Meet the Team!

Hey guys, I‘m Neda!

MArch 5th Year Atelier: Advanced Practice

BArch: Manchester School of Architecture

Hometown: Kaunas, Lithuania

Fun Fact: I am a self-proclaimed tea connoisseur and croissant enthusiast!

Social value:

PLAYBOX.CHORLTON is a community-driven project, with a goal to create a social bridge between the two halves of Chorlton. We will focus on establishing a sense of community togetherness by reimagining and reinventing an existing shipping container site, right at the edge of Chorlton park. We aim to design an inclusive neighbourhood activity hub that will concentrate on communal and personal health and wellbeing, cooperation, and education. By exploring and redeveloping the pre-existing onsite materials, we aim to reduce the environmental footprint of our project, thus promoting sustainability in the community. The project will encourage local community engagement and enjoyment within the newly redeveloped spaces.

Chorlton Park and Community

Chorlton Park takes pride in its community links. The areas surrounding the park have a relatively equal distribution of families, young professionals, and lone parents and so the park acts as a place for informal social gatherings for all community members. A variety of leisure and entertainment facilities within the park create a mix of activities to be enjoyed by the whole community.
The neighbourhood also celebrates its racial and cultural diversity, and with this project, we encourage students to creatively think about spaces that would help strengthen these community links and connect the "two halves" of Chorlton.

Perhaps the most notable building adjacent to the site is the Brookfield House, famously known as "The White House". It is one of the oldest buildings in Chorlton, currently used by the Friends of Chorlton park and for residential purposes. The building also occasionally hosts the food bank.

Meet our guest speaker!

We are so excited to welcome John Lee as our guest speaker this week! John will inspire our students by telling us all about his work with Projekts MCR - a skatepark in Manchester that has utilized shipping containers for establishing various social and leisure spaces.

John Lee is a senior lecturer from MSA and has taught in the Continuity in Architecture atelier since 2004. He is interested in investigating all aspects of context and learning from traditional architecture as means of achieving urban continuity. He is also keen on exploring the role of ornament in architectural design and its relationship to the craft of the building.