Group 32
ROCHDALE REVIVAL

ROCHDALE REVIVAL This project is a collaboration with St. John the Baptist RC Church in Rochdale, Rochdale Development Agency, and the Heritage Schools Programme. The church has applied for funding to carry out repairs to the building and they are looking for ideas on how to help breathe new life into a historic building, rich in heritage, while also engaging the community. The proposals will help to support the ongoing community work in the area which already includes work with refugees and asylum seekers.

Download Final Report

Beena N / Yilin Z / Zichen L / Sze Jin L / Yifan H / Theodore Mark F

March Atelier: Advanced Practice

From: China

BA: Manchester School of Architecture (Platform)

Interests: Food / Travelling / Anime

Skills: Sketchup / Photoshop / Sketching …More

Posted 2 Mar 2021 17:24

Theodore Mark F

March Atelier: USE

From: Newcastle Upon Tyne

BA: Manchester School of Architecture (CIA)

Interests: Karate / Art / Football/ Photography

Skills: Revit / Illustrator …More

Posted 2 Mar 2021 17:38

March Atelier: CiA

From: Penang, Malaysia

BA: University of Edinburgh

Interests: Outdoor Sports / Music / Food

Skills: Lumion / Illustrator / Photoshop

About:
During …More

Posted 2 Mar 2021 18:13

March Atelier: Continuity in Architecture

From: China

BA: Shandong University Of Science And Technology

Interests: Basketball/hiking

Skills: Revit / Illustrator / Photoshop

About: …More

Posted 2 Mar 2021 19:10

This whole project is focused around bring social value to the st. Johns Baptist church and wider community of Rochdale. Set in an incredibly diverse area, the Rochdale Revival project's …More

Posted 2 Mar 2021 19:13

March Atelier: USE

From: China

BA: Tamkang University in Taiwan

Interests: Drawing/ Fashion/ Cooking

Skills: Hand drawing/ Photoshop/ Rhinoceros

About:
During my college …More

Posted 2 Mar 2021 19:19

March Atelier: &rchitecture

From: Manchester

BA: Manchester School of Architecture (PRAXXIS)

Interests: Painting / Art

Skills: Illustrator / Photoshop / Revit

About: …More

Posted 2 Mar 2021 19:28

This project allows you to pick up and practice various skills, from communicating, being part of discussions as a team to 3D modelling skills in Sketchup and Revit. We will also have …More

Posted 2 Mar 2021 19:50

Laura Sanderson organised this MSA LIVE project in collaboration with our external partners. Laura has previously worked with our collaborators for an Events project in previous years …More

Posted 2 Mar 2021 20:08

Historic England - The public body that helps people care for, enjoy and celebrate England's spectacular historic environment.

We will be collaborating with Daisy Horsley from Historic …More

Posted 2 Mar 2021 20:13

St John the Baptist Church - This church welcomes and invites locals to enter the Grade 2 listed building, to form a community.

We will be collaborating with Stephen Leech, the Project …More

Posted 2 Mar 2021 20:23

Rochdale Development Agency - The RDA is a local authority controlled company of Rochdale Borough Council, dedicated to promoting Rochdale as a central investment location.

We will …More

Posted 2 Mar 2021 20:29

Theodore Mark F

A SHORT FILM

https://vimeo.com/543375760

Our group created this film to help the participants understand the space, which will anchor the 'Rochdale Revival' project.

'GEOMETRY …More

Posted 3 May 2021 23:54

The church sits in an area that has become almost clotted. Tram stops almost obscuring the building and high level of boundary of gates makes it difficult to register its presence. …More

Posted 4 May 2021 14:09

Rochdale Revival aims to improve the connections the existing communities in Rochdale have with St John Baptist Church. The project aims to make the Church more visible to the local …More

Posted 8 May 2021 15:54

The first church on the present site was opened in 1829 with the present church being completed in 1925. The history of the evolving community on this site is ripe for more scholarly …More
investigation but it is a history of various ethnic groups and of the growing population of Rochdale.
The first church of any kind was opened in 1830. Fr. H. Walmsley ministered here from 1832 to 1834, when he was followed by Fr. E. Brown, who sacrificed his life in the care of the sick during an epidemic. It is thought that the first schools of the parish were held in cellars under the presbytery, attached to the chapel. A great deal of work for the parish was done during the long tenure of Father John Dowling, who was here from 1839 to his death in 1871. A brick church, capable of housing 500 people, and increased school accommodation were provided in 1860. Later it was separated in the same year, and gradually other districts were cut off from the mother parish: Whitworth opened 1860, Todmorden 1868, Littleborough 1879, Castleton 1879, Norden 1904. The parish has been governed by a succession of distinguished and eminent clergy Canon Edward O'Neill (1874-1895) came here after labouring for 17 years as chaplain to Manchester Infirmary and Workhouse; Canon John Boulaye, later Provost and Vicar General, was here for a time, and from 1898 to 1937 Canon Henry Chipp governed the parish and presided over the building of the present beautiful Byzantine church, finished in 1925. In recent years the parish has been under the care of Canon P. Kelly, Canon Theologian of the diocese. The church first appears on the third Epoch 1:2500 OS Lancashire map, published in 1930, when it has the same footprint as present. The campanile envisaged was not built at that time.
Built between 1923-25, the current church of St John the Baptist is a Grade II* listed building, upgraded in 2015 due to the importance and quality of the mosaics. The church was considered to be a notable Byzantine design which merited listing in its own right, but the quality of its mosaic decoration justified its upgrading to II*. The mosaics, which are the centrepiece of the sanctuary, are believed (by Oppenheimer scholars) to be one of, if not the best, the example of Oppenheimer’s work with international significance making it of artistic, historic and architectural interest.

Posted 8 May 2021 20:59

Religion-Roman Catholic Church and John the Baptist

St. John the Baptist Church is Roman Catholic Church which is the oldest, largest and continuously functioning international institution …More
all around the world, and it dedicated to John the Baptist. John the Baptist was an important figure in Christianity. In addition to Christianity, other faiths, such as Islam, the Bahai Faith, and Mandaeism, John the Baptist is also considered as a prophet and saint. According to Christianity, John the Baptist baptized people in the Joran River and persuaded them to repent.

Decoration-mosaic

St. John the Baptist Church is know as Rochdale’s hidden treasure. Its beautiful Mosaic decoration has recently been reconstructed which was designed and manufactured by an Italian artisan company. In addition, the mosaic covered the entire wall behind the altar with color tiles, which took morn than a year to complete due to the exquisite craftsmanship. The theme of the oasis is eternal life, which was designed by Eric Newton of Ludwig Oppenheimer Ltd, cost 4000 pongs and was made by craftspeople in Manchester. As we know, mosaics have always played a very important role religious architecture, that is why our MSA Live group is particularly interested in it. In religious buildings, mosaics are composed of small stones to form a variety of religious figures and stories. The mosaics in St. John and Baptists Church is an excellent case. Therefore, part of our project will focus on the mosaics, through which we can deeply understand the religious culture and atmosphere of the church.

Building style- Byzantine Revival architecture style

The St. John the Baptist Church ‘s design began with the hope of replacing the brick church with something similar to the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. The architect of St John the Baptist Church was Henry Oswald Hill and Ernest Bower Norris, and the design of the church was influenced by Westminster Cathedral and John Francis Bentley deeply, both of them are associated with Byzantine architecture. The architectural style of St. John the Baptist Church of Rochdale is Byzantine Revival style (also known as Neo-Byzantine), a kind of architectural revival movement. This kind of architectural style is commonly found in religious, institutional and public buildings. It combines elements of the Byzantine style commonly associated with Eastern and Orthodox Quarterly architecture.

Posted 9 May 2021 18:15

DAY 1 TIMETABLE:

10 AM - Introduction to Rochdale Revival and the team
11 AM - Creative Exercise

1 – 2 PM - Lunch

2 PM - Informal Presentations
3 PM - Presentations …More

Posted 10 May 2021 08:51

The meet with our collaborators included representatives from Rochdale Development Agency (RDA), Heritage School Programme (HE) and St John Baptist Church (SJBC). The collaborators …More

Posted 10 May 2021 19:13

The Mosaic Task

Mosaic task is the first activity of our group!
Students can use any available materials to complete their Mosaic task, such as recycled materials, Post-it notes, …More

Posted 10 May 2021 22:11

It’s Day TWO!

DAY 2 TIMETABLE:
10 AM - Introduction to objectives of the day, learning further about the barriers and issues of visibility
11 AM - Group Exercise 1: Precedent …More

Posted 11 May 2021 09:00

Kicking off!

The team was divided into sub-groups that were based on different themes of History, Community and Culture. Students started off by researching for precedent studies. …More

Posted 12 May 2021 02:06

Background

Oswald Hill, a man whose story needs to be told. He was an architect and a patriot, so much so that he died commanding a squadron in World War 1. Nevertheless, his work …More
has managed to live on more than a century later, one such structure is St Johns Baptist Church in Rochdale. Initially built to combat a growing population of Catholics in the area, it has now become intertwined into the history of Rochdale and it’s people. It is therefore important that the church is as visible as could possibly be in the context that it can be embraced and respected as part of the rich heritage that is Rochdale.

Concept

To increase it’s visibility we came up with the idea of a path that would be created leading towards the church. The inspiration for the path was from a maze as the path would implore a similar design. Along this path we would have readings that explained the history of the church and Rochdale. One would be able to walk to the church and at the same time learn about it and Rochdale. Furthermore, the path itself could double down as its own attraction apart from bringing traffic to the church, as it is bound to attract intellectuals.

Strategy

1) Learn about the history of Rochdale and St Johns Church, this could be done by research from secondary material with information available in hard and soft copy. The same information will be present in the readings along the path depending on the gravity it weighs.

2) Show research methods and sources, this is necessary as most of the information we would be using would be secondary sources (journals, articles, books) therefore credit must be given to the original author. Use this information to map out a plan in solving the issue of bringing more people to the church, this will be where we now place the information into our designs for the path as this is the solution we conceptualized.

3) Think about materiality and how the history will be visualized, this can be done by providing a timeline for the church and Rochdale as for materiality, the best way to go would be with the materials that provide the most aesthetically pleasing structure/design.

With this strategy we aim to remind the people of the role the church plays in the history and heritage of the town.

Posted 12 May 2021 02:06

Background

Rochdale has a rainy climate. Providing protection from the rain is something the church could do with a shelter to embed itself in the community.

Concept / Strategy

Creating …More

Posted 12 May 2021 02:07

Background

Culture is defined as the ideas, customs, and social behaviour of society. Culture reflected in architecture helps create or maintain identity. We wanted to be able to …More
add further identity to the town and its church in order to advertise Rochdale for tourism. We have looked at the motif of a mosaic as a key driver in this project, as mosaics covey the image of the Rochdale church.

Concept / Strategy

We looked at the idea of creating a decorative pathway or pavement made up of colourful mosaic squares going from the main exit of the train station to the main entrance of Saint John the Baptist’s Church. The colourful mosaic tiles on the pavement could intrigue and lead the visitors to the church and the tiles could become increasingly brighter and more colourful once getting closer to the church. This would draw attention to the church but would also make the mosaic artwork on the interior seem like the thing they have took a journey to reach. This path could also become a tourist attraction (along with the Cathedral) which would then be shared online and attract further tourists from seeing these images of Rochdale’s famous pavement.

Furthermore, we looked at adding simplistic Dome installations around Rochdale to represent the cathedral and its culture. They would be big enough for one person or so to step inside where they will be surrounded by a mosaic interior. This adds something memorable to the town and contributes further to the identity of Rochdale. Again, viewers may also take photographs of these installations and share them online which advertises the tourism of the town.

Finally, we would add QR codes near or on placards on the installations which would allow tourists to learn about the cultural identity of the town through mobile. When visitors want to educate themselves on the culture, for example through the minimalistic Dome installations, information is easily accessible to them, and even share the information that they have learned through social media with friends and family with the press of a button. This aids the viewers interest in the town's culture and allows them to learn more about it. This could further lead to tourists seeking out the church when they learn that it is key part of the town's identity.

Posted 12 May 2021 02:07

It’s Day THREE!

After a great session yesterday, today we will start off with an Illustrator Tutorial to ensure all of you have the basic skills to place your strategies on site. …More

Posted 12 May 2021 08:51

Culture Group

The church's visibility in Rochdale will be reflected through the mosaic as a key element. By creating a colourful mosaic walkway to lead people from the train station …More

Posted 13 May 2021 01:02

Illustrator Tutorial

On the third day, we arranged a tutorial about Illustrator. Our MA member, Yifan, demonstrated how to use some basic skills of Illustrator to clearly express …More

Posted 13 May 2021 01:11

It’s Day FOUR!

We were really pleased with the strategies and mapping that came out from yesterdays session, today we will wrap up any loose ends on the diagramming exercise to …More

Posted 13 May 2021 09:07

Community Group

The position of the structures allows for people to have direct view and access, with circulation from all routes North and South of the Church. People visiting Rochdale …More

Posted 13 May 2021 10:54

Culture Group

The first image shows a large scale 3D view of the symbols representing the church that one can see on the way from the station to the church, including the small mosaic …More

Posted 13 May 2021 20:54

Today, we run a photoshop workshop to demonstrate basic techniques and steps for image creation. Students are tasked to curate 3 images or collages that communicate their design strategy …More

Posted 13 May 2021 21:09

History group

The storyboards show how people are guided by these curved structures to the open square in front of the church. and a taste of Rochdale's history in the curved walkways.

Posted 13 May 2021 21:45

Community

The proposed pavilion functions as a shelter for the public. It considers the circulation axis to the church and addresses the arrival from the metro link. The symmetrical …More

Posted 13 May 2021 23:30

It’s Day FIVE!

After another great session yesterday, today we will be starting a new method of design development through speed model making. All of your installation proposals …More

Posted 14 May 2021 09:01

Another productive day!
Today we have been running a speed model making exercise. In the session students are tasked to make their individual sketch model in several short intervals. …More

Posted 14 May 2021 17:17

Culture Group

Today, members of culture group combined the models and sketch, which was made during the speed model making exercise in a single drawing, continuing in the style of …More

Posted 14 May 2021 18:51

History group

Today the member of history group made the model, the outer walls are all painted green, the idea behind this is there would be vegetation growing on the walls such …More

Posted 14 May 2021 20:35

Community Group

Today the members of community group iterated sketch models that allowed them to develop their strategy in 3D, exploring finer details of their design. They focused …More

Posted 15 May 2021 00:31

It’s Day SIX of MSA LIVE 21!

Today we will start off with group presentations to our collaborators, Jack Youd, Steven Leech and Laura Sanderson. Each group will explain their proposals, …More

Posted 17 May 2021 09:36

We were joined by Jack Youd and Steven Leech, two of our collaborators we are working with for our project Rochdale Revival. BA1 and BA2 students presented their proposals within their …More

Posted 17 May 2021 17:54

After receiving feedback on their proposals students were asked to design mood boards that capture the new elements they would like to introduce into their design and develop further. …More

Posted 17 May 2021 17:55

The History team created a montage that brings together their proposal with new elements which were developed in response to the feedback from the collaborators. Their compilation …More

Posted 17 May 2021 17:58

The Community team created a montage that brings together their proposal with new elements which were developed in response to the feedback from the collaborators. Their montage describes …More

Posted 17 May 2021 18:00

The Culture team created a montage that brings together their proposal with new elements which were developed in response to the feedback from the collaborators. Their montage describes …More

Posted 17 May 2021 18:03

Today we will be developing the montages created yesterday, refining them further to create a line drawing in the style of Dan Slavinsky. We will have a tutorial by Theo Fisher to walk …More

Posted 18 May 2021 15:24

Today, we run an abstract drawing workshop to discuss the techniques Dan Slavinsky presents in his architectural drawings. Students are tasked to create a thin line drawing as the base …More

Posted 18 May 2021 20:15

The team is tasked to select and reinterpret elements from the previous photomontage into loose line drawings. The hand drawing exercise prompts students to think about the relationship …More

Posted 18 May 2021 23:04

Today we will be starting at 10 AM and will be working further on the abstract drawings developed in yesterdays session. Students will take their piece a step further by picking out …More

Posted 19 May 2021 09:29

Communitiy Group

Sketches from the previous exercise were overlaid and composed to form abstract architectural drawing. The loose nature of hand sketches prompts the team to break …More

Posted 19 May 2021 22:39

History Group

Sketches from the previous exercise were overlaid and composed to form abstract architectural drawing. The loose nature of hand sketches prompts the team to break free …More

Posted 19 May 2021 22:39

Culture Group

Sketches from the previous exercise were overlaid and composed to form abstract architectural drawing. The loose nature of hand sketches prompts the team to break free …More

Posted 19 May 2021 22:40

It's our final day together over at Rochdale Revival! We will be reflecting on the project and all of your amazing work that you have made over the last two weeks. We will have a half …More

Posted 20 May 2021 09:09

Last day!

Today is our last day to work together. The BA students have shared their comments on the project and how the MA students organised it. It’s a pleasure to work with all …More

Posted 20 May 2021 12:26

Culture group reflection

Elena Grozeva:
I really enjoyed the guidance that we were getting throughout the project. The tasks were interesting, easy to follow and led us easily through …More

Posted 21 May 2021 01:21

Community group reflection

Daud Ahmad:
I liked the how the project was solid and had real world implications.

Ziyi Wang:
The project was really well planned and I enjoyed the …More

Posted 21 May 2021 01:21

History group reflection

Isaac Ndung'U :
I enjoyed the learning experience, it was a chance to know more about a new place (Rochdale) and structure. I also appreciate the guidance …More

Posted 21 May 2021 01:21

Today the MA students will be working on the publication for submission.

Posted 21 May 2021 15:06

Download Final Report