Meet The Team

Introducing the LiveWires team. Currently we are a team of six MArch.1 students at the Manchester School of Architecture

Rayyan Amjad
Atelier: Advanced Practice
BArch: University of Liverpool
Worked at: Aeys Associates
Skill: Autocad, Photoshop, InDesign
Interested in: Minimalist architecture

Jian,"Eric",Gao
Atelier: USE
BArch: University of Liverpool
Worked at: Three sections of internship in China (short time), one in Egypt
Skill: Sketching, Photoshop, Rhino&Grasshopper
Interested in: Conceptual approach, operation (function) check.

Joseph Twitchen
Atelier: PraXxis
BArch: Manchester School of Architecture
Skill: Sketchup, Illustrator, Diagramming
Interested in: Architecture and community and architecture and wellbeing

Soniamaria Losapio
Atelier: PraXxis
BArch: University of Liverpool
Worked at: Pitman Tozer Architects
Skill: Graphical - Photoshop, InDesign
Interested in: Sustainable and inclusive architecture

Pardis Naji
Atelier: PraXxis
BArch: University of Central Lancashire
Worked at: Briefly at a firm in the Netherlands & RIBA Mentoring scheme with Bennetts Associates
Skill: Revit, Visualisations & InDesign
Interested in: Community/social architecture & urbanisation

Jemima Eyre
Atelier: PraXxis
BArch: University of Bath
Worked at: Sheppard Robson, London
Skill: Hand drawing, Photoshop & InDesign
Interested in: Adaptive historic reuse of heritage buildings

THE BRIEF

Over the next two weeks we will be reimagining the Lost Highway. This stretch of land is an invaluable green space for the residents of Hulme and Moss Side however it has been neglected and become a place where people dump litter.

The focus is to design a noise and pollution barrier which improves community relationships, public spaces, access to activities and resources and the needs and aspirations of residents.

To kick off DAY 2 we spent our time brainstorming and then collaging our ideas on to photographs of three areas of interest along the Lost Highway.

ALLOTMENTS & COMMUNITY GARDENS

We want to re-landscape existing green verges along the highway to facilitate food growing spaces. These will be a continuation of the structure for example, planter walls which act as a buffer to noise and vehicular pollution along Princess Road. We want to ensure we design these spaces so residents take pride in them and view them as their own back yard'.

COMMUNITY KITCHEN

We want to develop the lay-by along the highway to provide space for a community kitchen. The community kitchen should be multifunctional and modular so it can be used for a variety of events. This will become a valuable space for food community initiatives around Hulme and Moss Side and when not being used for cooking it can be used as a sheltered space for picnics and gathering.

FOOD MARKET STALLS

Finally, we want to reimagine the base of the Epping Walk bridge to become a more attractive part of the 'Lost Highway'. This could include features such as market stalls, seating, sleeping pods and tool stores. This could be a place for community grocers such as 'The Bread and Butter Thing' to trade and share high quality locally sourced food within the community at a more affordable price.

A busy day on site (covid safe) and a lot of sketching!

We met with Dominic Sagar and Eva Schlunke, from the Workhouse project, and started to discuss ideas. Regeneration of the Lost Highway will have a phased development and our job is to kick start phase one!

Phase one is to get people excited about development, start tackling the 'food problem' in Hulme and start to involve the community in the regeneration of the Lost Highway. This phase will also involve securing funding for the future.

With this in mind we started to consider how we could design a structure with minimal funding. By building with local recycled materials, we could save on material and labour costs. We considered the use of wooden pallets, tyres and plastic bottles. These are all materials we could resource locally on Facebook marketplace or recycling centres free of charge.

We spent the afternoon sketching and planning developments with these unconventional building materials deciding on key concepts to explore further tomorrow!

We started today with a talk from Christina MacRae, Research Fellow from Manchester University and Nursery School teacher at Martenscroft Primary School (aged 3-5) which is located between the Lost Highway and Aquarius Centre. We invited Christina to speak with us as we were interested in how we might link up with the school and the Aquarius Centre, to marry the development along the Lost Highway with similar community lead initiatives.

Christina explained that at Martenscroft there is such a diverse cohort of children, much like the rest of Hulme. She talked about her work at the school, including integrating children and their parents within the wider community, explaining the benefits it can have on mental wellbeing and imagination. One example she gave was a 'Den Building Event'

She welcomed the prospect of redeveloping the Lost Highway into a ‘communal’ space, highlighting that green spaces that exist already were either intimidating or underdeveloped. She emphasised the improvement that even communal seating can have in make areas more inviting.

Martenscroft currently work together with the Aquarius Centre in maintaining allotment gardens which straddle both sites. Our hope is to join this partnership, creating pockets along the Highway which could also benefit the school and Aquarius Centre. These areas could be managed by a Parents Association at the school, local residents and The Workhouse Project.

Masterplan of the proposed development along the Lost Highway.

The final proposal transforms this neglected highway into an invaluable pedestrianised link between Hulme and Manchester offering community facilities based around food sharing, cooking and growing.

TYRE WALL

The tyre wall is a crucial part of the redevelopment of the Lost Highway. It acts as a noise and pollution barrier from the busy Princess Road whilst facilitating plant growth, seating and advertisement along its stretch. Made from reused tyres and pallets, the extravagant ‘fence’ is affordable and appealing.

MARKET STALLS

Taking precedent from the market stalls along the Seine River in Paris, the market stalls instead aim to provide space for community events such as the ‘Community grocer’. The market stalls have been designed to lock up securely at night, and they can be leased to vendors for markets, charity bake sales, etcetera.

ALLOTMENT GARDENS

The Aquarius centre currently has 11-12 small allotments shared with the community and Martenscroft. Hulme and Moss Side residents would like to expand growing to include gardening projects in the estate. Increasing allotment space along the green verges, which straddle the lost Highway and housing estate, transforms the area and allows more fresh produce for the community grocers and residents. The small allotment spaces will grow low maintenance hardy crops which would be primarily maintained by residents of the estate but overseen by the Aquarius, a Parents Association at Martenscroft school and the Workhouse Project.

KITCHEN

The Aquarius centre has an indoor kitchen used for a range of community events; however, since covid-19, they feel they would benefit from more outdoor cooking facilities as residents feel safer meeting outdoors. Tackling food shortage in the Hulme area as part of the Lost Highway regeneration project is crucial.The kitchen pods and the seating pods have been designed to be self-built and modular, allowing them to be packed up and left securely overnight. The kitchens and seating pods are meant to be flexible and support various community events, such as cooking classes, soup kitchens, or a community café.