MSA Live 21

Hiya! My name is Tazeen and I am a returning student at the MSA after having completed my Part 1 year out in London where I am currently based. At present, I am studying in the CPU Ai Atelier and I am honestly so surprised to be enjoying online studio despite the distance. Team work really does make the dream work! In my spare time I enjoy running and discovering new bakeries places near where I live!
Join us for MSA Live this year to enhance your architectural skillset and the opportunity to network with professionals from the industry which we understand is not easy during this time!

Posted 2 Mar 2021 11:47

I’m Nosheen- I’m part of the Atelier USE and I’m currently writing a dissertation on the Architecture of Rescue. I work with Photoshop, Revit and hand drawings, and absolutely hate writing bios. I’ll be your advocate in creative exploration and decision-making, conceptualising, building strong narratives, and form part of the organising team. I love cake.

Posted 2 Mar 2021 11:47

Hi I’m Charlotte and I am a returning student at the MSA. I completed my BA in 2019 and went on to complete my Part 1 placement in Wilmslow, where I continue to work part time during my Masters. I am currently in the USE Atelier and within the project I will be the main point of contact between us and our collaborators. My skills lie in Microstation, adobe softwares, procreate and hand drawing. Im currently based in Manchester but a Yorkshire lass at heart and in my spare time I like to cook, paint or just get creative.

Posted 2 Mar 2021 11:51

Hi, I’m Josh and I joined the Manchester School of Architecture following my BA at Norwich University of the Arts. After graduating, I joined a small studio and worked on numerous residential projects, some designed to Passivhaus standards. Outside of my studies, I enjoy a cold brew (not coffee) and watching movies. I look forward to working with you!

Posted 2 Mar 2021 11:52

Hey, I'm Kareem. I'm an MSA graduate and currently am a MArch student. Architecture is a broad field, but I've always found myself at my best within software and so - in this team, I'll be on the line for helping you guys in that department if you need any. I loved events as a BA student and hope we can deliver a project to you as engaging as the ones I participated in before; it's online so there are limitations, but we'll try our best to mitigate them. Events are also your time to network and learn from other students. We've got a tough project in Anthropocene, but tougher projects encourage personal development. Also worth noting I can put in a good word with Calatrava for you.

Posted 2 Mar 2021 11:52

Hi! My name is Jakub (Jakey) and I am a returning student at the MSA after failing to complete my part 1 year out. Due to the pandemic I decided to dive straight into the deep end and do my masters course which I really enjoy. At present, I am studying in the CPU Ai atelier and I recommend it for people to try, as working in teams really gives you the taste for what is it like in practice (even though I have not done my year out). In my spare time I work on my dissertation which focuses on nuclear entombment and I enjoy cooking. So, join us for this MSA Live and learn how to design sustainably.

Posted 2 Mar 2021 13:45

The Anthropocene Architecture School (AAS) was set up in 2019 by Scott McAulay, in recognition of architecture’s responsibilities within the climate crisis (McAulay, 2020). The AAS aims to catalyse proactive emergency responses and prepare students for practice in the context of climate failure. Since its launch in 2019, the AAS has engaged more than 1,500 people internationally and held more than 25 workshops for architectural practices, sustainable design studios, students, educators, and the public (McAulay, 2020). Even though the UN Climate Change’s 2018 Special Report was not enough to persuade schools of architecture, the RIBA, and the ARB into taking action, Scott hopes that the AAS can empower institutions to weave sustainability through every aspect of their curriculum (McAulay, 2020)

“In the climate emergency we now face, architectural education should not only prepare students to practise sustainably, but empower them to positively change it.” (McAulay, 2020)

Posted 2 Mar 2021 13:47

One of our external collaborators this year is the award winning practice Bennetts Associates who will be participating in our workshops and sharing industry expertise with you! With a diverse portfolio in a range of sectors, scales and complexities it is a real opportunity to work alongside the world’s first architecture practice to commit to the UN’s Climate Neutral Now Campaign. As founding members of the UK Green Building Council, Bennetts Associates plays a leading role in the RIBA sustainable futures group which begins to highlight their interest in striving for positive change.

They are as eager to learn about climate literacy and actions that can be taken as we are and as, we are sure, you are so all three parties have much to learn from one another!

Posted 2 Mar 2021 13:47

We are also partnering with a newly founded enterprise Resilient Works who help deepen the understanding of individuals and organisations in relation to climate science, the human effect and what actions can be taken to reduce our carbon footprint thus helping to achieve climate and social justice. We will be working alongside the director, Sam Turner, who provides carbon literacy training and an insight into carbon consultancy on low-impact ethical design.
As real experts in the field, this is a fantastic opportunity to educate yourself more about the impact of our daily lives and how we can empower each other, as students, to make a positive change. Too often we belittle our student status by not taking ownership of the world around us and by not demanding answers from our educators, food suppliers. The pandemic has changed this.

With Resilient Works, we want you empower YOU to ask questions and expect answers. As students, we demand a wealth of climate knowledge to apply to our studio projects and by extension into our professional lives after graduation to building a regenerative industry. Are you with us?!

Posted 2 Mar 2021 13:48

This will be an entirely online experience so we will try our very best to break up the excessive screen time. However, as you will be working with March students with a wealth of experience in software this is a great opportunity to pick our brains and those of the equally talented MLA Students to improve your skills!

We will be using the Adobe Creative Suite with an opportunity to learn video editing software including Adobe After Effects and Premier Pro. If you do not have access to these we will help set you up using the University provider Bentley. Additionally, you will be networking with architects, delivering a workshop and conducting research.

Don’t worry, we will be doing all of the above with you and in small teams so rest assured, we’re in this together.

Posted 2 Mar 2021 13:49

As all MSA Live Projects are rooted in social values, ours is to empower students through education to feel like you can influence things for the better in the long term. The climate emergency cannot be solved overnight so we are targeting small efforts to contribute to the wider global goal.

How are we going to do that? Good Question.

As students, we have the power to hold organisations including our shared MSA accountable for their actions and curriculum. We will learn, unlearn and relearn how we use resources that can reduce global warming by tackling issues in the built environment. The aim is to deliver a workshop that informs those without a built environment background about its link to climate change and creating public opportunities for overlap between different disciplines across Manchester – in climate and built environment spaces, and especially those without them.

Posted 2 Mar 2021 19:29

Check out the schedule for Day 1!
9.00 - Group Welcome
10:15 - Guest Talk with Scott McAulay
11:15 - Project Outputs
12:30 - Housekeeping
14:00 - Topic Breakdown and Presentation
15:15 - What's a Workshop?
16:00 - Presentation & Discussion
16:30 - Debrief

Posted 12 May 2021 11:35

AAS// GUEST SPEAKER

We are pleased to announce that Scott McAulay, founder of AAS, will be joining us for a live presentation followed by a Q&A at 10:15am on the 10th May.

The Anthropocene Architecture School started its life as an event at Scotland’s Architecture Fringe in 2019, and then with Extinction Rebellion he led a session for the public, NGOs, activists, and architects to look at what was holding back their cities’ emergency response.

Next came his Crisis Studios which paired industry tutors with students to design sustainably and it has gone on to offer sessions in climate literacy in CPD slots at practices and public sessions.

Posted 12 May 2021 11:59

We began Day 1 with a group meet and greet followed by a guest talk with Scott McAulay to introduce AAS, and his work, to set the tone for the project. The MArch, accompanied by a presentation, introduced the scope of the project and the outputs for the 2-week program.
This was followed by a 'what's your carbon footprint?' task to get to know everyone a little bit better.

Posted 13 May 2021 11:41

A few slides from the opening presentation to carbon literacy and some interesting discussions on what a 'workshop' can be. How can we engage as many people as possible?

Posted 13 May 2021 14:42

Check out the schedule for Day 2!
9.00 - Group Catch Up
9:30 - Guest Talk with Sam Turner
10:15 - Guest Talk with Simeon Shtebunaev
11:15 - Miro Brainstorm
14:00 - Group Discussion
15:15 - Initial Research
16:00 - Exchange and Digest
16:30 - Debrief

Posted 13 May 2021 14:46

We are pleased to announce that Sam Turner, founder of Resilient Works, and Simeon Shtebunaev will be joining us for a live discussion/Q&A at 9:30am on the 11th May.

Sam, an architect, founded Resilient Works in the chaos of 2020 as a response to the need to drastically change the way we build, with the intention of bringing together his professional experience and an activist’s spirit. He also founded the Carbon Literacy working group in the Architects Climate Action Network.

Simeon is a researcher and senior lecturer in Urban Planning at Birmingham City University. He is also an architectural designer and planning consultant at Beatfreeks and is currently researching how young people engage in the planning of future 'smart' cities.

Posted 13 May 2021 14:58

Great afternoon session today! We've been brainstorming ideas for the target audience, narrative, engagement strategy, visual representation, emotional connectivity, and distribution strategy for the workshop.

Posted 13 May 2021 22:44

Here's the schedule for Day 3!
9.00 - Group Catch Up
9:30 - Research Method Workshop
10:30 - Research Task
12:00 - What did you learn?
12:30 - Debrief

Posted 13 May 2021 22:48

Here's a look at some of the early research conducted by the team, with a focus on three main subject areas: Transport, Commercial and Industry, and Domestic.

Transport (32%), Commercial and Industry (35%), and Domestic (33%) make up for all the carbon emissions in Manchester.

Posted 16 May 2021 19:40

The schedule for Day 4 is here!
9.00 - Group Catch Up
9:30 - Narrative Workshop
10:45 - Independent Research Task
12:00 - Group Research Task
14:00 - Visual Scenes
15:15 - Create a Template

Posted 16 May 2021 19:45

A first look at a narrative for the workshop that aims to form a fundamental portion of the engagement strategy. A personalized story has the ability to connect with your target audience at an emotional level.

The team began by drawing scenes for each subject area, which will include infographics arising from the research conducted on Wednesday and today.

Posted 16 May 2021 20:12

The schedule for Day 5 is here!
9.00 - Group Catch Up
9:30 - Narrative Development
10:45 - Content Discussion
12:00 - Fill in the Research Gaps
14:00 - Infographic Production
16:00 - Debrief

Posted 16 May 2021 20:15

Today at AAS we were developing the narrative for the workshop and discussing content for each slide. In the afternoon, we began to produce graphics for the document based on our carbon research on Manchester and Kareem gave us all a quick introduction to Adobe Premiere Pro. Watch this space for some cool graphics next week.

Posted 16 May 2021 21:01

Welcome to Week 2 of Anthropocene Architecture School! We have a busy week ahead but in the meantime, here is the schedule for Monday 17th May!

9.00 - Group Catch Up
9:30 - Progress Overview and Presentation with Scott McAulay
10:45 - After Effects Tutorial with Kareem
14:00 - Infographic and Animation Production
16:30 - Debrief

Posted 17 May 2021 12:47

This morning started off with a presentation to Scott Mcaulay of our work so far. We showed the Miro brainstorming as well as our research into our 3 main topics. We then showed our storyboards from Thursday and Fridays session and described our narrative for the workshop. The feedback was very positive and it helped with practicing our presentation skills for later in the week.

Posted 17 May 2021 17:55

From our discussions in last weeks sessions, using animation to engage the audience was an important aspect for our workshop. Therefore as most of us are new to this type of visual, Kareem conducted a workshop on After Effects and making videos from 2D visuals. This was a great opportunity for the team to learn some new skills and take a break from research and independant drawing.

Posted 17 May 2021 17:56

Schedule for DAY 7 !

9AM Catch up
10:45AM Continuity of the group work from day 6
2PM Progress overview with Sam Turner from Resilient Works
4:30PM Group debrief, preparations for final presentation

Posted 19 May 2021 11:05

This morning we proceeded to generate images for our poster and still images for the animation which we will be presented on Day 8 to Scott McAulay, Sam Turner and Simeon Shtebunaev.

Posted 19 May 2021 13:23

Here is the schedule for day 8!

9am - Catchup session with undergraduates and MLA students
9:15 am - Collation of visual and written work for the final presentation
10am - Presentation of our animation, poster, and tool kit to Scott McAulay, Sam Turner and Simeon Shtebunaev
11:30am - Acting upon the feedback provided by our collaborators.
13:45pm - Debrief

Posted 19 May 2021 13:38

Check out the schedule for day nine!
9am - Catch up
9:35am - Workshop development
10:45am - Break
11:30am - Improving the final outputs
13:00pm - Lunch
14:00pm - Review of the work collated for the final publication
16:00pm - Debrief

Posted 20 May 2021 12:35

Yesterday's at AAS we had our collaborators over to review our outputs which gave us much feedback to work with throughout Day 9.

Posted 20 May 2021 16:03

Check out the schedule for our final day!

9 am - Debrief
9:30 am - Collation of work for our publication
12pm - Release of our publication

Posted 21 May 2021 11:14

A first preview of what to expect in our publication, which will be released later on in the day.

Posted 21 May 2021 11:42

After two hardworking weeks, we have managed to collate all of our work and create a website on the Built Environment in Manchester.

Check out the website to see how you can lower your carbon footprint and improve your carbon literacy.

Posted 21 May 2021 12:19