Meet our collaborator Laura Sanderson,

Laura is a member of the Beech Road Park Road community and a senior lecturer at the Manchester School of Architecture.

Laura is looking for a creative and innovative scheme which provides meaningful community ties as well as becoming a feature for the park.

Hi everyone my name is Grace, I joined Manchester School of Architecture in September after previously studying my BA at the University of Liverpool. I am in USE atelier and have really enjoyed my time so far! We have a great schedule planned which involves making and creating, I am really looking forward to meeting everybody and getting some innovative ideas flowing!

Heya! Im a Fifth year currently in the Urban Spatial Experimentation Atelier, and have been in MSA since first year. My key skills include model making, sketchup, autocad, Photoshop and Indesign, so I will be there to assit you duirng MSA Live. Im looking forward to meeting you all, working and modelling together!

ACTIVITIES:

The two week project will be split into two main acitivites, in the first week the participants will focus on research and design of the shed. There will be four groups focusing on different aspects of the shed and its functionality, these will rotate each day so everyone will have the opportunity to partake in each group. After finalising these ideas, in the second week the participants with focus on model making and experimentation with materiality, including some detailing. At the end, we will collate and produce a guide for a potting shed containing all the work produced.

SKILLS:

Model making, producing technical details, hand drawing, building design, researching, site analysis and community work.

Social value is a key driver within this community based project. The objectives for our event aim to design a potting shed which can be universal and used in many similar parks to Beech Field Road across the country. The shed should act as a public intervention which provides shelter, growing space, uses passive strategies, and most importantly provides social engagement.

This project is a wonderful opportunity to explore new and exciting ways to engage passers by as well as the existing community. The Friends of Beech Field road are excited about the prospect of receiving a proposal for the new potting shed which they would be proud to own in their park.

Here is the site plan for Beech Road Park for those who are not familiar with the site. The park has some beautiful tree lines and fantastic green areas full of opportunities.

After a recent meeting with the Friend of Beech Road Park community the main message which came from the discussions were that this park is for everyone. The aim is to design an inclusive potting shed which everyone can use and can be used for different occasions; maybe planting and coffees in the morning and a small arts and festival scene in the evening.

We are looking forward to briefing our students next week and seeing how we can create an inclusive potting shed which can be adapted for many different types of occasions!

Day 2: Solar and Passive Strategies Workshop.

Day 2 involved a solar and passive strategies workshop which started with a presentation providing the students with some inspiration for some of the fantastic designs they came up with. We encouraged the students to really explore all of the different possible, materials, orientations, proportions and window arrangements which would maximise solar gain. The workshop also encouraged students to explore alternative passive strategies such as wind power and rainwater recycling.

The students came up with some really fantastic ideas, the design shown in this blog post explores the idea of a moving structure which follows the sun throughout the day, maximising solar gain and harnessing wind power to motorise the moving mechanism!

Day 3: Drainage and Water Workshop.

Day 3 ran a workshop considering specific drainage details, damp proof systems and methods of controlling water.

The students came up with some really great details which were appropriate for the site utilising the available water sources as well as collecting fresh rainwater.

This was a great opportunity for the students to explore some basic details along side the Masters students.

Day 4: Landscape and Orientation Workshop.

Day 4 ran a landscape and orientation workshop, the students developed on the presented information. They have considered the interaction between the potting shed and the surrounding flower beds and tree lines, as well as considering how the shed should be orientated after building on the knowledge gained from the solar workshop.

Lastly the students worked on siting the potting shed in an area which is accessible to the community that uses beech road park.

Day 5: Social and Community Impact Workshop.

Here are some words from the students participating in todays workshop:

“The design includes several areas put together where users can have market spaces and meetings, provide gardening spaces, children can play, and users can chat in small community hubs under the shade of the surrounding trees."

"Gardening pods could include this concept where different plants may require more soil, sunlight, or shade."

"On the higher platforms, the difference in building and land scape become blurred as it helps create a panoramic view of the public space and seating areas can be used as picnic spots.”

This worksop had some great discussions today, a great way to round up the first week!

Day 6: Presentation day.

Today we had a great meeting with our Clients , Laura Sanderson and Colette Crosdale.

We had a chance to share our outputs from last week and get some fantastic feedback. We are now looking at creating a potting shed with a raised platform stage, an arch way welcoming everyone into the park and some planter benches.

These blog post images summarise the colourful style we are looking to replicate. Today we developed the idea of creating ceramic tiled forms, each tile having been decorated by a different member of the parks community.

The main message which came from the Beech Road park committee meeting is that this park is for everyone. This invitation to create your own tile which will become part of a semi permanent structure within the park will create a collective sense of ownership.

Day 7: Consolidating our final designs.

Day 7 involved our pairs consolidating their designs in the morning and starting to create their axonometric drawings this afternoon. These final axonometric drawings will describe each element of the scheme to the clients.

The tiles displayed in this post have been created by each member of our team and will be used to render our axonometric and visuals to follow in the next couple of days. They display the vibrant and collaborative nature of the scheme and we are really excited to see the finished drawings come together tomorrow!

Day 8: Finalising Drawings.

Today we have been finalising our drawings ready to collate into the booklet tomorrow. We have been working with the students on styles and presentation skills using a variety of watercolours, hand drawing, photoshop and illustrator. We provided a workshop on illustrator for the students to gain some tips and tricks for creating some quick and effective renders.

We are all really excited to see everyones finished drawings collated in the final presentation tomorrow!

Day 9: Collating the final designs.

Today all of our outputs for each of the three schemes have been brought together and collated into a booklet for our clients. It has been great to see the students pulling together to produce stylistically similar pieces of work as well as creating some fantastic final models to explain the scheme successfully.

These axonometric drawings have been created by our various groups of students. They have been drawn to describe each individual scheme in a clear and concise way to our clients.

The final designs have come together to make a coherent and creative presentation which we are all looking forward to presenting tomorrow!

Day 9: Final Models.

Today each of our groups of students created their final models for each of their designs. We think these models really explain the designs clearly and have allowed the students to explore their designs in detail.

Day 10: Final Presentation.

Today we presented our final booklet to the Partners, it was a fantastic meeting and the Clients were delighted with how the scheme encourages an element of community participation through the use of collective tiles.

The clients mentioned that our scheme has understood the park well and they feel that the scheme would be a part of the park for everyone to enjoy. They hope to take the design forward with the hope that it comes to fruition!

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the partners of Beech Road Park Committee, especially Laura Sanderson and Colette Crosdale who contributed so much towards the design.

We would also like to thank all of our talented students for working so hard on the scheme and contributing their amazing creative ideas!