Jacob Hodgson
First Year, Master of Architecture
Atelier: Infrastructure Space

After earning my architecture degree from the University of Nottingham in 2023 and completing my Part 1 placement at AJ100 practice Gilling Dod Architects, I am eager to continue my academic journey at MSA. The Master of Architecture program offers an exciting opportunity to further develop my skills, particularly in social impact, sustainable design, and cultural sensitivity—key themes from both my studies and industry experience in healthcare and mental health architecture.

Proficiency in CAD software has been essential in communicating and delivering projects effectively. I am especially excited to engage with Tameside Council’s Chadwick Dam Park project, which aligns with my design values and offers a real-world opportunity to strengthen community connections.

I look forward to collaborating during Action Week to create meaningful impact in reactivating the Chadwick Dam community.

Initial Work

As part of our initial work in preparation for the Action Weeks, we organised a site visit as a group to better understand the unique project and initiate a working relationship with our client.

We are fortunate to work with Haley and Dan of Tameside Council, who are fundamental in all development work on Chadwick Dam. They provided key information for our project and a useful tour of the site, during which we discussed our plans for activating the inaccessible area of the park.

As a group, we are keen to maintain a strong working relationship with Tameside Council, as they are instrumental in delivering a successful scheme. We plan to engage with them throughout the action weeks to ensure our designs adhere to their ambitions for the scheme.

Site Introduction

Following our exploration of the site with our collaborators Hayley and Dan, we were informed that this is where Stamford Parkrun takes place. Is this an event that is important to her and the local community? Can our project help open up the course and access to Chadwick Dam to more of the community who live on the Ridge Hill estate?

Hayley has plenty of ideas herself, but she is looking forward to our combined knowledge and skills adding value to the project. As a group, we are going to try to engage the Parkrun community because there is an active volunteer base. We could get involved not only in ideas but maybe in actual work during the activity weeks, enhancing our engagement with the project and the community.

And can we get the entire team to do the run together?

Preparation Work

To ensure we are well prepared for the upcoming activities, we have prepared essential materials as a group to help with the conceptual design work and community consultation.

Consultation materials will aid in our community engagement work. Questions will be devised to further our understanding of the park's use and criticisms from a community perspective and will aid in our community-centric designs for the scheme.

A site model will help contextualise our work and any physical modelling our group produces. We plan to present this model to our client, helping visualise our proposals and further the success of our scheme.

Action Week One Outline Work

As part of Week 1, we aim to initiate our group working, using client consultation and data-driven design to establish a foundation for our designs. Following the delivery of a well-considered layout, finalising phase one of the client's reactivation of the site, we plan to begin our internal design competition in groups.

This mini competition will see our group members devise various projects that may lead to the council leveraging further funding for the scheme. A series of feasible well well-considered designs based on themes of accessibility, sustainability, and integration with the environment will ensure a well-filled and satisfied project. Through continual review of designs and refinement following further client and community consultation, we aim to develop our own group working and design skills.

Day 01: Group and Project Introductions

It was a good first day of Action Weeks. All our additional students joined the team for an initial briefing on campus before we headed out to the site. There, we walked around the area, met our client/partner, and then split up into groups to conduct consultations with members of the general public.

Everyone got stuck in, and we got beneficial feedback that we can feed into the designs. These insights will prove to be useful as we move through the design stages of the project and have highlighted core themes and issues to address as a group.

Chadwick Dam is really nice on a sunny day!!

Day 02 - AM: Consultation Review and Concept Development

The morning began with a deep dive into the consultation feedback gathered on Day 01. Each group shared their insights, and together we started organising recurring themes, challenges, and opportunities that had emerged from our conversations with the public.

With a clearer understanding of the site's needs, we shifted our focus toward design inspiration. We explored precedent projects, looking at how similar spaces have been shaped and used, helping spark ideas and direction for our own interventions.

This exchange of findings and references laid a strong foundation for the design phase : we're starting to see the project take form!

Day 02 - PM: Site Analysis and Initial Design Work

In the afternoon, we transitioned from ideas to sketches. Using the site analysis and feedback as a guide, each group began to develop early master plan concepts for Chadwick Dam. Sketching helped us test spatial arrangements, consider how people might move through the site, and explore how the terrain could inform our proposals.

We also started drawing out specific ideas for seating, a pavilion, bins, and other park amenities; thinking practically about how people will use and enjoy the space.

The atmosphere was focused and collaborative, with all three design groups making strong progress. Lots of creativity and problem-solving on show, it’s exciting to see ideas beginning to come to life!

Day 03: Developing and Finalising Designs

Today was all about pushing our design ideas forward and refining them into presentable outputs. Each group continued building on their concepts, translating sketches and plans into 3D models, visual renders, and collages. It was great to see ideas evolving into more tangible proposals.

Alongside the design work, we also began laying out our posters for the upcoming client presentation. This meant clearly communicating our design intentions while thinking about layout, visuals, and storytelling.
For many of us, today involved picking up new software skills—an intense but rewarding process as we learned by doing and supported each other through the technical challenges.

A really productive day overall as we prepare to present our first round of design proposals to the client!

Day 04: Interim Client Review

As part of our ongoing relationship and collaboration with Tameside Council, we scheduled an interim review, which provided an opportunity to present our Phase 1 ideas. Although the council's initial brief expected a single idea for reactivating the space, we decided to exceed their expectations, presenting three concept ideas and providing a range of approaches from the collaboration between postgraduate and undergraduate students.

Under the postgraduate tutelage, our undergraduates presented three somewhat feasible concepts desired in groups to Dan and Ayeesha (Tameside Council Project Leads). This not only invited feedback and comments to enhance our work but also provided an opportunity for each group to introduce their initial ideas for a wider vision scheme, as we intend to go beyond their initial brief and explore future development opportunities.

With overall positive feedback, minimal changes are required. We are urged to consider the cost of these schemes to enhance the feasibility during the handover of our designs once the action weeks have finished. However, now we can move on to more exciting plans for the space in Phase 2 of Chadwick Dam Unlocked - The Wider Vision!

Day 05: Phase 1 Revisions and Wider Vision Definition

With the encouraging feedback from our Phase 1 work in mind, each group is back to the drawing board as alterations are to be made that align with our clients' comments.

With speedy revisions made by our collaboration between students, the groups were able to progress into defining an outcome and logical progression for the wider vision phase, demonstrating our group's ambition to go beyond Tameside's initial brief.

Undergoing a similar process to Phase 1, using site analysis and precedent data, we began to see these visions slowly becoming fully realised. With the client's defined output expectations, each group had clear direction and freedom to express their creativity through various diagrammatic, architectural, and visual renderings. We look forward to seeing what each group will produce!

Day 06: Stamford Park Run

From as early as our first client meeting at the beginning of this project, we were encouraged to engage with community events within Chadwick Dam to heighten our relationship with the community and ground our response to the brief in real-world engagement.

On Saturday, May 17th, at 8:30 a.m., Simon and Jacob travelled to the site to participate in the Stamford Park Run, which showcases the community's engagement with the space. As a keen runner, Simon took responsibility for showing off MSAs' athleticism while Jacob held the fort at the finish line, ready for any questioning and feedback from those completing the Run.

We found the event to be encouraging and received an overwhelmingly positive response from all those involved in the Run. Bribed with chocolate treats, the runners and volunteers were encouraged to engage with our site model and Phase 1 poster, gaining further invaluable feedback on the progression of the scheme. It was great to be a part of the event, and we were grateful that our Tameside collaborator, Haley, made us aware of this opportunity.

Action Week Two Outline Work

Week 2 follows a more streamlined approach to the project, focusing on final outcomes and client presentations. As postgraduate students, we have coordinated work expectations for each group as we approach the final client meeting. Building on the success of our Phase 1 delivery, which aligned with Tameside's expectations, the wider vision scheme expands the brief to exceed their expectations, demonstrating our ambitions for students to go beyond the brief.

Continuing the mini design competition and organisation of work, we aim to continue developing a range of schemes that could lead to the further development of the park and leverage future funding, improving community engagement with the area. Utilising the knowledge and experience of our master's students, we aim to guide our undergraduates through this process to elevate the outputs of phase 1 into this wider vision brief. We look forward to seeing each of the exciting and innovative responses the three groups produce!

Day 07: Phase 2 Development and Finalisation

As we approach our final client meeting on Wednesday, the groups progressed their design work, focusing on the key outputs required for an effective presentation.

Utilising the experience and post-production techniques of our postgraduates, we were able to teach and guide the undergraduate students on visualisation techniques, hopefully elevating our outputs for the client and their knowledge as they continue their studies.

Each group was required to produce a post with similar outputs, conveying our group's work with varying graphical finishing and teachings. With only a few days allowed to develop these ideas, we have been extremely impressed with the abilities of all our students and look forward to showing off our visions to the client!

Day 08: Presentation Preparation

Day 8 was our penultimate group meeting before our final client review. Before the review, it was important for all our groups to have a solid understanding of their respective projects to ensure a smooth transition and the delivery of our wider vision ideas.

The day included finalising post-production work for all our group's graphical work and presentations. During this collaborative process, we hope that each member of the group has a clear understanding of the design, feels their efforts are valued, and is able to learn new techniques to enhance their skills as they progress in their studies.

This final presentation, unlike our interim review, will be conducted in person. We look forward to hosting Dan and Ayeesha for the review and are excited to showcase our combined effort on the Chadwick Dam Unlocked Scheme!

Day 09 - AM: Mock Presentations

As part of our preparation for the client review, we came together in the morning to finalise and presentation work and undergo a few mock presentations by the undergraduate students to ensure everyone felt comfortable and knew their project inside and out in anticipation of any questioning and criticism from the client.

This was the first instance each group had seen the completed work of each group, and as masters students, we were so impressed with the rapid delivery and high quality of visuals we had held our students to.

Day 09 - Lunch: Mini Social and Celebrations

As this was our final big day in the MSA Live Module, we felt like treating ourselves to a pizza party to say thank you for all the hard work every single member of group 12 has put into this project. Though this was not only a thank you for all the effort, we have had a few birthdays during the action weeks, and despite this, we have had consistently high attendance from all participants!

Day 09 - PM: Final Client Presentations

During the afternoon session of the final day, we greeted Dan and Ayeesha at the Geoffry Manton Building and were eager to show them our projects. With a short introduction about the project and how, as a group, we have approached the brief and hopefully exceeded their initial expectations. In turn, each group clearly presented their ideas, showcasing the various approaches to a broader vision that have been logically informed by our initial Phase One approach to the brief.

As a group, we were overwhelmed by Dan and Ayesha's positive feedback. They provided constructive comments on our work and reassured us of the success our work would have in their continued pursuit of transforming the Chadwick Dam area. During the presentation, we summarised our project with a brief cost analysis of each scheme following some contractor consultation and Simon's background in project development to aid in the feasibility of our schemes, solidifying our outputs attention to the brief and ensuring Dan and Ayeesha have all the required materials to take this portfolio back to the council and aid in any future and ongoing project work.

Project Completion!!!

There we have it. After two full weeks of design development, community engagement, and client collaboration, we have successfully delivered and even exceeded the brief expectations of this project, reflecting all of our ambitions and talents as students here at MSA.

We would like to say thank you to all undergraduate students who have joined us on this journey. Their commitment and skills have impressed all of us master's students, and we doubt without their help, we would have been able to successfully deliver on three schemes.

As we move on to our final submission work, we hope that the Tameside Council will be able to use our work to help further any plans they have for unlocking a genuinely unique and culturally rich area, and that they consider working is MSA on any future projects they have in mind.

Thank you!

@Group 12