Group 05
BOWLS TO BLOOMS

Bowls to Blooms is an initiative for the design and creation of a new community garden on the unused Boddan lodge grounds, an ex-bowls green next to Monton Unitarian Church. This project is supported by the Monton Church Committee and reverend, to design a wonderful space that can be utilised by all members of the wider community as well as the church members. Manchester Urban Diggers will also provide their valued input and knowledge from creating community gardens.

Jonatan M / Nicole D / Niloufar K / Patrick M / Yukun L

Nicole D
We are Group 5, working with Monton Unitarian Church to transform the unused Boddan lodge grounds, an ex-bowls green next to the church, into a community garden and venue. We are lucky to have the valued input of the church committee and are supported by Manchester Urban Diggers who have experience in creating community gardens.

The project has two stages:
1. To design and create a Community Garden, including raised planters, within the intensive week. We hope to get stuck in clearing out the garden and building the planters, ready to be opened on the last day for a community party!
2. Additionally, we will design a Pagoda to be situated on the hard standing where Boddan Lodge used to sit. This will provide some shelter for events in the garden and even a wedding venue for the church. We hope to design the pagoda and create a cost breakdown to make it clear for Anna the Reverend to employ builders to bring to life.

Unitarianism is a religion that welcomes each individual for themselves, complete with their beliefs, doubts and questions, making it a particularly welcoming community. We are excited to work with the church committee to design something that meets their needs and to all get stuck in together to create it during the intensive weeks, leaving them with a space that brings the whole community of Monton together.
Posted 10 Mar 2025 10:13
Nicole D
Hi, my name’s Nicole and I’m studying in MArch 1, within the Continuity Atelier.
After graduating with a bachelor’s in architecture from De Montfort University, Leicester I went into my Part 1 year out, working for DHA in Birmingham. I was lucky enough to work on a range of projects but particularly enjoyed the conservation work, so I’m excited to be working on a site with the beautiful, historic Monton Unitarian church. Being in the continuity atelier, we have a focus on designing within the context of the existing and I look forward to designing the community garden to add to the wonderful existing site.
During my year of travelling last year, I spent a month building a medial dispensary in Fiji, so have a little bit of construction experience and am excited to get ‘hands-on’ during the intensive weeks building in May. I don’t have particularly green fingers, but I’m looking forward to getting messy and planting with the raised beds with the community so I can learn and then plant in my own garden. I am excited to get the wider community of Monton involved and to work with undergrads to design and deliver something exciting that everyone can enjoy together!
Posted 10 Mar 2025 10:16
Patrick M
Hi! My name is Pat and I am a MArch 1 student and a part of the Continuity Atelier.
I finished my undergrad at University for The Creative Arts in 2021 and since have spent the past 2.5 years in practice at dMFK, a London based studio where I spent most of my time working predominantly on high-end commercial retrofit projects within stages 3-4.
I am detail driven, which is why in practice I really enjoyed working within stages 3-4 and why I chose to join the Continuity Atelier. Our project for Monton Unitarian Church is super exciting and I think my interests really compliment what we are trying to achieve with it along with the deliverables we are setting out to produce. My previous BA projects have always been some guise of a community led scheme so it’s exciting to be working on a live project where Monton’s local community is going to be so heavily involved.
Posted 10 Mar 2025 10:44
Yukun L
Hi, my name’s Yukun Liu, and I’m studying in MArch 1 within the CPU Atelier.
I completed my bachelor’s in architecture at the University of Liverpool and spent a year working in China, gaining practical experience across various projects.
For the Monton Unitarian Church project, I’m excited to be part of this project and to collaborate with my peers in a hands-on experience. Although I don’t have much construction experience, I believe that by working together as a team, we can support the community and achieve something truly rewarding.
Posted 10 Mar 2025 11:21
Niloufar K
Hi, my name is Niloufar and I’m studying Master of Architecture and Adaptive Reuse. I graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Sooreh University in 2016 in Tehran-Iran. In 2020, I moved to Oman, where I worked on various small and large scale residential/commercial projects in Muscat-Oman.
I’m passionate about the reuse of existing buildings and bring old structures back to life, therefore Monton church project is a wonderful opportunity for me to contribute by assisting Anna in repurposing the church landscape for community.
Posted 10 Mar 2025 11:49
Jonatan M
Hi, my name is Jonatan and I’m a MArch 1 student, joining as part of the FLUX Atelier at MSA. I graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Newcastle University in 2022 and have went on to work on a variety of small- and large-scale residential projects at BPTW in London during my Part I placement year.

I have always been drawn to the detailed aspects of architecture and enjoy understanding how things work by making them, which is why I am particularly excited to design the pagoda as part of our proposal. My hands-on experience with timber construction began at a young age, working on DIY projects around the house with my father. I’m really looking forward to working with the Monton Unitarian Church community to create a garden that is as much about the shared experience of creating as it is about the final space itself.
Posted 10 Mar 2025 20:00
Nicole D
Getting Presentation Ready!
Today's team meeting consisted of making a presentation for tomorrow's meeting with the church committee to propose initial ideas for the site and rally some help for building in the intensive week!
We sat down as a team and made a model of the site, added our initial idea for the pagoda and raised planters and created visuals from it.
Let's hope the Monton Community are excited by the project and want to get stuck in!
Posted 17 Mar 2025 11:03
Nicole D
Tuesday 18th March
Community Consultation - Nicole, Pat and Jono took to the stage!
We held a presentation for the Church Committee and wider community to hear our initial thoughts for the site, with the help of Reverend Anna!
The idea of the pagoda was warmly received, other than health and safety concerns and the issue of vandalism. Upon reflection, we agreed the project needed to be refocused to just the planters- ensuring we could effectively deliver something the community can use, and do so safely.
The community engagement has made the project all the more exciting with people offering their help for building the planters during the two weeks- we look forward to all hands on deck!
Posted 12 May 2025 17:15
Nicole D
Day 1 Intensive Week - A Warm Welcome!
It was so exciting to meet the whole team and we were so pleased everyone was keen to get stuck in. We met at the church and worked collaboratively outside in the morning to begin brainstorming ideas and get a sense of the space. By the afternoon, we had an array of design ideas and broke into two: one leading the site plan for the layout of planters, the other leading the design language of each planter. At the end of the afternoon, we came together and formulated a rough plan to build upon tomorrow.
We are excited to grow the design, and grow the beds!
Posted 12 May 2025 17:22
Patrick M
Today we took our initial planter design concepts further. In the morning, we discussed lessons learnt from yesterday’s initial meeting on site and solidified a plan layout. We then split into 2 groups to explore 2 different materialities through 2 different designs. We explored and interrogated these designs through sketching, scaled section drawings and scaled model making as well calculating a rough cost estimate per unit. To end the day, we formalised all our outputs into a document which send to the client.
We now await the client’s decision on the desired design to take further tomorrow!
Posted 13 May 2025 17:54
Jonatan M
Day 3 Intensive Week – Cost Breakdown
After sending Anna the two construction options for the planters last night, we began with a call with her to determine which type she wanted to go ahead with… she chose the construction method using sleepers. We therefore spent the morning tweaking the design, while producing detailed construction drawings to use when on site. This was an iterative process to ensure the construction would be as simple as possible, whilst still achieving the overall appearance we and Anna were aiming for.
Once we had the design for the planter and a bench type to match, we were able to calculate the number of items needed for the site plan Anna had agreed to - 8 planters and 2 benches. She had also hoped to make the planters as environmentally friendly as possible, so asked to use untreated wood, if we could do so within budget. After a sunny lunch break, we intensively researched building suppliers to compare the availability and price of the materials needed (with options for treated and untreated timber) and check delivery options to begin building Monday. We rounded the day off with speaking to Anna to go through the cost options for the best option of treated and the best option of untreated.
Posted 14 May 2025 15:53
Niloufar K
Day 4 of Intensive Week- Ordering materials and design portfolio

We started with an online meeting with Anna to discuss the final decision on choosing suppliers and ordering materials. This wasn't an easy task, as we needed to begin construction on Friday, but at the same time, we didn't want to leave all the materials outdoors on site over the weekend. To solve this, we decided to split order into two deliveries, one for Friday and another one for Monday. Fortunately, we managed to make it work, so we're set to start hands-on part of our project Tomorrow (Friday), and look forward to spending a productive day on site with Anna and BA students. We also made a good progress on our portfolio by compiling and documenting all the work that we've done so far.
Posted 15 May 2025 15:20
Yukun L
Day 5 of Intensive Week – Site Clearance

Today our team headed to Monton Church for the first hands-on session on site. Working with a group of friendly, community-minded residents, we focused on clearing the overgrown vegetation along the western side of the site. We created a clear visual connection between the grounds and the church.

The original footpath had disappeared after years of neglect, so we We cleaned it up and restored clear boundaries. By the end of the day the pedestrian route was once again readable, and the whole site looked markedly tidier and more inviting. Several neighbours stopped by to thank us; their encouragement was a great boost and confirmed that the project is beginning to make a positive local impact.
Posted 18 May 2025 23:57
Nicole D
Day 6 Intensive Week - Cutting
Thanks to a bright and early delivery of sleepers from Monton Fencing Company, we were able to start building the raised planters. As we had used our 3D model to calculate the number of each piece of wood needed last week, we were able to work efficiently in smaller groups to cut them to the sizes needed: one group measuring and marking, two people on circle saws, the rest carrying the freshly cut sleepers from the church over the wall to the bowling green. It was a busy day and hard work, but we managed to finish the cutting and have all the pieces ready to go for tomorrow's building!
Posted 21 May 2025 10:22
Nicole D
Day 7 Intensive Week - Building
After another early delivery from Travis Perkins, we had the rest of the materials we needed ready to build the planters. We began the day by laying the sleepers from yesterday into position of the plan we had designed last week, to get the seal of approval from Anna the reverend. After a couple of tweaks she was happy and we could begin building the planters in place. We had three drills to use, so split into four groups, with one group cutting the wood delivered in the morning. The drilling groups attached the 50x50 posts to the inner corners of the sleepers and then added large sleeper screws to the outside corners to secure them. By the end of the day the cutting group had worked through all of the wood delivered in the morning, and the drilling group had connected the first two layers of sleepers for the 8 planters.
Posted 21 May 2025 10:49
Jonatan M
Day 8 Intensive Week - Build Top Half
We started the day building up the bottom halves of the planters we had built yesterday. The first job was to screw the planks onto the bases to create the 'false bottoms' to hold the soil. We used all the drills available and managed this quickly, so once we had done this we were able to lift the corners of each planter and place them onto the paving slabs we had chiseled into size in the morning, to raise the wood of the ground and prevent them from rotting. We then moved on to building the top halves, repeating the steps from yesterday for the bottom halves and lifting them onto the planks. The final step of the day was to add the waterproof membrane and drains to the center of each false bottom to prevent water from pooling within the membrane. By the end of the day, we had finished all 8 planters and made the bases of the benches, ready to fill the planters tomorrow and make the top of the benches!
Posted 22 May 2025 10:52
Jonatan M
Day 9 Intensive Week - Construction Wrap Up!
Today saw us finishing the construction of the bench tops and the layering of 9 tonnes of soil and aggregate in the planter boxes. Splitting into teams, we shovelled the aggregate into wheelbarrows and created a 100mm layer at the bottom of each bed to create a penetrable drainage layer to ensure the water does not pool in the soil. This was then topped with a weed membrane to the corners of each planter to ensure damp soil would not wash into the aggregate. Finally, the beds were finished with 300mm of topsoil to allow for the growth of a variety of plants that will later be planted and fostered by the local community. In the meantime, benchtops were finalised with wooden planks that were securely fastened to a frame by 6 screws each to ensure safety and longevity. These tops can be lifted off to provide storage for soil and tools within the base as the church prepares to build a shed in the area we cleared on Friday. We’re proud to say that construction has been completed on time and within budget, and would like to say a huge thank you to everyone involved in making this possible. We look forward to celebrating together at tomorrow’s community event!
Posted 23 May 2025 11:57
Niloufar K
Day 10 Intensive Week - Community Party

We finished the portfolio work at home, discussing over teams and the rest of the group had a well earned rest for the morning! We then met at the church at 3pm for the community opening of the planters. Reverend Anna had provided snacks and said a beautiful speech to thank us all. We had a wonderful afternoon chatting to local residents, who were all very impressed with our efforts and were looking forward to planting.
We would like to thank Anna and the whole community at Monton Unitarian Church for their support and energy for the project, it has been hard work but we have truly enjoyed every moment. We can’t wait to see what Blooms at the old Bowls green!
Posted 23 May 2025 19:25