enough and special thanks to the collaborators for giving in depth feedback throughout to help shape and mould the process!

Posted 17 May 2024 14:48