MSA Live 26

Speaking with a Mic

On Friday we finally had our first meeting with Michael from In-situ. We used the opportunity to ask questions about the brief and the kind of outputs that he wants. We also discussed a possible site visit as long as we can find a date that works for us and Michael.

We can now begin working on our design as Michael gave us more detail about what he wants, including the materials he wants used, an estimated budget, the level of accessibility required in the design, and the requirements of the cafe in terms of size and capacity.
Michael discussed us producing a series of drawings and visuals along with a model to communicate our design. We will need to divide these outputs between us based on our strengths.

This initial discussion with our collaborator has helped to focus our design as Michael emphasised the importance of diversity in the community, a desire for the structure to be transportable so that it can be used once the development of the shopping centre is complete. He also asked for us to use recycled materials as much as possible for the design and final cafe.

Day 5 - Development

We’ve now finalized our core design ideas and started moving them from concept to paper and into detailed renderings. After the Easter break, each team member shared their individual progress. Through a round of peer feedback, we were able to collaboratively refine our approaches before moving into the next phase of development.

21/04/26

Alongside the SketchUp modelling session today, one of our first year students took some time to hand sketch a proposal for an outdoor seating area for the existing café at Seedley Pavilion.

The sketches looked at how seating could be arranged to make better use of the outdoor space around the café, complementing the garden environment and encouraging people to linger and connect with the space. It was a nice reminder of how much can be communicated through a simple pencil drawing, and the sketches will serve as a useful reference as we continue to develop the wider masterplan vision for the site. Thanks Tina!

In the final week of regular MSA live meetings, we discussed what we’ve done so far, covering engagements, past sessions and more. We were joined by a MLA1 student, prompting reintroductions and a good summary of what our project involves. We then explored what there was still to do, planning our presentation, and intensive week, forming an action plan. We then divided into groups, each taking on a different task. It was a very productive session!

24/3/26 Fifth meeting
We arrived at Worthington Park at 9:30 to set up the tables and posters for our coffee morning and fix parts of the model which had broken on the way.

The morning was quiet at first, but after 11 it became busy with passerby and volunteers sharing strong opinions and raising important issues we hadn’t considered. A key debate was whether dogs should be allowed on site with some wanting a dog-free area and others feeling this would be impossible to enforce in a park. There were also discussions on whether it would be possible to build paths and shelter for the benches.

Finally our collaborators informed us that the fox den had to remain, so our focus should shift toward designing ways to coexist with the wildlife rather than relocating it.

My name is Minzheng Han and I am studying Architectural and adaptive reuse at Manchester School of Architecture. I graduated from China. My major is architecure.

I’m particularly interested in digital design and adaptive reuse, especially how computational tools can help us rethink and transform existing buildings.

I’m also really interested in the renovation of historic architecture — not just preserving it, but finding ways to adapt it to contemporary use while keeping its spatial and cultural value.

Hi, I’m Selin and I’m a BA1 Architecture student. I’m committed to creating and participating in environmentally conscious, forward-thinking, and adaptable projects. I’m excited to be a part of this MSA Live project which is a an amazing opportunity to connect and build community.

17/03/26

As part of our community engagement task, we visited Stockport to gather insights from local residents about arts, craft, and cultural opportunities in the area.

During the session, we spoke directly with members of the public, asking them what they would like to see introduced or improved in terms of cultural activities. This included suggestions for creative spaces, events, and community-led initiatives.

To make the process interactive and place-based, members of the public were also invited to mark locations on a map of Stockport. They placed pins on areas they felt would benefit from new cultural interventions. This helped us identify specific sites that the community perceives as underused, lacking cultural activity, or having strong potential for development.

Through this engagement, we gathered a range of ideas and perspectives, providing valuable insight into local needs and priorities. The combination of conversation and mapping allowed us to better understand not just what people want, but also where they feel change is most needed.

Engagement Activity - 24/03/2026

This week, we carried out our engagement activity with our collaborator! We came prepared with all three of our engagement activities ready to carry them out, and we held an interactive session in which we accompanied our collaborators through the activities to extract every bit of information we could for them. The information we gained during this session will be crucial for our design process, as we were able to clearly understand the collaborators' exact expectations and priorities for this project.

Throughout the activity, we understood the expectations of the collaborator in terms of design, functionality, materiality, community, and user experience. We will use this information during our design process to shape our design and curate an experience which satisfies the collaborator, the user, and us as the design team. We are really proud of our engagement activity, and we feel like the outcomes we obtained through this activity were successful beyond our expectations!

17/03/26

We made the decision to create a 3D model during this session in order to better explain our concepts to our collaborator. In order to collect a variety of user viewpoints, we also created two distinct surveys, one for the building's staff and another for younger children. Alongside this, we developed preliminary sketches to further refine our proposal.

Summary of our Site Visit

16/04/2026
With 5 days until our workshop at the school, we went to the MTC to print all the things we would need for the activities. We printed 3 copies of everything for each of the classes and split them up so that we would have it ready on Tuesday.

Group 13: Meeting Oskar "with a K"

Alongside the tote-spraying workshop, the Withington Walls x Mandem Meetup event also featured a live mural created by Oskar “with a K.” Taking a short break from painting to pose for a photo, he spoke with Macie and Cian about his work after hearing about the MSA Live 2026 project. Oskar spoke warmly about the Baths and the surrounding community, reminiscing on his role in organising the 2024 Paint Jam held at the site.

Having already spent time admiring the murals in the external courtyard, it was especially valuable to hear the story behind them. The Paint Jam, he explained, was organised to celebrate and promote street art culture across Manchester.

The conversation also highlighted the Baths’ wider cultural and social significance. Inspired by the site's continued association to activism, the group reflected on the Bath's impact, from advancing gender integrated bathing, to the community protests from 2013-2015 to save the Baths.

Birdhouse Model-making Workshop

Yesterday, our group hosted a birdhouse model-making workshop at Blossom Charity. We began the session by showing the volunteers the plan of the space, and invited them to share their thoughts about the space by using coloured stickers and Post-it notes. It was nice to understand what they like about the space, what they want to improve, and what needs more attention.

After this feedback activity, we guided the volunteers on how to assemble the birdhouse by using the pre-cut wood pieces that had been prepared earlier in B15. We also provided them with some acrylic paints to decorate the birdhouse. Some beautifully painted cacti on it, while others decorated theirs with rainbows.

It was such a fun, hands-on workshop filled with laughter and meaningful engagement. So grateful to everyone who joined and contributed their energy! 💛🌱

Session 7: Printing Error

This session aptly named *Printing Error* took place at the library, where we met to finalise plans for our engagement event at Brookfield Church. Despite the slightly chaotic title, things were actually very productive.

We reviewed a range of precedent images that we can show to the public, giving them something tangible to react to and helping us understand their preferences. Alongside that, we printed the church’s site plan (successfully, eventually), which will act as a key engagement tool, allowing people to physically point out where they think new facilities should be located.

We also mapped out a short presentation to clearly explain the project from start to finish keeping it simple and (hopefully) memorable.

On a more analytical side, we carried out a demographic study using local data. This helped us better understand the community we’ll be working with, and will also help us be more aware of whether the people engaging with us are truly representative of the wider area. Since we won’t have control over attendance, this adds an extra layer of insight and makes the whole process even more valuable as a learning experience.

All in all, a very productive session. We’ve prepped what we’re going to say, gathered all the materials we need, and are feeling ready (printing errors aside) for what’s next.

Meeting 6

07.04.2026

Last couple of days before our groups engagement activity day. Discussing and agreeing on the activities to be carried out on the day and what is necessary to prepare beforehand (printing, model making etc). The proposed plan sets out 3 activities we hope to carry out at our stall prepared by the collaborators at the Market Hall. Each activity will allow us to engage with the contacts the collaborators has arranged to attend on the day. They will allow us to have a set of different outcomes that will help us with a proposed design and ideas moving forward.

We're set to meet on 09.04.2026 to prepare all PIS forms and consent forms, flyers, posters and activity sheets and models for the big day!

Trip to Wigan- PART 2
31/03/26

Towards the end of the day, our group gathered in a meeting room to brainstorm ideas for the proposed community space in St Nathaniel's Church in Wigan. We shared ideas on how the Church can be reimagined as a flexible and welcoming hub for the youth. Ideas ranged from a library or book swap corner to an arts and craft workshops later turned into exhibitions, roller skating, dance sessions, movie nights or even a sports hall. We also considered the possibility of using breakout rooms for skill learning workshops to connect generations, support those who are lonely and ultimately break barriers across the community.
Using our online survey, we hope to explore the outcomes of responses from students and stakeholders and how their feedback will shape the design direction.

This week we met up and drove to Monton Unitarian Church for a site visit. We were able to walk around the bowling green, taking in the surroundings, photos, and relevant measurements.

We then met up with our client, Reverend Anna, and presented the work and design we made so far. She liked the design as well as the precedents we used for it and had feedback about changes she would like to see: prioritising a fixed roof over fixed structure (better weather proofing), feedback on size & location of structure on the site, and overall feedback on expectations.

Overall we enjoyed the site visit as well as Anna’s feedback very much, and found it very valuable. We established some next steps, and discussed the feasibility & budget of the project. As it is ambitious with the given budget, we might have difficulties to see the project to construction within the time given. Therefore we mentioned the possibility to work towards a finished design & fundraising for next year’s group (or potential different adaptive reuse projects).

Session 4 – Engagement Workshop

In Session 4, we visited the HYP Youth Centre in Hyde, Manchester, where we delivered an engagement workshop with the children to better understand their wants and needs for the final project.

Prior to the session, we prepared a series of activities to support this process. These included a questionnaire, a drawing activity, and an interactive mapping exercise using a laser-cut site model with movable pieces to encourage participation, spark conversation, and help the children express their ideas in an accessible and creative way.

We also ensured that all ethical requirements were met in advance of the workshop. This included obtaining the necessary approvals and carrying out risk assessments.

After introducing ourselves to the children and vice versa, enthusiastic discussions developed and ideas began to be shared about how their youth centre could evolve. They confidently expressed their aspirations for the space, describing how they would like it to look, feel, and function which helped us understand how to design for both themselves and future users.

The activities and discussions not only provided valuable insight for the project but also sparked a wider interest in architecture as a potential career, encouraging the children to think about their own future aspirations and possibilities.

Finally, we visited the site in order to understand how the space looks in reality, explore current conditions and begin the design process.

Finalising Design Directions & Preparing for the Site Meeting​
17 March 2026

In our fourth group session, we focused on consolidating design ideas and planning for the upcoming site meeting on 31 March. The team engaged in detailed brainstorming on the interior spaces of the Hartley Huts, reviewed initial sketches and material studies, and incorporated structured feedback on our project plan from our tutor Jason.

To prepare for the client presentation, we have outlined the following deliverables and divided tasks accordingly. BA1 and Foundation students will take the lead in developing material studies, ramp proposals, and an indicative site plan that highlights key interventions—including the volunteer hub, heritage display hut, bridge upgrades, accessible ramp, seating areas, and seasonal event features.

The goal is to communicate our design intent clearly and gather valuable feedback, which will help us refine the proposals in the coming weeks leading to the final presentation.

We are all set for an insightful client meeting and look forward to sharing our progress!

For our engagement session, once preparation was complete and despite all the hail, the engagement team managed to travel to our site. Our activities surrounded 2 primary questions about the area; the first was a post-it note pin-up board with the question being “what challenges do you [the clientele] face when coming [to the site].” This allowed the public to write their own opinions on the matter, giving us information on what the public thought could improve the area. The engagement for this was good, but contributions were more related towards access, such as car parks and paths, as well as events the leisure centre hosts. However, the second engagement activity was much more successful; we printed out a cartoon map of our selected area alongside various fun models of potential outdoor appliances with the intention being that the participating public could create their own ideal outdoor space. This was placed alongside the question “What would your perfect outdoor space look like?” This activity gave us a range of different responses across all ages; the younger audience preferred a playground area, including slides and climbing frames. Some of the older members agreed with this, including seating areas to watch their kids and to relax after the gym, whereas some just preferred a nice seating area with a lot of greenery which we noticed was absent in the surrounding area, a place to have a picnic for example after the gym. A common theme was not to include outdoor gym equipment, as a lot of the members were content with all the equipment in the gym. Overall, this engagement activity gave us a variety of useful opinions on what the site needs and how we can please all members of the leisure centre.

Today we had yet another successful meeting. We started as usual looking the research and produce we brought in. As the MAs continue to work through the 3D maps, the MArchs and the BAs discuss the hub’s materiality, furniture, location and innovation sustainable features. This will allow us to scope down the range of our design output later on. After narrowing down the useful ideas, we revised out timeline and confirmed the date April 21st as our engagement day, working to gain public opinion. We tasked ourselves with bringing in materials and completion of the 3D maps. Additional meetings before the date will be informed through our group chat as usual. We got this!

10/02/26
Following Sethika and Aidira’s meeting with Walaa, our group decided to take Walaa’s advice to further educate ourselves about South Sudan by watching „Goodbye Julie”. We then discussed our experiences watching the film in our following meeting.

W5.2: 24/03/2026
Post collaborator meeting: In general, feedback was great! The collaborators were happy with our engagement strategy, and they gave us good advice on what to implement to make it even more engaging, especially for our non-architecture audience, like printing our precedents for them to choose from and potentially including a collage activity.
In terms of our layered section proposals, we started to consider alternative divisions of the theatre's interior space; however, this would be influenced by the outcome of our engagement activity.

17 March 2026 @ Sam Alex

/ Fortnightly Progress Meeting
Today’s agenda was to discuss the details of what we are going to do during the engagement session with the Mossley community, and grouping ourselves into small teams to handle different tasks based on our strengths.

Week 4 - 17/03/2026

This week marked a shift from analysis towards direct engagement with the schools. Building upon our understanding of each site, as well as previous meetings with our collaborators regarding community engagement, we began planning how to involve the children and local users in shaping the design of their school streets.

A key focus of this session was balancing how to engage the children in a way that felt both accessible and empowering. We discussed possible activities where the children could feel as though they are actively reclaiming their streets through their design ideas. We also wanted the activity to serve as valuable insight and evidence to support the importance of the project, demonstrating how our design proposals would be directly rooted in the needs and aspirations of the school communities.

Possible ideas we explored for the engagement activities included using playful and temporary methods, such as water-based paint or chalk, allowing the children to directly draw on their ideas onto their streets. We also considered activities that could better fit within the children’s school schedules. One option was to set a simple design task they could do over the Easter holidays where the children could draw and write on a simplified site plan of their street.

Overall, the aim is to keep the task open-ended and easy to understand for the age group, while still generating meaningful insights that can inform our design proposals.

Looking ahead, the next stages of the project will involve organising visits to the schools and implementing these engagements activities. The outcomes of this process will eventually be developed into individual design schemes for each school site.

24/03/2026

After a successful meeting last week, we met up to show off ideas and concepts to develop the Dandelion Community. The concepts ranged from a focus on heat and energy, to water, and to accommodating the neurodivergent users of our site, and how areas of the site can be redeveloped to improve the experience of the users of the site. Everyone brought many insightful ideas to the table, and all are to be considered and brought back to the collaborator to meet their needs for our project. As well as this, there was a successful meeting with our collaborator this morning, further refining our ideas and understanding of what Dandelion needs.

In our fourth MSA LIVE group meeting, we consolidated our approach to initiating the conceptual design phase of the scheme. Framing our outputs as four distinct Dens of Discovery, we structured the discussion around three core strands: form and structure (including the use of natural and recycled materials), function (defining the intended use of each dwelling), and site placement (identifying specific locations informed by key landmarks and areas of interest).

Through early sketch iterations, consideration of how non-human actors might be indirectly embedded within the design, and a review of individual material and spatial preferences across the group, we established a clear and workable direction for the next stage of development.

All will be revealed soon enough!

During our site visit, precise measurements were conducted. Integrating these with the existing floor plans provided by our collaborator, we have developed digital models in both Rhino and SketchUp to serve as the foundation for subsequent design development. Our next phase of engagement will involve generating drawings and renderings to explore and present design options for our end-users.

3/3/26

SESSION 3: GROUP PROGRESS AND PLANNING

During this session, we were tasked with completing our risk assessment, budget proposal, and project proposal. As a group, we discussed how our project would develop over time, carefully planning a timeline that would allow us to make the most of the work ahead.

We identified two key groups from the list provided by our collaborator that we would engage with for the upcoming workshops, ensuring that our approach is both relevant and inclusive. Alongside this, we began outlining a budget plan based on the resources and materials we anticipate needing. We also had a discussion with our tutor to better understand the purpose of the risk assessment and how we could minimise potential risks during site visits and throughout the project.

In addition, we started working on our Ethos application, considering how our project aligns with broader values and responsibilities. As a group, we had an open conversation about what is important to us within this project, reflecting on how we are distributing roles, whether any adjustments are needed, and what we each hope to gain from the experience moving forward.

17/03/2026. Group brainstorm seesion with Matt. We discussed ideas for potential activities and considered what the final level of completion for the project might look like. Matt also provided feedback on several details, such as the project background and strategies for encouraging public participation in the activity survey.

17/02/2026
Today was our second scheduled meeting. Starting with the poster we discussed the current design and suggested improvements to be made before the submission. We uploaded our project description, completed our first few blog posts and started to talk over our: project timeline, budget, risk assessment and ethics application. Finally we divided up the tasks for the next two weeks.

Meeting 02 — 17/02/2026

On our second group meeting, we focused on further improving the poster and its supporting description. We discussed the overall look and its definition of United Didsbury church, including texture, layout decisions, and agreeing on clear titles that communicate the project direction.

Project direction
We then divided into smaller groups to cover the key project strands. This included developing the risk assessment, outlining ethical considerations, setting up the project timeline, and starting a basic budget framework so we can track deliverables and responsibilities more clearly moving forward.

This Monday, Group 5 took the initiative to visit the site in Macclesfield for the first time. After meeting with our collaborator, she guided us on a tour through the museum, walking us through each exhibition space and sharing her perspective on the current challenges the site faces. Seeing the space in person immediately helped us better understand some issues we had previously discussed. One challenge was that the exhibitions felt disconnected from one another in accessibility and theme. The access points between rooms were often unclear, which made navigation confusing and disrupted the overall visitor journey. We also observed that some areas felt cluttered, with displays competing for attention, while others were much more thought-out. The room with the looms and historic flooring, in particular, stood out for its thoughtful layout, demonstrating how impactful the space could be when designed with care. This contrast highlighted the potential for improvement across the rest of the museum. The layout itself was occasionally disorienting. For example, the first exhibition visitors encounter focuses on ancient Egypt, which feels unrelated to the museum’s core theme of silk. This raised questions about how the museum's narrative is introduced and whether the sequence of spaces could be restructured to create a clearer, more cohesive story, for example, by moving the initial access point and the cafe to the other side of the building. During the visit, we documented the space by taking measurements and photographs to support our later analysis and design work. This practical step felt important, as it gave us concrete information to refer back to when developing our design proposal. Overall, the visit was extremely valuable. Experiencing the museum firsthand gave us a much clearer understanding of both its strengths and its problem areas, and it helped ground our ideas for engagement and design in the realities of the space. The trip left us feeling better prepared for the next stage of the project.