Name: Yu Jiajing
Studio: Architecture adaptive and reuse
Skills: Rhino, Grasshopper, Sketch UP, AutoCAD, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, V-ray
Interests: Parametric Architecture, Metaverse, Brutalism

First Group Site Visit

We had the opportunity to visit our site in December, as well as the Lime Arts Studio.

The Programme Director of Lime Arts gave us a tour around the hospital to show us the installation pieces they created for Manchester Royal Eye Hospital and Royal Manchester Children's Hospital. We also visited the courtyard that is located outside the Lime Arts studio. Our aim as a group is to redesign this courtyard space for NHS staff as a quiet space of reflection. We all took the opportunity to take photographs, sketch out ideas and discuss our next steps.

Address: Lime Arts + Wellbeing Centre , Peter Mount Building, (entrance across ground floor courtyard) East Road , Manchester M13 0HY.

Meeting 1

Our first meeting ~ 14/02/24

As a group, we coordinated our future meeting times and established our overall brief. Our first initial task involved brainstorming ideas for our poster to create an identity and theme to our project. We all gathered in the studio, sketched ideas together and presented them amongst ourselves. We also set out a communication strategy with our external coordinators.

Our next meeting is next week (21/02/24)

Meeting 2

Our second meeting~28/02/2024

In this meeting, we initially delved into the poster's progress and gathered individual insights once more. Following that, our task was to plan future work and timelines to ensure the project's seamless advancement. We discussed and mapped out tasks needing completion, including the poster, budget plan, action plan, meeting schedule, and blog post. Through deliberation, appropriate tasks were assigned to each member.

Our subsequent meeting is slated for next week (06/03/24).

Meeting 3

Our third meeting ~ 14/03/24

In this meeting, we first summarized the work we have completed, posters and blogs, and then we focused on the follow-up schedule and plans. We listed the things that the project will do, and estimated the deadline for each thing, as well as the possible costs of each thing. To ensure that our project can proceed smoothly. At the same time, we contacted the project leader DAWN and made an appointment for the next meeting.

Our next meeting is next week (19/03/24)

Meeting 4

Our fourth meeting ~ 19/03/24

The main purpose of this presentation is to report on the future plans of our group, including the schedule, budget utilization, etc. Emily, our supervisor, provided suggestions on the shortcomings in our plans, and we have revised and rationalized them accordingly.

Our next meeting is 23/04/24

Meeting 5

Our fifth meeting ~ 23/04/24

Our online meeting primarily focused on providing artist Dawn with a detailed overview of our arranged plans and an introduction to the posters we have previously completed. This session not only allowed Dawn to understand our future plans and timeline for better collaboration but also enabled her to offer valuable suggestions and ideas on the details of the plans. For instance, she suggested making the questions in our survey questionnaire clearer and more comprehensive. This meeting will ensure that our subsequent designs better meet the requirements for modification, making it a highly effective communication between both parties.

Our next meeting is 07/05/24

Day 1

07/05/2024

This was the first meeting with students from BA.1, BA.2, and MLA1. We introduced ourselves briefly and presented the project to everyone through videos, images, etc., to provide a basic understanding of the site. At noon, we discussed detailed arrangements for the next day to ensure the smooth progress of the project. Subsequently, we all visited the site, where artist Dawn explained the history of her studio, the features of the courtyard, and its basic requirements. Everyone engaged in active communication and gained a deeper understanding of and discussed the courtyard project.

Day 2

08/05/2024

Firstly, we organized and prepared existing materials in advance, including the production of floor plans, compilation of survey questionnaire results, basic research findings, and requirements for the courtyard, as well as sourcing relevant case studies. These integrated materials were then presented to students from BA.1, BA.2, and MLA1. Throughout this process, we gained a clearer understanding of the site's conditions and requirements compared to before, which served as the basis for preliminary design. Secondly, we purchased and prepared various materials for students to draw and craft, including tracing paper, colored pens, colored cardstock, and rulers, for everyone to use, aiming to provide conditions for diverse expression. By the end of the day, we collected numerous conceptual designs for the courtyard, each of which was logical and addressed certain issues. However, we look forward to more in-depth design outcomes in the next session.

Day 3

09/05/2024

For landscape design, acquiring basic knowledge about plants is crucial. Understanding the characteristics of different plants and their suitability for various settings is essential for designing a courtyard effectively. Our project primarily aims to provide a space for relaxation, and based on survey responses, there is significant anticipation for the inclusion of plants. With the assistance of our collaborators, we visited Platt Fields Market Garden to learn about plants. During this learning experience, we gained insights into the creation of restful spaces and identified plants that best suit our courtyard design requirements. Additionally, we learned about the story behind this community garden. Not only did we find mental relaxation through our interaction with plants, but we also acquired fundamental botanical knowledge. We believe that the experiences, insights, and knowledge gained here will inform our project design moving forward.

Day 4

10/05/2024

On this day, we delved deeper into the existing proposals from the previous session. Utilizing the knowledge gained about plants, we incorporated them into the project and arranged the design details logically. Many students achieved excellent results in their projects. After uploading all the documents to Google Drive, we organized them in preparation for the next presentation to Dawn.

DAY 5

13/05/2024

The main focus of today was to present all our design proposals to Dawn and get her feedback, and then discuss how we can improve the proposals. Everyone was well-prepared to present their designs to Dawn, and Dawn was pleased with the work we had done so far. She also had a lot of feedback and ideas to share, and the meeting had a very positive atmosphere. Everyone was engaged and actively participating, and at the end of the meeting, we discussed how we can further improve the designs. This meeting will be very helpful in guiding our future work, and we are confident that we can do even better.

DAY 6

14/05/2024

Based on the feedback we received from Dawn yesterday, we further developed several suitable proposals. During the refinement process, we paid particular attention to the attributes of the plants, the scale of the space, and human activities. By deepening these three design points, we made the courtyard design more in line with the requirements and more reasonable and interesting. At the same time, we also prepared the content for the next day's report to Dawn.

DAY 7

15/05/2024

We presented three strong concept designs to NHS staff and stakeholders at the Postgraduate Building on Oxford Road. Our collaborators Dawn and Rosemary attended the presentation session and were very happy with the outcome of our action weeks. We received great feedback from NHS staff, as they were pleased that their suggestions from the questionnaires were included in the final outputs. A health and safety inspector joined us for the presentation and provided further insight into safety requirements, such as lighting, non-combustible materials, appropriate gradients of accessible ramps and slip and trip hazards.

DAY 8

16/05/2024

After amending the designs based on the feedback from the staff and stakeholder meeting, the students did an exercise where they had to imagine their designs through time, and narrate it visually in the form of a scroll.

Design1

Design 2

Design 3