Name: Sam Cutler
Role: Lead Social Communications and Correspondence Manager
Course: Master of Architecture
Atelier: Some Kind of Nature
Software Skills: Adobe Creative Suite, Revit, AutoCAD, Sketchup, Enscape
Personal Intro: Hey! I'm Sam :)
I graduated from Northumbria Univeristy in 2021 and took two years out in practice as a Part 1 Architectural Designer for Ryder Architecture (Newcastle!) and a Post Part 1 Architectural Designer at Pozzoni Architects in Altrincham where I still work alongside my current studies! 
I'm super excited to meet you all and work alongside you to create some fun, funky and inspirational green architecture!

Action Plan Week One

Action Plan Week Two

Day 01:

We kicked off the first day with an introductory presentation and some icebreaker tasks. After learning that Julia had been kidnapped, and Hayley's irrational phobia of toy poodles, it was safe to say that Group 01 was officially bonded!
We set the scene for the rest of the week and explained 'the big draw' task (Hayley's over-complicated explanation of a collage).
Later, we asked the students about their skill sets and what they wanted to learn from the coming two weeks.
After a great morning together, it is safe to say that we ended on a high note, and we are super excited for the two weeks to come!

Day 02 - Morning

We kick started our morning by taking full advantage of the rare Mancunian sun by visiting the UMIST site and explaining to our students the transformative aspirations Bruntwood have.
We explored the campus grounds and offered some suggestions and ideas for the restoration of the selected facades, before letting the students explore for themselves. With all of these fresh ideas in mind, we headed back to begin our first collaborative design task of the day.

Day 02 - Afternoon

The Big Draw

This collage activity encouraged students to explore experimentation, as we emphasised and encouraged creative freedom, and the importance of having fun designing abstract collages.
We provided mixed media and materials with the opportunity to work digitally for those who preferred. It was great seeing everyone really engaging and enjoying the task even choosing to work through their lunch break!

Day 02- Afternoon

The Big Draw Showcase!

We let the students present their work to the group and thoroughly enjoyed hearing their thoughts, opinions and seeing how talented and diverse they all are.
Finishing with a big box of chocolates to thank everyone for their hard work today, the big draw was a huge success and we look forward to continuing our time with Group 1 over the next two weeks.

Day 03

Concept Development

We started the day with a quick presentation including precedents and ideas to get the students creatively and analytically thinking about the direction for this project. We split the students into two groups and started with a fun competition to see who could build the tallest paper tower in 10 minutes!

Day 04
Design Development

On the first introductory day of MSA Live, we collated a list of the software and skills that the students wanted to learn or improve upon.

Today was a perfect day to provide some tutorials and we started the morning with a brief introduction to Revit, Adobe Illustrator, and the use of Adobe Suite to edit and export PDFs.
We provided some suggestions and examples to show how simple line drawings can be elevated using appropriate line weights.

After the tutorials, today’s task included utilising the skills learnt in ‘The Big Draw’ and combining them with these new skills to create digital concepts. We continued to develop these digital drawings for the rest of the day.

Day 05

Design Development

We started the day with a presentation revisiting the outputs expected from our group offering conceptual ideas and precedent images to help aid in creative ideas.
We sat down with each student individually discussing their ideas and offered constructive feedback reiterating the importance of collaborating and sharing skills amongst peers.
We asked each student to print a precedent showing the design style or concept they wanted to encapsulate within their work so they could have a reference image if they felt unsure of direction.
After lunch, we had a pin-up session where we encouraged each student to write constructive feedback for all the elevations produced so far. This task was incredibly successful and after the feedback, we felt the students had more direction and encouraged them to carry on developing their designs. We are looking forward to tomorrow to see how the work continues to become refined.

Day 06

Design Refinement

We began the day speaking to the students individually and were delighted to see they had continued their designs in the evening and came prepared with nearly finished concepts! We were astounded with the level of work produced and felt extremely proud of all the hard work they had put in. It was clear all the feedback had been taken on board, actively reflected on and it could be seen through the development of the work produced.
After our individual chats, we sat down together to talk through the plans for the day and most importantly went on the hunt to provide a much deserved moral- boosting snack break!
After lunch (and enough snacks to feed the entire MSA Live course) we had another pin -up to discuss final refinement and minor amendments.
We’re so proud of all the students and the work they’ve produced and look forward to the final presentation with our collaborators tomorrow.

Day 06

Design Refinement

A continuation of some of our fantastic BA Students' work and some very excited MArch students with the snacks!

Day 07
Presentation day

Part 1

As we geared up for our final day and presentation with Bruntwood, Manchester Climate Alliance and Ardwick Climate Action, we spent the morning composing our final boards and outcomes.
We had a final chat with our students to make sure they were comfortable with their role in presenting their work. It was the BA 1’s first presentation and we settled their nerves and assured them they would smash it… which they absolutely did! The BA 2's were excited and confident for their presentation and extremely proud of the work which they had produced.

Day 07
Presentation day

Part 2

We headed to Circle Square in the afternoon for our meeting and met with our clients and collaborators. We gave a short presentation revisiting the brief, our outcomes and ran through our action weeks. The BA students stood up and presented their final outputs and with a floor of very impressed clients, we opened the room to any questions.
To say that Bruntwood were impressed was an understatement and we are so proud of all the hard work and amazing achievements which the students had put in, in only 6 days.
This was reinforced by Bruntwood who exclaimed that ‘We don’t even receive this level of work in 6 days by our paid architects!’

All in all, it was a fantastic experience and we all finished the day with a well-deserved pint at Yes Bar!


Day 07

Final Note and Giving Thanks.

We would like to take a moment to thank our amazing students for their dedication, hard work, and efforts over the past two weeks. We are so proud of you and hope you have learnt from each other, and us.
We have really enjoyed working with you all and wish you the best of luck as you continue your journey through the MSA.

We would also like to give thanks to our collaborators: Manchester Climate Alliance and Ardwick Climate Action, who have been a huge part of our journey, having fortnightly meetings stemming from November through to now. We thank you for you patience, guidance and active approach throughout our MSA Live experience.
Finally, thank you to our client Bruntwood for providing this amazing opportunity and experience.