Name: Taras Mandziuk
Course: MArch 1
Atelier: Infrastructure Space

I studied Architecture & Planning at the University of the West of England, graduating with both RIBA and RTPI accreditations, meaning I am qualified to work as both a Part I Architectural Assistant and an Urban Designer/Town Planner.

After graduating, I worked for 18 months as a Part I Architectural Assistant at BoonBrown; a medium sized practice in Somerset working in multiple sectors, including residential, retail, medical, and industrial projects.

My key interests are in community-centric architecture and urban regeneration projects. My work experience gave me an opportunity to develop professional skills within these interests on real-world projects, and now in my atelier at MSA, I am further developing my skills and interests.

I chose this MSA Live project as it is a great opportunity to actively engage in a scheme that will likely be built, and that will serve as a template for future development along Tyldesley High Street. I think my skills will be very useful to the group, and I believe that this project could potentially become a model for future urban regeneration schemes in other areas of decline.

Name: Lucy Zivrali
Course: Dog
Atelier: Emotional Support

Meet Lucy, Tyldesley Spark's official mascot.

She's a critical member of the team who's skills are particularly useful for surveying the site.

Getting to site...

Tyldesley lies just beyond the outskirts of Greater Manchester.

Conveniently, the V2 bus runs directly from outside Manchester Technology Centre to Tyldesley High Street and takes about 40 minutes.

We can cover the cost of your site visit if you use this method!

Part of a wider initiative...

Our project sits within a wider effort to regenerate Tyldesly High Street, which over time has seen low-quality shopfronts and businesses find their way into the conservation area.

Our scheme (highlighted orange) sits centrally amongst a number of sites highlighted by Historic England (blue) as opportunities for projects to restore the high street to its Victorian roots.

First site visit...

We met on-site with the collaborator to discuss the project, and conduct a LIDAR survey of the existing building.

Although showing signs of being unoccupied for 15 years, the building is in much better condition than we had initially thought, and the client talked us through their requirements for the renovation. We were also able meet the prospective tenant that will occupy the retail unit upon completion, so there are multiple layers to consider when designing the adaptive reuse scheme.

To the rear of the building is a courtyard and former stable building which are accessible from the street. It is clear that these have lots of potential, and as the collaborator is keen to see ideas for how this space could be converted into an exciting, community-based initiative.

Days 1 & 2 Roundup

Tyldesley Spark is well underway! After meeting the team, our first couple of days have been spent understanding the brief and researching the site before we conduct our site visit.

We split into groups to research the history of the site, the planning and policy context, demographics and potential users, and precedent analysis, with each group producing a poster to summarise their research.


Tomorrow…

We will meet on site tomorrow to meet the client, explore the site, discuss our work from the first couple of days, and start generating ideas for the project.

Day 3 Roundup

Yesterday we visited the site so that our new members could meet the client, understand the current condition of the buildings, and sketch and discuss initial ideas.

For many of our group this was their first time meeting a client to discuss a brief and have a chance to share their spatial ideas in-situ. We even had the chance to teach some surveying skills!


Next steps…

On Day 4 we will begin developing our initial ideas as well as produce the existing drawings of the buildings.

Some sketches from our site visit, looking at Victorian facades on Tyldesley Hight Street

Day 4 roundup

Following the site visit yesterday, today we started recording and discussing our ideas for the site.


Tomorrow…

We will continue to develop these ideas, starting to hone in on a proposal to develop next week!

Day 4 roundup continued

Some facade proposal sketches following our site visit. These will be refined further and presented to the client

Day 5 roundup

The end of Action Week 1, and we’ve achieved a lot so far! Today we started to refine our initial ideas from day 4, and began to look at the designs at a more technical level, understanding the feasibility of our proposals.

Floor plans, facade designs, and concepts for the courtyard were all discussed, and we have begun to narrow down our scope to help focus our work in Action Week 2.


Next week…

We will work together to take the feasibility studies from this week and refine them further, creating a few final proposals that will be presented to the client.

Days 6 & 7 roundup

To start off action week 2 we took the two key concepts presented at the end of last week and iterated further. Splitting into groups, each began to develop more realistic versions of their concepts, whilst a separate group took on the task of drawing up potential internal floor layouts for the main building.

Next…

Continuing to iterate the designs, progressing them towards high-standard visualisations for the client presentation on Day 9!

Day 8 roundup

Final preparations before our client presentation on Day 9! We are polishing up the drawings and visualisations ready to discuss our proposals with the client.


Day 9…

The culmination of our work across the preparation and action weeks: the client presentation! We are excited to show the client how we have responded to the brief, and are looking forward to getting their feedback on our proposals.

An internal render of our proposal. The yoga/fitness studio space being proposed will act as a satellite space for the nearby Pelican Gym and Wellness Centre, offering a more private, accessible environment for the community.

Day 9 roundup

Client presentation day! Today we presented our proposals to the client, talking them through our design process and inviting feedback. They were impressed by the amount of work we had managed to produce in the short timeframe, how well we had worked together to produce a coherent output, and how thoroughly we had considered the various options.


Tomorrow…

Following the clients’ selection of the proposal to extend the existing building to accommodate two larger apartments, we will produce a full suite of drawings from our presented proposals, which will then be incorporated into the upcoming Full Planning Application.

Day 10 roundup

The end of the action weeks and the conclusion of Tyldesley Spark as an MSA Live project!

Today was spent updating the drawings to the clients’ comments before packaging them and sending them over, along with the CAD file and our design development work.

The drawings we have produced will now be taken forward by the client and incorporated into a Full Planning Application for the scheme, and be used to secure funding for future phases of the regeneration of Tyldesley High Street.

Although this is the end of the action weeks, the project is far from completed, and we look forward to seeing our scheme be realised in the near future!