MSA Live 25

Hey! I’m Scarlett, I grew up in Northumberland in the UK. After completing my BArch at the University of Nottingham, I spent a year in London working with Howells. There, I was able to broaden my skills and experience through fast-pass, large scale design projects. I’m now studying my MArch at MSA. My skills include collaboration, organisation and experience with AutoCAD, Sketchup, Adobe Suite, Enscape and Revit.

As a student of the SKN Atelier, I’m particularly interested in the use of natural materials in sustainable design and feminist architectural theory. Beyond my studies, I enjoy exploring new places or cooking a good meal!

I’m looking forward to the opportunity to work alongside a great team of people to create a thoughtful design for the children’s corner of the MMU Poetry Library!

Posted 3 Mar 2025 09:24

Hello, I'm Qiuyi Wang, currently studying Master of Architecture and Adaptive Reuse at MSA in the UK, with an undergraduate degree in Spatial Design in Korea.I specialize in design and rendering using SketchUp, Rhino, Photoshop and V-Ray, and have a keen interest in the design and expression of architectural space.

Studying at MSA has exposed me to more diverse design concepts and made me constantly think about how to combine functionality with aesthetics.

Outside of class, I like to explore new places and experience different cultures, and I also love music, which brings me a lot of inspiration for my design.

I am looking forward to interacting and learning with you all, and creating more creative sparksfor the MMU Poetry Library.

Posted 3 Mar 2025 22:22

Yiwen W

Hi everyone!

I am Yiwen Wu from China, currently a student of March1 and Infrastructure Space atelier. I studied my undergraduate in Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University and the University of Liverpool. I have interned at two architectural practices in China during and after my undergraduate studies.

My experience at MSA has helped me to deepen my understanding of architecture. As a student of INFRA, my project is also inspiring me to consider architectural design in a more human, digital and sustainable way.

I am honoured to be involved in the MMU Poetry Library, this is going to be an invaluable learning experience in my life. I am looking forward to working with my group members and creating innovative spaces for children!

Posted 4 Mar 2025 00:03

Hello, I’m Kexin Shen, currently pursuing a master’s degree in Adaptive Reuse at MSA. I have participated in various research and design projects, gaining extensive experience in software applications and practical operations.

I am passionate about architectural renovation and urban planning projects and am committed to continuous research in these fields. In addition to my studio work, I am also exploring the relationship between smart cities and people. I am proficient in using software such as AutoCAD, Enscape, Adobe Suite, and Photoshop for my work.

Posted 9 Mar 2025 22:05

Ada A

Hi, I’m Ada! I have been in Manchester for the past 6 years, doing my BA at MSA after moving from Romania! During my 3 years in practice, I worked on large scale residential projects as well as offices and educational architecture all around Manchester.

Now in my first masters year at MSA, I have become passionate about ornament and detail as well as storytelling in architecture. Being in the Continuity atelier has definitely allowed me to expand on these passions! My skills include communication, problem solving and software such as Revit, the Adobe Suite and Enscape. I was also part of the MSSA zine in my undergrad where I developed physical skills such as bookbinding and zine making.

I have already had the opportunity to experience MSA Live as an undergraduate, therefore I am looking forward to help steer this year’s project and create a beautiful solution for engaging children in the Poetry Library at MMU!

Posted 10 Mar 2025 10:20

Harry D

Hi! I’m Harry. After studying architecture at undergraduate level in Nottingham, I worked for a year and a bit in Leeds for GSSArchitecture. There I was able to work with various clients, mostly higher education, and hone my skills on software like Revit and Photoshop. Moving to Manchester to study is a new experience for me, being from the northeast I’d never been to Manchester before, and it’s certainly living up to the expectations!

Studying in the Continuity Atelier in MArch 1, I have developed a great appreciation for the layers of history that architecture can provide in our day to day lives, and the importance of preserving the cultural heritage of our cities. Outside of architecture, I’m a massive Newcastle United fan, howay the lads.

Working with Manchester Poetry library for the design of the children’s corner is going to be a great opportunity to engage with the community, and I’m really excited to see what happens!

Posted 12 Mar 2025 14:31

The Collaborator

We are very excited to be collaborating with the MMU Poetry Library as part of MSALive 2025! This vibrant and welcoming library is located in the Grosvenor Building, right at the heart of the MMU Campus.

The team includes Becky (Director), Martin (Programme Manager), and Kaye (Education Manager). Being the first poetry library in the North West, they are super passionate about creating a place where everyone can ‘explore and enjoy poetry’.

The library has a lot to offer from a dedicated Manchester collection and multilingual poetry to zines, journals and a children’s corner. They also host a wide range of events and exhibitions throughout the year.

Posted 12 Mar 2025 14:51

29/01/25 | Visiting the Space and Establishing the Output

To kick off our project, we visited the library and met the collaborators. This gave us the opportunity to explore the space and understand what the team are hoping to achieve through MSALive.

Their primary focus is a children’s craft station – a self-guided, flexible workspace with storage for art supplies and space to display the poems and zines created. The design should reflect the nature-inspired theme already present in the children’s corner of the library.

We also explored ideas for a wayfinding tool - a magnetic, low-tech signage system that can help visitors navigate the library. We intend to leave this as a concept design that the library can develop further if they choose.

Sustainability and adaptability were key themes in our discussions and will be central to the design process.

Posted 12 Mar 2025 14:51

10/02/25 | Workshop 01

Our first team workshop gave us the opportunity to discuss project roles, explore initial concept designs and start planning out the action weeks.

We agreed that the craft station will be our primary focus and the wayfinding tool will be explored further during the action weeks, if time allows.

We started researching precedents of children’s furniture, creative play spaces, and practical storage solutions. A core concept started to take shape: a tree-like structure where children can hang their creations from its branches.

Posted 12 Mar 2025 14:52

17/03/25 | Finalising Plans for the Action Weeks

In our latest meeting with the collaborator, we planned their involvement during the Action Weeks.

We’ll begin with a team visit to the library, giving everyone an opportunity to meet the collaborators and explore the space. Later in the week, we will host a collaborative design workshop where we will finalise the project concept. To end the MSALive weeks, we’ll host a soft launch, presenting a 'proof of concept' to the library team. This will include:

- 1:5 scale prototype
- End-user poster to support model
- Full set of detail drawings
- Construction manual

This package will give the library everything they need to secure funding and commission a high-quality final piece. It also offers a great chance to gather feedback from visitors before moving ahead with the project.

We can't wait to get started!

Posted 9 May 2025 11:50

12/05/25 | Kicking things off!

Our first day began with an informal welcome session where we all introduced ourselves and outlined the brief, goals and timeline of the weeks ahead. Since zines are a big part of what the Poetry Library is about, we all had a go at making one ourselves. This gave the team a chance to get to know each other and to better understand the process of zine making.

After lunch in the sun, we came back together for ‘Harry’s (not so) Famous Pub Quiz’… which ended in a head to head for first place! Well done to the winning team!

The rest of the afternoon was spent with Martin, the Poetry Library programme manager. He joined us in our workspace to show us some example zines and explain what the library is all about. We then headed down to the library for a short tour. This was a great opportunity to ask questions about the brief and photograph and take measurements of the children’s corner. Martin highlighted the importance of nature, flexibility and child-safe design as priorities for the final outcome.

We are looking forward to seeing what designs everyone comes up with tomorrow!

Posted 13 May 2025 23:47

13/05/25 | Exploring Design Ideas

By the second day the team started to come up with individual design ideas, taking guidance from the tour from Martin in the Poetry Library, and the design brief we laid out for them. The students engaged in the design task from all angles; some kept it sketchy with hand cut models; others designed more conceptually using rhino. Small, informal tutorials from the Masters students happened through the day, allowing the undergraduate students to justify their designs in a friendly manner. Seeing physical models alongside some wonderful sketches was lovely to see.

After a larger group discussion, where we encouraged all the students to chime in, we started to understand the general direction that the designs would follow, and what we plan on showing Martin tomorrow. By the end of the day the students had some lovely concept designs that were almost ready for client consultation.

Posted 13 May 2025 23:49

14/05/25 | Presenting to the Collaborator

We are already halfway through the first week!

This morning the team refined their designs and put together short presentations ready to show the collaborator. We talked about how best to communicate initial concepts, a contextual response and proposed materiality and colour pallets through collaging, sketching and precedents.

After lunch, Martin joined us once again to share his thoughts on everyone’s design ideas. Once everyone had presented, he shared that he was really impressed with what the students had come up with in such a short period of time, and that the designs were thoughtful, innovative and fulfilled the brief really well. The following discussions focused on balancing permanence and flexibility, considering how many people would be using the space at once, and ensuring the design helped to define a dedictaed children’s space, since it is often used for storage at the moment.

Once the collaborator had left, we came up with a list of priorities for the design and agreed it would have two main elements: stackable/modular cubes with various uses, and a flat-pack tree structure that can be used to display zines and enhance the nature inspired theme in the space. Focusing on these two components made it easier to divide the design work among the group, giving us clear elements to refine.

Finally, we asked the group what they would like to spend their time working on over the coming days, whether that be digital or physical modelling, detail drawings or publications. This helped us understand what skills the team were already confident in and what they would like to improve on.

Tomorrow will be spent refining the design ready for producing the final outputs… watch this space!

Posted 15 May 2025 16:57

15/05/25 | Solidifying the Final Design
By the fourth day, following the design team allocations, the students began to work together well. Following the advice from Martin, both teams took a liking to the idea of a modular environment. Modularity and flexibility was something that seemed important to the Poetry Library, which the students really took on board. The idea of emphasising the space also shined through the students designs, creating an exciting piece that would help solidify the Children’s Corner as its own designated space.

The design of the tree stands as a piece that helps define the area that it sits within, modular elements inside of it allow for a somewhat flexible design too. Structural supports within the tree aimed to have multifaceted uses, where kids could use the supports as a place of craft or reading. A tree with branches that could hold and display many things seemed the most likely, producing an exciting form of storage felt like a great way to emphasise the space.

The modular cube design was one that was fully customisable; these boxes can be used as and when they need to be, and swiftly put away when they don’t. The team focused on designing a solid ‘master’ cube, creating subsequent designs from this. This streamlined design process was really encouraging to see! The boxes would be playful in nature, acting as crafting space, storage space, reading space, or a step-up to access the window sill. All things outlined as desirable at the start of the week by Martin.

Some Masters students liaised with Scott in the workshop, informing him of the outputs we would expect to have, and the assistance required when bringing in the Undergraduate students. We wanted him to be informed of the experiences of those who were interested in helping in the workshop.

The student’s willingness to be flexible in their designs and to put the clients needs first really shone through today! It’s really exciting to see the designs beginning to take shape!

Posted 15 May 2025 16:59

16/05/25 | Rounding Up the First Week

As a group we decided upon the final designs to take forward into the following action week. With this the students began working on the detail drawings that would aid in the fabrication and construction of each piece of furniture. By the start of the afternoon, design revisions had come to a halt, and we were all happy with the model outputs we wanted.

Once the design revisions had been fully made, we gave a quick presentation on what we would like to see out of them, and what would be useful for next week. This included clear and readable examples of detail drawings, posters, a kit of parts, and an IKEA-like construction manual.

It was great that the students had told us what they are comfortable with using, and what skill sets they’d like to improve, allowing us to allocate them in groups, according to the outputs we outlined for them.

In the afternoon, several of the students were taken to the workshop to begin fabrication of the context model. Martin had made us aware that he struggled visualising space, so we thought this would be an excellent way of showing him the space with the furniture inside. The students were encouraged to work with as many machines as possible, for many of them this was the first time in the B.15 workshop. The staff in the workshop, and the masters students encouraged the undergraduates to make and craft. In our own experiences the best way to learn is by doing, and these experiences in the workshop really allowed them to give it a go!

Looking back at the hectic, but enjoyable first week, it has been really encouraging to see the students properly designing with a real client in mind. It’s also great to see them trying new things, like working in B.15. These are all things we looked to achieve when creating the Action Plan for these two weeks, so it’s lovely to see that this is paying off!

Posted 18 May 2025 13:11

19/05/25 |Context Modelling and Poster Design

We started the second week with a quick debrief of what we needed to be completed for Friday’s handover. With the details drawings already coming together, our remaining tasks included completing the 1:5 protoype, creating a supporting “exhibition-style” poster for the model and producing two construction manuals.

Part of the team then headed to B.15 for the day to complete the context model. They constructed the cut pieces with a stud wall support in the morning and began painting the ‘walls’ in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group explored poster concepts, figuring out the best way to communitcate the function and flexibility of the design. Using the fonts and colours we had already used in our MSALive poster ensured a cohesive output, we produced intial sketches, layouts and established a colour scheme. After a series of discussios and iterations, we concluded with a poster design that communicates the design in a creative, conceptual, and engaging way—with a zine-inspired aesthetic.

Posted 20 May 2025 11:11

20/05/25 |Continuing the Model and Starting the Construction Manuals

With the poster and context model well underway, today’s focus shifted to two new tasks: modelling the 1:5 cubes and developing the construction manuals.

A new group had the opportunity to the work in B15 this morning, laser-cutting and assembling the modular cubes. Meanwhile the rest of the team started planning the tree conctruction manual. They began by storyboarding each step, using an IKEA maual as a reference. This was then translated into an InDesign document, combing digital models with some work in Illustrator to clearly communicate each step.

In the afternoon, some of the group had a go at creating miniature zines that would accompany the model and help to animate the space. This was a fun, hands-on activity that offered a change of pace from the technical drawing and model making.

The physical model is really starting to take shape now and the construction manuals are coming together well. The team has been working really hard and it’s starting to pay off!

Posted 21 May 2025 09:52

21/05/25 |Starting to see the Finish Line

The day started as a continuation of the yesterday’s activities, with a new set of students keen on joining in the workshop. It’s nice to see so many of the students keen to physically build the model, and gain the skills that will help them through their architectural futures!

The work in B.15 for today looked at finally constructing the tree model, and refining the look of the cubes. The group debated what finish we would like to see for both the tree and the boxes. The group consensus from this was that we liked the look of the natural wood finishes, and it played into the hands of the nature them of the project. It was good to see the Undergraduate students deciding what they would like to see out of the project.
Those working in the classroom carried on with the tasks from yesterday; the user manuals are coming along nicely. These smaller scale construction guides can help inform them what they may need in future projects.

By the afternoon the model was complete, those working in the workshop had brought it back to the classroom, and it was lovely to see the sum of parts put together. Putting the furniture into the context model was nice, and seeing the miniature zines alongside them started to pull the project together. Seeing the model gave the whole group a boost, all the hard work over the past week and a half was coming together!

For tomorrow, we think it’ll be nice to start adding some more smaller details that really show that this space is the Poetry Library. Finishing the user manual will be the next major step in the process of handing over the work to the Poetry Library!

Posted 22 May 2025 11:44