Hello, I’m Sarah!

I am in Praxxis atelier, MArch year 1. I finished my undergraduate studies at the Oxford School of Architecture and I am particularly interested in disaster relief designing.

I am super excited to be working on this project for Growing Togetherness, with an opportunity to create something needed for the community, and put our creative spin on it!

Outside of architecture, I enjoy knitting and making my own clothes, and I am currently training for a marathon this year.

1. Our site is the Seedly Pavilion community cafe and gardens Buile Hill Park. It is the oldest park in Salford and has a busy community hub for local residents. The community consists of a true mixture from the affluent houses to the north of the site, to the social housing and affordable housing schemes to the south. The area of Seedly has featured high on the deprivation index for many years.

We are all eager to contribute to this community, and help the facilities which cater for the locals who use and love this community centre.

2. Upon our first site visit we walked the grounds and met with our main contact and lovely guide, Mark. We scoped the site and were able to have a look at the existing facilities and understand the desired improvements. Finally, we wrapped up with a lunch which Co-op kindly gifted the Growing Togetherness CIC for us!

3. Upon this visit we were fortunate enough to engage with the users of the centre and really immerse ourselves within the Seedly community! After a morning of measuring our site and sketching our initial ideas, we had a masterclass in croquet from members of the Seedly Croquet team.

4. It was a lovely opportunity to play a series of matches with them and improve our croquet games. We learned how people tended to visit the pavilion 1-3 times a week, and regularly enjoyed it as their social space. The pavilion really caters to all, from croquet to musical evenings and bingo too.

It was lovely to meet everyone and we are excited for our next visit back, particularly all looking forward to another game of croquet in the summer time.

Action Week: Day 1!

5. Today we met our BA1, BA2 and MLA students and had a chance to do some sketch concept ideas as a ice breaker activity. Emre led some ice breaker activities, getting our creative minds going with some drawing activities and creating some wild canopy ideas.

6. It was exciting to hear such different ideas for a canopy and start brainstorming our ideas for materials to kickstart our designing pre-model making.

Action Week: Day 2!

Today was our model making workshop, creating our site model and canopy options for the client. We split into 4 groups, one for the site visit, two for the optional canopy designs and then a final group that dealt with material research and the grade II listed requirements and created a site plan for an interactive community engagement workshop.

It was a lively and productive day, everyone already are keen model makers which showed in the way we quickly created these multiple models and was a great team effort.

Action Week: Day 3! 1 of 3

To kick off the day in the morning Mark led us round a site visit, explaining the history and cultural significance of the site and the wider context of Buile Hill Park too. A walk through the allotments, which is run by another charity group Incredible Edibles, we were able to witness the hard work that has produced such a lovely community space that many use and work hard to maintain.

We experienced first hand their current shelter provisions, as we put up the four temporary gazebos that they use during the summer. Quite a task needing four people per gazebo, and some had to climb into the planter to place it to make them all fit. We could all see and understand from the multiple users on site, from the cafe to the croquet pitch, this outdoor space is in demand and could definitely use some permanent coverage.

Action Week: Day 3! 2 of 3

In the afternoon we set up for our community consultation. For this, we had created two parts to it. Firstly we had modelled two canopy options, along side the pavilion at 1.50, so we could gain opinions and share our ideas with the pavilion users. Secondly, we created an interactive site plan at 1.200, which included the area surrounding the site as well as the croquet pitch so that people could pin on memories, or ideas they would like to see develop around the site. This was a great way for us to see where shelter and benches were desired around the site for the croquet players, who wanted additional furniture to enable them to keep playing all year round.

Action Week: Day 3! 3 of 3

To wrap it all up after a few hours of chatting with volunteers, builders, coffee drinkers, nature lovers and community members, we finished it all off with a few games of croquet! Some our team members had never even heard of the game before the day started and by the end of the day had played it and loved it. This was a fun ( and competitive) way to finish this sunny community engagement day.

Action Week: Day 4!

24. Friday morning we began with a masterplan sketching exercise, with everyone drawing on ideas on a site plan from what we remember from engaging with community members. This was a quick exercise to make sure we have addressed all ideas mentioned to us and start to prioritise and create our masterplan.

25. We thought this was a good opportunity for the MArch and MLA students to present their portfolios from 2nd and 3rd year work, as well as portfolios to apply for masters and jobs. As there was not as much work to do this day, we though this could be a chance to show our work and give tips and tricks to the younger students. We offered informal tutorials or any help, as we have all been there too with a first design submission and we know how stress filled it can be!

Action Week: Day 5!

26. On Monday morning, we revisited the masterplan from the sketching exercise to finalise and agree on the overall design. We also selected the canopy option to proceed with as a group. This process ensured that everyone was aligned and in agreement on the design proposals before moving forward with creating the final outputs.

27. In the afternoon, we split the BA students into output-oriented groups focused on creating plans, sections, elevations, and a model for the final canopy design. At least one March or MLA student led each group and provided tutorials for the selected software chosen to complete the drawings. This provided BA students with hands-on learning opportunities, and the chance to collaborate closely with more advanced students, fostering a deeper understanding of the design process and professional teamwork dynamics.

Action Week: Day 6!

28. Today, we continued working in our output-oriented groups, successfully completing several drawings. It was both an educational and productive day, as everyone shared their skills and collaborated effectively, building on each other’s work to create different diagrams.

29. The BA1 students in particular have been learning all new skills from digital modelling, to illustrator and photoshop rendering. This image here was modelled by Tina (BA1), in collaboration with Boyu (MArch1) and rendered by her after learning from Emre (MArch1), in just two days!

Action Week: Day 7!

Today we continued to work together in output orientated groups to further refine our models and final results, Boyu contributed a couple of renderings that worked really well and the BA students built on these to optimise and learn more collage skills and image manipulation techniques. We're looking forward to what's to come and are confident that in this collaborative atmosphere we'll be able to produce even better results.

Meanwhile, the MA students focused on layout and detailing to ensure the final rendering was professional and aesthetically pleasing. By dividing up the work, each member of the team played an important role in their respective roles. Everyone built on each other's work, learning new skills and improving the overall quality of the project.

Action Week: Day 8!

32: On Thursday afternoon we went to Buile Hill Park and shared our results with Mark and local residents. The presentation was enthusiastic and the exchange was very enjoyable. The residents not only gave a lot of valuable feedback and recognition, but also expressed their support and appreciation for our project.

It was heartwarming to see that the residents still thoughtfully prepared food for us, and even on a rainy day, their enthusiasm was undiminished as we witnessed those elderly people playing croquet in the rain. These interactions gave us a sense of warmth and support.

33: In addition to the presentation and networking at Buile Hill Park, we also visited the greenhouse plants in the sunroom with Mark, who enthusiastically introduced us to a variety of plants and flowers and invited us to pick our favourite ones to take home. The visit not only enriched our knowledge, but also brought us a special souvenir which is a testimony of this unforgettable experience.

Action Week: Day 9!

34. On Friday morning, the Master students worked on the final results summary. Together, we discussed the details of the revisions as well as the changes that Mark had mentioned in our presentation the day before. Every detail was carefully scrutinised to ensure that all feedback was fully considered and implemented.

The style and colours of the programme book were also considered during the discussion. We explored different design styles and colour schemes, striving to make the final programme book both aesthetically pleasing and professional, and able to showcase the results of our work.

35. In the afternoon we had a final plenary discussion. In order to make the discussion more relaxed and enjoyable, we prepared pizza and drinks, and everyone sat around and enjoyed the food while chatting. We reviewed the progress of the whole project and summarised our respective experiences and gains. Everyone shared their views and ideas, especially for the final details of the programme book, which were discussed in depth. The interaction with the residents and the close teamwork has given us new inspiration and motivation for our projects. We look forward to the opportunity to bring more meaningful outcomes in the future and treasure this memorable time.

BA Students final reflections:

As BA1/BA2 students, working closely with the community has been an incredibly valuable experience for us. Throughout our involvement in MSA Live, we have acquired hard and soft skills through engaging workshops conducted by our wonderful master's students. This opportunity allowed us to progress in time management, communication and most importantly collaboration skills. By the end of the project, we felt more confident and proficient in approaching various software tools such as Rhino, Sketchup, AutoCAD, and Photoshop. Above all, we have learned how to apply and adapt the knowledge we have gained to enhance our own individual projects.