Hello, I'm Mallika!

I am from Hong Kong and have done my BArch at the University of Nottingham. I have also worked at Batterham Smith Architects and Stonewood Design prior to joining the MArch course at the Manchester School of Architecture, where I am in the FLUX Aterlier.

My interests include sketching, bouldering, and tattooing. I am excited to be working on Flag Lane Baths and am looking forward to seeing where this journey takes us!

Meet the collaborators!

Having graduated from MSA, Alex has founded 'Home Studio Architects' in 2022 and also runs the 'Home Coffee & Studio' coffee shop in Alsager. With over 15 years of experience working in reputable architecture and design firms in the North West, Alex plans to open up more spaces to host community events and arts workshops in the future.

To find out more about Alex's work, find their Insta/FB handle at: @homecoffeealsager @homestudioarchitects

Meet the collaborators!

Robert is a part of 'Always Ahead': a charity focusing on improving the economic, social, and enviromental wellbeing of Crewe residents. The Flag Lane Baths project, run by 'Always Ahead', has plans to transform the site of the former Crewe swimming pool into a centrally located, top quality, thriving community hub. Robert is also a Naturalistic Garden Design specialist and has his own company.

To find out more about Flag Lane Baths, please visit: https://www.flaglanebaths.co.uk/index.html
Follow along Robert's gardening journey on Insta at @robertscferguson

It was great catching up with Robert and Alex yesterday over Teams as MSA Live is drawing near! We addressed how we'd collect the opinions and memories from the community of Crewe that used to swim at Flag Lane Baths, and how we would ultimately collate an output to exhibit.

Little did we know, Robert had his very own memory of Flag Lane Baths to share! Something along the lines of 'teaching three young lads how to swim at Flag Lane Baths, with each of them getting their certificate on the last day of their training prior to going on a ship' (Sorry Robert, for the life of me I can't remember the entire story but it's something along those lines). We thoroughly enjoyed catching up Alex and Robert and are excited to kick off MSA Live!

DAY 2 OF DEEP DIVING!

Group 39 went to Crewe yesterday for a site visit, although our coach had other plans and decided to take us to Chester. After an hour delay, we were finally able to meet Robert at Flag Lane Baths. It was lovely to explore the site as a whole group. After the site visit, we split off into two groups: Research team and Interview team.

The Research team went to the Crewe Library to find more information about Flag Lane Baths and its history. The Interview team went to take audio recordings of Crewe residents who had memories of swimming in Flag Lane Baths. We have a beautiful collection of memories that it felt as if we had gone swimming in Flag Lane Baths! The weather was definitely in our favour, along with the second coach that took us directly back to Manchester after a productive day in Crewe!

More photos of Group 39 'Deep Dive'-ing into the history of Flag Lane Baths!

DAY 4 OF DEEP DIVING!

Today we put the spotlight on the fifth years with presentations from Alima and Mallika. Alima presented her dissertation topic on, 'Visitors and the physical envirnoment of museums: How can designers impact engagement?', which was incredibly insightful and beneficial as we move towards designing our gallery space at Flag Lane Baths.

Later in the day, Mallika led a workshop on Sketchup and V-Ray and its many uses demonstrated through her PS2 portfolio. We hope both presentations were helpful for the BArch students as they approach their studio submissions!

Some of the great work BArch students have produced following Alima's presentation on designing museums on the basis of visitor engagement. It is lovely seeing the gallery space take shape as it draws on the rich history of Flag Lane Baths and the residents of Crewe.

DAY 5 OF DEEP DIVING!

It was lovely catching up with one of our collaborators today as we got to show all the lovely work Deep Dive have been doing. The Research team has been steadily moving forward with the collection of research along with the creation of poster templates towards our final output.

On the other hand, we had the Design team working on 3D visualisations of our proposed exhibition in Flag Lane Baths. With the exhibition drawing near, we were happy to get some valuable insight from Alex, and are looking forward to the final outcome!

Day 5 was spent planning and preparing for the exhibition which is going to be held at the second floor gallery space in MTC. We were able to show our collaborator what the next few days were looking like, and discussed the future of the exhibition material after MSA Live.

Deep Dive is currently planning on transferring all of the work, both digitally and physically, to Alex and Robert for them to exhibit it in Crewe, either at Flag Lane Baths upon completion or at the local Market Hall in Crewe. We are thrilled to have our work utilised and showcased beyond MSA Live, and hope it leaves plenty of happy residents for Crewe residents.

Join us in 'Deep Diving' into the rich history of Flag Lane Baths and our proposed adaptive reuse project to transform it into a gallery space for the residents of Crewe!

DAY 6 OF DEEP DIVING!

We have been working on collating our final research and design outputs in preparation for our exhibition happening on the 16th and 17th this week! It has been great seeing the project come together, and we can't wait to showcase what we've been up to.

Pictured are our lovely BA2 students from Deep Dive as they work through 3D modelling, drawing, researching and assembling information in the lead up to our exhibition. Despite the photo showing otherwise, they are usually a happy bunch and are excited to power through the final stretch of MSA Live!

DAY 7 OF DEEP DIVING!

Finishing up on the last few posters before we showcase them at our exhibition tomorrow. Deep Dive has been a great team to work with and we definitely couldn't have pulled this off without the help of our BA1 and BA2 students. Big smiles from the team as we work towards the final drafts!

With great success, we were able to print half of our posters for our exhibition tomorrow. Fingers crossed the printers don't break down mid-priniting tomorrow!

DAY 8 OF DEEP DIVING!

It has been great seeing the whole project come together! We thought it would be great to feature the 'Deep Dive[rs]' from BA1 and BA2 that helped make it a reality!

It is the best feeling to see all of our hard work up on display, do come over to the second floor gallery at MTC to take a look at what we've been up to for MSA Live 2024!

It was absolutely lovely to meet with our collaborator Alex, along with Sheron Ferguson who is the Chair of Always Ahead- the charity taking the lead on the transformation of Flag Lane Baths. It was inspiring to see our project bring so much excitement and anticipation from Sheron and Alex. We have enjoyed pushing this project 'always ahead' and can't wait to see Flag Lane Baths completed!

...AND THAT'S A WRAP!

We want to give a big thank you to our collaborators Alex, Rob and Sheron from Always Ahead for providing an opportunity for us to explore the rich history of Crewe and Flag Lane Baths. We would also like to thank our lovely BA1 and BA2 students and all their hard work and dedication to the project.

DEEP DIVE is excited to see where the future of Flag Lane Baths will go, and hope it continues to be a symbol of history and memories for the residents of Crewe.