Meet our Collaborator Jo from MUD!

MUD (Manchester Urban Diggers) is a non-profit social enterprise, established in 2019 as a response to an increasing demand for growing services across Manchester and beyond. They are dedicated to finding solutions to the problems with their local food systems. This includes; advocating for food sovereignty, being a member of the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Network, providing educational services and growing fruit, vegetables and herbs to make available to the local community. They always use organic growing methods and improve local biodiversity and soil health wherever they grow. MUD is committed to developing projects and creating employment opportunities for our volunteers, as well as providing free services and events for the community. MUD offer a wide range of services and opportunities for the public and private sector, including several exciting projects that are explained in detail on their website.

Website: http://www.wearemud.org
Instagram: @mud_cic
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mud.cic/
YouTube: Manchester Urban Diggers CIC

Hey, I’m Lucy and I am a member of the Heart and Soil team!

I joined MSA in September after working in practice for 18 months and graduating from The University of Liverpool in 2018. I am currently in the USE atelier, which I am loving so far.

I am looking forward to meeting the new members of our team!

Hi, I'm Millie!

I graduated from MSA in 2019 and then spent a year in practice at DAY Architectural. I'm currently in the Continuity in Architecture Atelier which I think really suits my architectural values.

Our Heart and Soil project is set to be a really lovely piece of work and I'm excited to get started with our new team!

Our project focuses on allotment and community garden design. As a team we will be working closely with our collaborator MUD (Manchester Urban Diggers) to explore the current accessibility difficulties faced by those with a disability.

It is common knowledge that accessibility issues can prevent disabled and elderly people from visiting allotment sites. Our aim is to consider how allotments and community gardens can be made more accessible and safer to everyone in society.

We will produce landscaping and practical designs that address and find solutions to these accessibility issues, primarily focussing on the sites maintained by MUD in Greater Manchester. However, our aim is to produce designs that will be universal and can be implemented at allotments throughout the country. This project will initiate a new way of thinking about allotment design. We intend to produce designs that will benefit everyone in the community by breaking the accessibility barrier to promote and create new growing opportunities.

How we share ideas!

At the start of last week, we set up a Miro board to allow our team members to share their work and ideas. This Miro board, along with Microsoft Teams is how our team communicates. Throughout each day, we all upload what we have been working on and we constantly refer to previous uploads.

Miro is the perfect software to talk through our ideas whilst we are in a group video call. It enables us to look at everyone’s work at once, whilst being able to draw and add comments on screen.

Signage Development!

Today two of our BA students looked at signage designs and potential locations on site. We believe that signs are a necessary navigation and information technique that will be hugely beneficial for less-able Platt Fields visitors. Our students produced some fantastic inclusive designs that incorporated images, braille, audio recordings, and embossed lettering. The designs were envisioned to be readable to anyone, from young children to visually and hearing impaired individuals. The signs will locate the main interventions and all growing produce on site.

Inclusive Design!

Over the past couple of days, a few of our team members have considered how visitors will navigate through the Platt Fields site. We have focused specifically on how Platt Fields can be updated to facilitate wheelchair access. We have incorporated new routes into the site plan and researched suitable pathway materiality’s. We all agree that it could be beneficial to differentiate areas (market, allotment, workshop, circulation) using a distinct materiality.

Developing Visuals!

Today three of our team members each developed a visual of our proposed interventions. The visuals showcase designs of vertical and stacked planters, rendered to reflect how they would look on site. Our team are so pleased with how these images have turned out and we are excited to see what else will be produced!

Feedback from MUD and Jos Boys!

Last Friday, we met via Zoom with our collaborator MUD and Jos Boys, an architect who specialises in accessibility.

The purpose of this meeting was to present our initial ideas and work in progress drawings for feedback. We explained our initial site plans, layout, materiality, and interventions. This presentation was super helpful, and our guests were really pleased with our progress.

Jos commented:

“Thoughtful and inventive work”

“You’ve done such a lot of work between you…I’d really like to see where you take it”

The main questions our guests asked us to think about were ‘what is gardening?’ ‘what is inclusive gardening?’ and ‘how are you meeting functional needs?’

Following this meeting, we started to ask ourselves questions like ‘will this be suitable throughout all weather conditions and seasons?’, ‘are we excluding anybody?’ and ‘will our designs work on the Platt Fields site?’

We are all looking forward to seeing how this project progresses!

Lumion tutorial with Millie!

This morning our team member Millie shared some useful tips and tricks on how to use the rendering software Lumion. We learnt how to import and export models, commands, and how to change materiality.

Our site model will be rendered using Lumion so we are excited to see how it will turn out!

Developing Visuals!

Throughout the week our team members have been developing visuals to showcase our proposed interventions. The visuals on this post showcase the designs of our wheelchair accessible planters and seated planters.

Concept Drawings!

Sharing some of our teams drawings from over the past few days because they are too nice not too!

Concept Drawings!

Sharing some of our teams drawings from over the past few days because they are too nice not too!

Concept Drawings!

Sharing some of our teams drawings from over the past few days because they are too nice not too!

DESIGN OUTPUT

Final Site Plan!

Today we put the finishing touches on our site plan.

We have reconfigured the existing Platt Fields site plan to be accessible and inclusive to all. We have introduced new pathways, seating arrangements, and interventions, whilst keeping the growing, market, and workshop spaces as existing. We have recommended new pathway materiality’s, widened pathway’s where necessary, and removed any obstructions.

Our aim was to make the allotment as safe as possible for those less-able. We believe that the suggestions made would encourage disabled persons to visit the site regularly and to take up a new hobby!

DESIGN OUTPUT

Visuals for Storyboard!

As a team we decided to present our proposed interventions using a storyboard. This storyboard showcases how a visitor walks through the site and highlights what they should expect to see. The images on this post showcase a visitors journey, from entering the site, to walking through the market, and to walking through the picnic area.

We are all really pleased with the quality of these images, well done team!

DESIGN OUTPUT

Visuals for Storyboard!

As a team we decided to present our proposed interventions using a storyboard. This storyboard showcases how we have proposed to make gardening accessible. The images on this post showcase the growing process of various plants. The images on this post showcase the growing process of various plants, from planting seeds in the greenhouse, through to planting in planters and raised beds.

We are all really pleased with the quality of these images, well done team!

DESIGN OUTPUT

Visuals for Storyboard!

As a team we decided to present our proposed interventions using a storyboard. This storyboard showcases how visitors use the workshop facilities. The images on this post show how we have proposed to improve accessibility, from levelling out pathways, introducing ramps, and adding raised working platforms.

We are all really pleased with the quality of these images, well done team!

DESIGN OUTPUT

Technical Resolution: Accessible Planters!

Using an IKEA style graphic, we have illustrated how our accessible planters would be constructed in four simple steps. We have envisioned a re-use strategy that proposes to use material available at the Platt Fields site, such as wooden pallets, crates, and boards.

These inclusive planters have been designed to allow wheelchair users to engage in gardening, making the task as easy as possible.

We are all really pleased with how these have turned out…great work!

DESIGN OUTPUT

Technical Resolution: Vertical Planters!

Using an IKEA style graphic, we have illustrated how our vertical planters would be constructed in four simple steps. We have envisioned a re-use strategy that proposes to use material available at the Platt Fields site, such as old wooden doors, hinges, and hooks.

The varying heights of shelves, pots, and tools etc are suitable to all visitors, from wheelchair users to visually impaired individuals.

We are all really pleased with how these have turned out…great work!

DESIGN OUTPUT

Technical Resolution: Stacked Planters!

Using an IKEA style graphic, we have illustrated how our stacked planters would be constructed in four simple steps. We have envisioned a re-use strategy that proposes to use material available at the Platt Fields site, such as wooden pallets, crates, and boards.

These planters are an effective planting strategy because they are raised from the ground. All visitors can use these planters, from wheelchair users to elderly and able-bodied individuals.

We are all really pleased with how these have turned out…great work!

Final Presentation!

This morning we prepared our presentation to present our final ideas and designs to MUD.

Once finished, we recorded our presentation to be sent to MUD via email as Jo was unable to join today. With the presentation recording we are also planning to send the PDF, our previous presentations, and a design booklet, which showcases all our concept designs.

We are so pleased with the outcome of this project and we are looking forward for feedback from our collaborator!

What skills we’ve learnt!

Over these past two weeks we have acquired a range of new skills, from software to hand drawing.

We have learnt how to work as a team and communicate effectively. All members joined the group meetings on time and made lots of useful contributions.

These skills will really benefit our team members in the professional world!

Thank you!

Today was the final day of MSA Live!

Oscar, Millie, Catherine, Roseline, Kat, and Lucy would like to say a massive thank you to our BA students for all their hard work over these past two weeks. We have been so lucky to work with such motivated and talented individuals, who produced fantastic high-quality work every day…we have every faith that you will all succeed in your architectural studies!

Good luck everyone, hope you all have a lovely summer, and hopefully see you in September!

We would also like to thank our collaborators MUD for envisioning an enjoyable and interesting workshop. Hopefully, our designs will be implemented on site one day.