Group 01
POWER TRIP

Power Trip will bring together the stories of power stations and coal mines into a virtual day-out for school children. Valuable built and natural environment school trips have been a severely restricted educational tool in the COVID-19 pandemic. This group will create a virtual school trip experience in the form of a website which re-interprets the complex histories of these infrastructures in an engaging, child-friendly experience. It will also act as a digital archive as power stations and coal mines are being demolished to make way for greener infrastructure. Content produced will also be curated to form a physical exhibition at the National Coal Mining Museum in the future. It is easy to recognise the architectural presence of post-war power stations and coal mines with their Brutalist form, but do we consider the landscape, social, and political context they sit within?

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Megan P / Matthew M / Jessica P / Maria Olivia M / Molly W / Ellen F

Molly W
Our MSA Live event offers the opportunity for children to learn about post-war infrastructure through a fun and engaging virtual school trip. A normal school trip is an opportunity to break with routine and learn about somewhere new. Admittedly, we can’t recreate the atmosphere of excitement as you wait for the bus, but we can give the children a chance to work with their friends to discover interesting stories through interacting with a new space. BArch & MLA students will design this new virtual space and create online games for the children to play on their “day out”. It will also give an opportunity to get architecture into the curriculum and show the positive affect architecture can have. Architects were not commonly involved in the design of industrial buildings but you can see the aesthetic and social improvements they made when the National Coal Board started using them. The huge, potentially overbearing forms were made monumental and iconic while hiding the messiness of the industrial day-to-day work. Amenities also played a large role, and the public was receptive to these industrial monoliths in their area because of these benefits to the community, despite the pollution. These structures are steadily disappearing as we gradually switch to a fossil-fuel free energy system but their historical importance should not be understated. By educating children we are ensuring that these iconic buildings live on through in the next generation, even if their physical presence has faded.
Posted 28 Feb 2021 20:28
Maria Olivia M
Activities and Skills: The two weeks will be divided between skill building, fostering social connections, and digging into the oftentimes unspoken value of architectural heritage. Our aim is to create an environment that will facilitate learning through hands-on work with different softwares where the starting point is each team-member’s skills and experience.

The first week will focus on creating content for the final product (an online exhibition) by working with Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, 3D modelling software – such as Sketchup and Rhino- and open-source video creation software. We will offer insights into the best uses for each program (photo-editing, layout design, 3D modelling or vectorial work) and tips and tricks to improve workflows that we’ve learnt over the years. There will be two guest talks: one focusing on website design and online exhibition curation, while the other – offered by our collaborators – will offer an overview of the value and history of post-war industrial architecture– specifically, power stations and coal mines.

The second week will be mainly dedicated to building the online exhibition and making it an interactive and engaging experience for future users. At this point, the historical significance that has shaped this project and its wider social value will become ever more evident. The final site will be a platform for school children to learn through interactive experiences about the legacy of these architectures. There is potential for a “virtual school trip”, where the success of the project will be visible through its live-testing and reception by school children and their teachers.
Posted 1 Mar 2021 17:14
Jessica P
Name: Megan Pledger
Atelier : &rchitecture
BArch : Anglia Ruskin University
Worked at : Rivington Street Studio & HTA Design, London
Skill : Illustrator
Interested in : Anarchy? Social & Community networks, Self-build.
Interested in outside architecture: indoor plants & sporadic baking
Case Study: Kellingley Colliery, West Yorkshire was the last deep-mine to close in the UK in 2015. The colliery was designed during a growing consciousness of the impact of post-war infrastructure on landscapes and set a precedent in the development of amenity provision for future mining communities.
Posted 1 Mar 2021 22:28
Jessica P
Name: Molly Walsh
Atelier : Infrastructure Space
BArch : University of Nottingham
Worked at : BOON Architects, New Zealand
Skill : Revit
Interested in : Environmental design
Case Study: Gascoigne Wood Drift Mine, part of the Selby Complex, was the last coal mine to be built in the UK. 5 different shafts spread across the Selby area transported their coal underground to the surface exit at Gascoigne Wood.
Posted 1 Mar 2021 22:35
Jessica P
Name: Ellen Faulkner
Atelier: Infrastructure Space Research
BArch: University of Nottingham
Worked at: Apt London (formerly Robin Partington & Partners)
Skill: Illustrator & Photoshop
Interested in: Industrial heritage, repurposing the legacies of the past and preserving them for the future. Focusing on newtowns and post-war housing in particular for my dissertation.
Outside architecture: Running, food, and lying on a beach in Australia for two years.
Case Study: Drax power station: Drax was the largest coal fired power station in the country and is still in use today, having switched fuel source to biomass. Being the largest station built by the CEGB, scale and infrastructure are of particular interest. At its peak, it provided power to 6% of the UK. The station was built in two phases, the first opened in 1974, with the second phase completing in 1986. Again providing an interesting point of research. Being one of the later stations, there are a lot of interesting comparisons to be made and many design decisions and lessons learnt from the earlier stations.
Posted 1 Mar 2021 22:47
Jessica P
Name: Olivia Mihale
Atelier : Infrastructure Space
BArch : Manchester School of Architecture
Site Analysis: Ferrybridge ‘C‘ was the third coal-fired power station ever to be built on the Ferrybridge site. At the time of construction, it was the first station in UK to run on 500MW units. Throughout its lifetime, it reached several milestones – like in 1973 when its Unit 2 set a world record by running non-stop for 5,488 hours, as well as underwent some critical times during its tower collapse of 1965 and the fire of 2014.
Born in: Romania and studied both BA and MA at Manchester School of architecture.
Interested in: infrastructural developments and the potential of emerging technologies to create a more accessible architecture.
Hobbies include: analogue and digital painting.Interested in : Environmental design
Posted 1 Mar 2021 23:01
Jessica P
Name: Matthew Meeson
Atelier : Infrastructure Space Research
BArch : University of Sheffield
Worked at : PRP, Manchester
Skill : Illustrator & Photoshop
Interested in : Many eras of architectural history, specifically industrial heritage and the history of England’s post-war mass housing. I am also interested in self-build schemes, urban farming and timber frame design.
Hobbies outside of architecture include woodturning, painting, and growing plants.
Case Study: Eggborough Power Station: Eggborough power station is one of a number of decommissioned coal-fired power stations along the River Aire, in the Selby district of North Yorkshire. The station opened in 1970, and at its peak, generated enough electricity to power 2 million homes, and hosted many local sporting teams and social events on its grounds.
Posted 1 Mar 2021 23:17
Jessica P
Name: Jessica Poore
Atelier : Infrastructure Space
BArch : University of Central Florida, USA
Worked at : Kirchhoff & Associates Architects
Skill : Photoshop & SketchUp
Interested in : Sustainable Construction and Global Impact of Infrastructure
Case Study: Gale Common is the largest ash disposal scheme in the UK. Ash repurposed from power stations has become a product sought after due to its sustainable qualities and multiple reuses in North Yorkshire, UK.
Posted 1 Mar 2021 23:29
Megan P
Dr Luca Csepely Knorr is an award-winning writer and is the Joint Programme Leader of the Master of Landscape Architecture course with Becky Sobell and is a chartered landscape architect.
She was born in Hungary and has a unique perspective on the relationship between UK and international practice with a passion for the importance of the female role in the construction industry.
With housing and infrastructure being her two buzz words, having her as a collaborator will engage the project in key historical moments of post-war infrastructure and social welfare provision these coal mines and power stations offered.
Luca, along with our collaborator Richard Brook runs an AHRC funded research network: ‘The Landscapes of Post-War Infrastructure: Cooling Down’, which this project will be a part of.

Check out Luca’s academic work here: msa-uk.academia.edu/LucaCsepelyKnorr
Twitter: @lucaknorr
Posted 3 Mar 2021 18:38
Megan P
Dr Richard Brook is the MSA Infraspace atelier leader and is a registered architect. He is particularly interested in post-WWII British modern architecture and infrastructure. Check out his insta for some cool modernist buildings:
@mainstream_modern
Richard is an experienced architectural historian who is currently leading a project called ‘The Life of Buildings’, where he and his collaborators are creating interactive virtual reality models of historically important buildings from archival drawings and oral histories. The project’s long term aim is to create ‘mixed reality’ cities that co-exist with real cities to educate people on our lost architectural heritage.

Outside of architecture, he likes photographing the moors of the north, fell running and CEGB memorabilia.
Richard, along with our collaborator Luca Csepely Knorr runs an AHRC funded research network: ‘The Landscapes of Post-War Infrastructure: Cooling Down’, which this project will be a part of.
Posted 3 Mar 2021 18:39
Megan P
The National Coal Mining Museum for England hosts a range of exhibitions and activities on the site of the decommissioned Caphouse Colliery - where many former miners tell their stories of life down the pit. Activities and events preserve the valuable social and industrial history of the mining industry, which came to an end in the UK in 2015 with the closure of the last deep coal mine. The museum is also home to an extensive archive. During the event week we will be organising a workshop to learn about exhibition curation to prepare a series of images for a future exhibition at the National Coal Mining Museum for England (details TBC).

Visit the NCMM website here: https://www.ncm.org.uk/
Posted 3 Mar 2021 18:39
Megan P
Power Trip launches in...5...4...3...2...1 days!
As we get ready to welcome the BA & MLA students to the Power Trip team, the MArch team are prepping activities and material to create a virtual school trip for kids who have missed out this year!
Look out for more information in the run up to the project launch!
Posted 5 May 2021 15:54
Megan P
...5
Getting to know the power stations, mines and ash disposal sites:
Schools kids will get to virtually visit a series of 6 power stations, mines and an ash disposal site in the Aire Valley and former Selby Coalfield, Yorkshire. They will learn how the former infrastructures were connected right from coal extraction and electricity generation through to waste ash processing.
The sites were connected through the natural landscapes of the Rive Aire as a water source and transport route along with specially built railway connections.
We will be sharing a series information videos on each of the case studies made by the March students back in December for the Research Methods Workshop unit.
Posted 5 May 2021 16:18
Megan P
Find out more about Eggborough Power station here: https://youtu.be/_3WMuLg2UEA

This video was made by the Eggborough Power station case study MArch 01 and MLA2 team during the Research Methods Workshop 09 unit at the Manchester School of Architecture.

Photograph credit: The Museum of English Rural Life.
Posted 5 May 2021 20:02
Megan P
Find out more about Drax Power station here:
https://youtu.be/GOp0G_-nxaA

This video was made by the Drax Power station case study MArch 01 and MLA2 team during the Research Methods Workshop 09 unit at the Manchester School of Architecture.
Posted 5 May 2021 20:03
Megan P
Find out more about Kellingley Colliery here:
https://youtu.be/1dRk1eeEhVY

This video was made by the Kellingley Colliery case study MArch 01 and MLA2 team during the Research Methods Workshop 09 unit at the Manchester School of Architecture.

Photograph credit: Workers of Kellingley Colliery Facebook group
Posted 5 May 2021 20:03
Megan P
Find out more about Ferrybridge Power station here: https://youtu.be/hbAV6IAn3Kc

This video was made by the Ferrybridge Power station case study MArch 01 and MLA2 team during the Research Methods Workshop 09 unit at the Manchester School of Architecture.

Photograph credit: David Pickersgril
Posted 5 May 2021 20:04
Megan P
Find out more about Gascoigne Wood Mine here: https://youtu.be/0GajBXSd6NQ

This video was made by the Gascoigne Wood Mine case study MArch 01 and MLA2 team during the Research Methods Workshop 09 unit at the Manchester School of Architecture.
Posted 5 May 2021 20:04
Megan P
Find out more about Gale Common ash disposal site here: https://youtu.be/W-QNA4z4fHg

This video was made by the Gale Common case study MArch 01 and MLA2 team during the Research Methods Workshop 09 unit at the Manchester School of Architecture.
Posted 5 May 2021 20:04
Megan P
GUEST COLLABORATOR ANNOUNCEMENT!
We are really excited to announce that Laura Flynn will coming to talk to the Power Trip team. Miss Flynn is a primary school teacher at John Perryn Primary School and will be explaining how best to engage kids online and what makes a great 'normal' school trip!
Her class have yet to experience a real school trip because of COVID-19 so we really hope we can give them a memorable experience!
Posted 6 May 2021 13:33
Megan P
3 days to go….
Can’t help but feeling today would be typical British school trip weather…Perfect sun…then wait for the heavens to open.
Perk of being virtual, you don’t have to worry about it!
Just researching some ideas to navigate the website by looking at the Atlanta Botanical Garden’s interactive map and their lovely graphics.
Posted 7 May 2021 11:37
Maria Olivia M
Today was a relaxing Saturday – we stayed in and enjoyed a lazy morning, while getting excited for the weeks to come. To match this mood, we prepared a fun and quick activity which will be part of the website content we will be creating together. All those power stations enthusiasts, gear up with scissors and glue for some old-school fun with… PAPER NETS! Now you can start designing your own ideal power station – using these cut-outs of a cooling tower, chimney, house and trees; go crazy on creating your little community. We left the amenities open to your imagination and are ready to hear some interesting proposals.

While you’re at it, can you tell me which of the 3 power stations case studies has the most cooling towers? We’ll be eager to hear your answers this Monday, but until then: have a wonderful weekend!
Posted 8 May 2021 22:05
Jessica P
GUEST COLLABORATOR ANNOUNCEMENT!
We are really excited to announce that Dr. Richard Brook and Dr. Luca Csepely- Knorr will coming to talk to the Power Trip team this week!
Posted 9 May 2021 18:45
Maria Olivia M
We at Power Trip can’t believe how the first day of MSA Live just flew by. We’ve spent an exciting morning, where we got to know all the architecture undergrads and master landscape architecture students. This was followed by a short introduction to our Case Studies and our project aims – to create a website for kids to learn about the infrastructure of power in the UK and an exhibition at the National Coal Mining Museum.

The afternoon session was the highlight of the day – as our collaborators, Richard Brook and Luca Csepely-Knorr, gave an introductory talk about their research on the landscapes of post-war infrastructure. This was followed by a brainstorming session on how to best illustrate main features of our Case Studies to make them engaging for kids between 6 and 10 years old.

We cannot wait for the following days to come, ready to create some amazing graphics and really eager for our upcoming Virtual School Trip!
Posted 10 May 2021 20:50
Megan P
The team had a really productive talk from Laura, a primary school teacher, to show the team how she communicates complex sustainability, human rights and historical topics to small children. We have developed some characters for the website to act as a guide through the virtual experience and worked on our illustrations showing the wonders & quirks of power stations & mines!
Posted 11 May 2021 18:55
Ellen F
Day three involved lots and lots of illustrator! The M.Arch students ran a workshop to get to grips with illustrator. We worked through diagram examples together that were created for the previous research case studies. We then used Miro to decide on a 'house style' and create mood boards for the exhibition boards together.
Posted 13 May 2021 10:51
Maria Olivia M
Today we split into three groups based on students’ preferences to learn different pieces of software. The Map Making team focussed on creating fun and consistent graphics using Illustrator in order to create child-friendly site plans for our website. The Paper Nets and Colouring Sheets team designed a series of coal-industry themed sheets for kids to unleash their creativity while learning a bit about energy supply and electricity. The team mostly used AutoCAD and Illustrator to design these outputs. Finally, the Exhibition Space team modelled a potential exhibition space at the National Coal Mining Museum in SketchUp and rendered a couple of short clips with the space in Enscape (clip above).

We are really eager to see how all these outputs are going to come together by the end of these two weeks. We’ll keep you posted!
Posted 13 May 2021 20:05
Molly W
Meet our Guides! Colin Coal, Kelly Kettle and Ellie Electricity will help explain how electricity is created and add some fun to our diagrams. We found out from our lecture this morning, that characters are a really good way to engage small children. Thanks to Olivia and Megan for the very informative presentations on exhibition and graphic design for children!
Posted 18 May 2021 16:19
Molly W
Miro madness!! We’ve been beavering away, working on our diagrams, exhibition boards and website. This is our home base where we plan everything. You can see each others’ cursors flying around which is great for co-ordinating everyone but also makes you really feel connected to each other, something sorely missing in these weird Covid times. Having said that, we are one step closer to normality with the pubs opening inside today! We’re planning a social on Wednesday for more team bonding.
Posted 18 May 2021 16:56
Molly W
Prepping for the big virtual school trip tomorrow. We enlisted little brothers in a trial run of our paper nets, very impressed with the neat colouring on the house! We also finalised all our diagrams including the Coal to Kettle one (above), which features dinosaurs that look a bit more alive than they should! You’ll have to excuse our artistic license there, everyone likes a dinosaur surely!? Fingers crossed our little 5 year olds enjoy their class tomorrow
Posted 18 May 2021 20:45
Jessica P
Today is the big virtual school trip!! We presented all our diagrams including the Coal to Kettle, with Colin Coal and Ellie Electricity guiding the kids on a journey to learn about how electricity is generated. From dinosaurs to electricity in our homes, these little 5-year-olds took quite the adventure of discovering the history of coal in the UK during their class today. Many questions were asked as they engaged and smiled during the presentation. What a successful day with the PowerTrip team!!

Student Responses to Presentation

“I wouldn’t want to be a miner because it's dangerous!”

“I couldn’t be a miner because women were not allowed to be miners! This doesn’t respect their right to work!”

“I’d like to be a miner because they get to play golf and football!”
Posted 19 May 2021 13:19
Megan P
Written by first year student Ananya to share her new understand of exhibition design following Olivia's interesting masterclass in exhibition deisgn: " I’ve learnt to a great extent about Exhibition design from the master students, and each aspect seems to be equally as important as the other. The first and main aspect is to design based on the intended viewers which in our case were children. Therefore we had to use bright colours and child friendly graphics/animations to adjust to their liking. The target audience therefore creates the theme for the design automatically. We also learnt that creating an engaging story with a lenient flow keeps the audience engrossed. Using modern technology such as new softwares like InDesign and Adobe Illustrator was of great use as well. At the beginning of the MSA Live, us, first year students had barely any knowledge about these softwares but the master students guided us and helped us through it all and I couldn’t be more grateful for how much effort and work they put in to actually teach us AND alongside make the website look stunning." Thanks Ananya!
Posted 20 May 2021 21:01
Matthew M
We're thinking back to the virtual school trip presentation, which went excellently and we're all very proud of! It was great to see the kids so enthusiastic to learn about the coal and power industries, and to answer lots of their questions! Being from London, the kids already knew about the buildings of these industries, so it was great to get to teach them what happens behind closed doors. It was amazing to see just how much the kids already knew, especially on topics such as recycling and gender equality! We're looking forward to launching the website tomorrow, to be used by lots more schools in the future!
Posted 20 May 2021 21:13
Matthew M
Day 10 and we've realised how much we’ve learnt over the last two weeks! The sharing of expertise has helped us to use Illustrator and In-design confidently, and even model making programmes like Revit don’t seem so intimidating. For us first years, just seeing what’s possible with computer software has been inspiring! Next year I’ll have lots of new skills that range from simplistic, such as drop-shadows, to more advanced, like image tracing, and even making a 3D axonometric model from the digimap resource. But for now I have so many notes on file types, shortcuts and other computer related terms I’d never heard of that I’m starting to feel like a real expert. I just hope my memory of these skills survives the summer.
Posted 21 May 2021 15:26
Matthew M
Our virtual school trip prompted lots of interesting and unique questions from the school children! We're hoping that in the future the website can continue to be used to help children think about the value of our industrial heritage.
Posted 21 May 2021 15:51
Matthew M
We’ve all been putting together lots of child-friendly graphics over the last couple of weeks for our website and Wednesday’s virtual trip. Here’s a small guide covering everything we’ve learnt to create engaging content for primary school children!

After looking through examples of graphics aimed at 5-6 year olds, we have learnt:

1. Using a variety of bright colours creates an appealing image to capture the kids' attention.

2. Using nature themes throughout creates a sense of familiarity that is appealing to children.

3. Using friendly, cute characters voiced by ourselves can help give children a focal point to concentrate on when they are hearing a lot of information.

The children reacted very well to our graphics, so it's safe to say it's been a success!
Posted 21 May 2021 15:58
Matthew M
How we perceive mining communities, and their landscapes, is often dominated by the idea of towering cooling towers and economic turmoil. As we look towards alternative futures, both through energy production and changing landscapes, we question; what will we do with these past relics?

The idea of amenity struck a chord with the young children who completed the virtual school trip to the power station. They were interested in the activities and amenities these industries offered; it is important to remind ourselves that industrial heritage was not only a thing of pollution, but often a social centre for its community. Industrial heritage is something that requires a bit more effort to appreciate and respect than other types of heritage, but it is something that is crucially important to preserve for future generations as evidence of the world-changing process of industrialisation.
Posted 21 May 2021 16:06
Matthew M
So much fun! Ellie Electricity slides in with confidence to help little visitors explore the “Coal to Kettle” storyboard on our Power-Trip website. The best part is, Colin Coal and Kelly Kettle hop on board the party train as well, each narrating bits about how coal is made, how power stations work, and how the Gale Common hill is not actually natural!

Visit the Power Trip website at:

https://power-trip.wixsite.com/msalive
Posted 21 May 2021 16:12
Matthew M
Our Resources page features lots of activities for kids, from downloadable paper nets and colouring sheets to interactive illustrations and bonus quizzes! Going down from the Yorkshire accents audio and the diagram of underground Big Bens, you can even join a tea party with Ellie Electricity and Colin Coal at Drax power station!

Visit the Power Trip website at:

https://power-trip.wixsite.com/msalive
Posted 21 May 2021 16:23
Matthew M
Power Trip is officially on the Web! The site looks stunning, and all thanks to our hard-working team! Molly designed the beautiful web pages, Matt and Evie did recordings and added sounds that can be heard with the push of a button, and everyone else chipped in with great pieces that make the website whole – be it designing the characters, drawing up diagrams or coming up with graphic design strategies for a kid-friendly experience!

Visit the Power Trip website at:

https://power-trip.wixsite.com/msalive
Posted 21 May 2021 16:26
Matthew M
Now that the Power Trip website is live, check it out at:

https://power-trip.wixsite.com/msalive
Posted 21 May 2021 16:40
Matthew M
For the love of Architecture! The power station case studies can be accessed from the interactive Maps webpage, where you can also follow the prompts and read about their Architecture, Landscape and Amenities. All in favor of learning about the case studies – from architectural design decisions, landscape design, eco-systems and the social aspects of the schemes-, say aye!

Check them out here:

https://power-trip.wixsite.com/msalive/architecture-1
Posted 21 May 2021 17:18
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