We are MUD Buddy, a student led team collaborating with Manchester Urban Diggers (MUD).

We will be helping them design a new Men’s Shed structure, including a workshop and new storage unit in Platt Fields market garden, Fallowfield.

Our collective aim is to use workshops and community gardens to create a safe space for men to interact and open up to each other. At MUD Buddy we value mental health and strive to make healthier and happier environments for everyone.

Come join us if you have the same values and would enjoy two weeks of design, workshops, gardens (and sun?)!

MUD (Manchester Urban Diggers) is a non-profit social enterprise, established in 2019, dedicated to find solutions to existing problems with the local food systems, as a response to an increasing demand for growing services across Manchester and beyond.

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.

MUD is committed to developing projects and creating employment opportunities for our volunteers, as well as providing free services and events for the community.

Hiya I'm Shan En!

MArch 5th Year Atelier: &rchitecture

BArch: Taylor’s University

Hometown: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Part 1 Employment: LYN Architect

Skills:
3D modelling & visualisation, Photoshop + Indesign

Architectural interests:
Human centric design + Poetic architecture

Hi guys I'm Connor!

MArch 5th Year Atelier: Making

BArch: University of Greenwich

Hometown: Brighton, UK

Part 1 Employment: Sheppard Robson

Skills:
3D modelling, Rendering, Photoshop + Illustrator

Architectural interests:
Timber construction, Adaptable Architecture, Performative and experimental experiences.

Hi all, I’m Harry!

MArch 5th Year Atelier: PraXXis

BArch: Nottingham Trent University

Hometown: Grimsby, UK

Skills:
Concept design, Sketching, Photoshop + Indesign

Architectural interests:
People focused design with green spaces as links to well-being.

Hi guys I'm Lewis!

MArch 5th Year Atelier: &rchitecture

BArch: University of Salford

Hometown: Halifax, UK

Part 1 Employment: N/A

Skills:
Rendering, Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, Blender, AutoCAD, Solidworks

Architectural interests:
Parametric, Modern, and Organic.

Day 1 of the action weeks has officially begun!

This morning we met our BA1 and BA2 students on site at the Platt Fields Market Garden. We introduced the team to our project and had a little brief meeting with the team at MUD.

After having a tour around the garden we got straight to work and measured the existing space set for regeneration. We reconvened in our studio space after lunch and did a group ice-breaker activity to get to know each other better!

We then shared our individual responses to each other and collected these on a large collage to make more sense of the project. We then debriefed for the day, with information on what to bring/ prepare for Day 2!

DAY 1 - The MUD Buddy Brainstorm & Site Visit.

We compiled our individual responses to the brief, gathering relevant site information and research precedents. The brainstorm includes a huge variety of sketches from our BA students who seem very excited about the MUD Buddy project!

DAY 2 SCHEDULE!

Today we met at 10am and began the day with a fun get-to-know-you ice-breaker to start off the day!

Afterwards, we split into 3 groups to explore research from the site history, site analysis to relevant precedents. We presented our sub-group findings to the rest of the team after lunch. We had some great discussions together about the need for community gardens in cities, and discussed some very exciting precedents we hope to influence our future design!

The day ended with a group debrief, to get ready for our workshop day to explore initial ideas tomorrow.

DAY 2 - SITE RESEARCH ACTIVITY!

Just a collection of the great site research conducted by our team today. Together we have uncovered site history, developed useful site analysis and researched the importance of communal gardens in our neighbourhoods.

We're all looking forward to applying our findings to the design development tomorrow.

DAY 3 SCHEDULE!

This morning we met up at 10am in the Co-Works space. Our first activity for the day was individually constructing a paper model of the existing brickhouse we are extending.

These were then used throughout the day to develop our initial ideas. We all created a basic concept model in response to the brief and previous site research. We created a great variety of fun designs, we can't wait to develop these further tomorrow!

DAY 3 MODEL MAKING!

We started the day sketching out initial ideas and brought them to life throughout the day using basic materials.

We developed new interesting concepts to develop further tomorrow, including the idea of a half indoor, half outdoor space to cater to the clients needs. We also love the idea of a timber structure, using reclaimed materials!

DAY 4 SCHEDULE!

This morning we sketched our initial ideas from yesterday, refined these down to three ideas and modelled them using CAD software in the afternoon!

Done as preparation for the collaborator review/ site visit tomorrow.

DAY 4 - CAD MODELLING!

The team has been busy today preparing for our mid-action-weeks review with our collaborator tomorrow morning. We have developed three ideas shown above, ready to narrow down to one, to develop further next week.

DAY 6 SCHEDULE!

We began week 2 of the action weeks by dividing into teams to refine our week 1 research and develop our design using 3D software.

Team 1 produced final site context/ analysis and brief drawings for our output document and Team 2 worked on planter designs to compliment the building design.

DAY 6 - PLANTER DESIGNS!

Here hows some of the creative planter designs team 2 worked on throughout the day. This activity helped the undergraduate students develop their Rhino skills whilst developing the design, with help from our MArch team members Connor and Lewis.

DAY 7 SCHEDULE!

The day was spent developing perforated facade ideas to wrap around our building design. Starting with precedent research, we then sketched initial ideas. After lunch we used scalpels and paper to create our designs and discussed design to develop as a group.

DAY 7 - FACADE DEVELOPMENT!

As per the schedule we've spent the day designing some perforated building facades to add solar shading, to minimise overheating in summer months.

The images above show our innovative designs, all inspired by the work done by MUD. The designs explore different textures and patterns to create interesting solar shading solutions.

DAY 8 SCHEDULE!

Nearing the end of our MSA live action weeks, we dedicated today to finalising our design. This morning We developed our roof design ideas by sketching and using CAD to visualise what all the ideas would look like.

This afternoon we developed one idea, applied it to our design, finalising the proposed structure.

DAY 8 - ROOF DESIGN!

Today we have explored a variety of roof structures shown above. This afternoon we developed one design to finalise the structure. We are really happy with how the project is shaping, with final touches of facade designs to focus on tomorrow.

We have been in contact with the team at MUD who are really excited about the design, we will involve them with the final design decisions tomorrow, ready to finalise the design and create our final outputs for the MSA Live action weeks!

DAY 10 SCHEDULE!

For the final day of our MSA Live project, we spent the morning presenting our final design to the BA students. This allowed all the team to see the complete project from start to finish and allow for any final amendments to be made to the submission documents.

We were sad to see the team go but said our final goodbyes and took a group photograph. We were very happy to see how each member of the team has evolved throughout the project! We are hoping we have developed their skills from site analysis, design development, to software and drawing to apply to their later years in study.

After lunch, the MArch team finalised the submission outputs, sent the final information pack to the collaborator and submitted. MSA Live - ALL DONE!

DAY 10 - INTERNAL LAYOUT!

As part of the final review this morning we made one final decision for the internal arrangement of the spaces. The pictures above show the ideas formed by the group during the week, after this morning's discussion we developed one for the final floor plan for our final project outputs.

DAY 10 - RENDERS!

Alongside final design decisions are the final model renders to communicate our final design. We are so pleased with the design both internally and externally! The past two weeks have enhanced our skills in all aspects of design, with our M.Arch team members Connor and Lewis showing us how to model and render realistic visualisations!

We can't wait to share these with the team at MUD who seem equally excited by the design. We have just sent them the final design information pack with all drawings and visualisations, which concludes our MSA Live project!

GOODBYE!! :'(

And so that concludes our MSA Live project. We have thoroughly enjoyed our design project for MUD and getting to know our MUD Buddy team! There were some great work created and new skills developed, we hope will help the BA students in their future years of study.

The project has now been passed over to the MUD team, who will submit for planning once they have had a final review of the design and looked into funding options. We hope the project can one day be built for them, to help them become financially stable and create a beneficial, social space to be used by the local community!