Hi everyone! I’m Dan, I completed my undergrad in UWE Bristol back in 2018 and have spent 2 years in practice at Glenn Howells Architects in Birmingham (which is where I’m from). I joined MSA back in September 2020 and have chosen Continuity in Architecture as the atelier to be in for its approach that focuses on people and place. Outside architecture you’ll find me either at the climbing gym or at the pub.

Upon completing my undergraduate degree at the University of Liverpool in my home city I moved to Manchester to begin my Part I placement in practice in the city centre. I then joined the MSA and am part of the InfraSpace atelier and continuing to explore my architectural interests of building reuse and social productivity in architecture.

Hi, I’m Iulia Nastasache and I am part of the Advanced Practice Atelier. I graduated from MSA last summer and I’ve been part of the MSA Live teams for my BA1 and BA2. My interests are environmental architecture and how different design solutions can improve user experience.

Hi, I am Phoebe. I graduated from The Chinese University of Hong Kong and worked in practice for a year. I am from the InfraSpace Atelier and am particularly interested in urban scale masterplanning which is also a major element in this project. Upon moving to Manchester last September, my free time activity out of architecture during lockdown is cooking all my meals and trying out new recipes.

I am 22 years old, from a small town called Chorley - about 25 miles outside of Manchester. I studied my undergrad at Liverpool John Moores University, graduating in 2020 and continuing straight on to study my MArch at MSA due to being a corona graduate! I am a part of the Praxxis atelier and I love the artistic side of architecture, I enjoy creating illustrative visuals for all my projects.

A successful first day brainstorming all of our initial ideas for the Manchester Blue Line!
Today each team member worked on producing a sketch, diagram, collage or visual that represented their first impressions of the project which was later presented to, and discussed amongst the team.
Ideas generated coved landscaping, placemaking, planting, typologies, structures and much more.
This task helped us start the conversation for the project and gave us many exciting ideas to draw on for the rest of the week!

Great work from BA1 students Chennan Yang (top left) and Ashley Sze Xin Lim (bottom right). Chennan and Ashley worked in the landscaping sub-group in week 1 of the Blueline, exploring potential ideas for how landscaping could be applied to the masterplan of the River Irwell, including split levels, materiality and thresholds. Well done!

BA2 students Ana Foianu (top) and Ana-Maria Baldovin (bottom) produced some excellent work this week as part of the structure and art sub-group of the Blueline Project. Ana and Ana-Maria worked on communicating the incorporation of structures, islands and art installations to the River Irwell through a dynamic range of visual collages. Great work!

We have seen some brilliant work from BA1 students Zach Ng Soong Yan (top right) and Ashlie Ho (bottom left) within the signage and transport sub-group this week! Zach and Ashlie contributed towards producing a visual signage and transport system to ensure simple and easy wayfinding and movement through the Blueline Project along the River Irwell. Excellent stuff!