Name: Johan bin Nor Azman

Hometown / Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Atelier: CPU [Ai]

Undergraduate Location: Infrastructure University, Kuala Lumpur

Practice Experience: T&T Architects working in residential, high-rise, and religious

Fun Fact: I’m most of the time excelled in the sports that I played for the first time!

Name: Raghav Garg

Hometown / Country: New Delhi, India

Atelier: Continuity in Architecture

Undergraduate Location: Manchester School of Architecture

Practice Experience: Bowker Sandler Architecture working in residential

Fun Fact: I can write with two hands!

Name: Maddie Woodhead

Hometown / Country: Huddersfield, UK

Atelier: Continuity in Architecture

Undergraduate Location: University of Liverpool

Practice Experience: Calderpeel Architects working in residential and AEW Architects working in industrial

Fun Fact: I’m named after a mermaid from an 80s film called Splash!

Name: Monika Ebrahimi

Hometown / Country: Varna, Bulgaria

Atelier: Infrastructure Space

Undergraduate Location: Queen’s University Belfast

Practice Experience: Burckhardt+Partner AG working in residential /commercial/educational and Urban Scale Interventions (USI) working in public engagement and small-scale interventions

Fun Fact: I can make a good chicken-sound impression!

Name: Samyak Jain

Hometown / Country: New Delhi, India

Atelier: MAKING

Undergraduate: School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi

Practice Experience : Auroservice working in Sustainable Research and Lirio Lopez working in Lighting Design

Fun Fact: I can touch my nose with my tongue!

Our collaborator is Castlefield Forum, a community group which became a Charitable Incorporated Organisation in 2019. Headed by a board of 11 trustees and supported by 97 volunteers, The Forum is run by the community, for the community.

Their primary objectives are: to protect and celebrate Castlefield’s rich history, by educating residents and visitors on the geography, history and culture of the area; to maintain an enjoyable environment for current residents, through running action groups such as ‘Castlefield Clean & Green’ who regularly carry out litter-picking walks; and to promote positive urban regeneration, by working with the council to uphold high standards of planning and architecture.

Not only this, but The Forum provides an excellent opportunity for neighbourhood interaction – in an area where many residents are transient, the opportunity for a sense of community is limited. The Forum help to encourage neighbourly connections through their action groups, and through our project, we hope to offer further interventions to enhance this side of the organisation.

The project aims to engage with our external collaborator, Castlefield forum in achieving their vision of a cleaner, greener, safer, better Castlefield. The area is facing issues with unused spaces, confusing vistas and fragmented ownership. This has caused Castlefield to lose its cultural value over the time and the residents to feel disconnected with the place. There is an opportunity to tell the story of Castlefield and re-imagine a cohesive cultural identity for the place.

The project aims to tackle this by documenting the area of Castlefield which can be used as a basis for future developments. The other focus will be on providing urban interventions in the form of improving the quality of green spaces and community interaction areas. The objective is to use architectural tools and ideas to promote a healthier and safer living environment in Castlefield

In the first week of the workshop, students will be taken on a tour around the area, where they will be introduced to the client whilst exploring key areas of significance. Following the walk, they will engage in a series of mapping exercises. Students will be supported through the provision of Digimap, Adobe Suite and Sketch-Up tutorials. At the end of the first week, students will engage with public consultation, where they will meet members of the Castlefield community and have the opportunity to ask questions.

During the second week students will be engaged in designing and digital modelling, where they will learn about architectural visualisations for the concepts they have developed. Using the previously acquired skills students will begin to finalise design ideas. Creativity and representation styles will always be supported, and students will choose how they wish to visualise their ideas.

Our finished collages! Each group compiled their ideas to create a unique collage for their designated site. They each reflect the unique character of the areas and offer different, bespoke ideas for the possible interventions. It's interesting to see the varied presentation styles chosen by each group too, which will make for a great client presentation on Monday...