Group 17
SEEDS TO SEATS

We’re teaming up with the Friends of Worthington Park to breathe new life into the orchard! Withington Park is a large Green Flag Award winning public garden in Sale. Our project, Seeds to Seats, aims to turn a currently overgrown area into a welcoming green retreat for everyone in the area. Alongside volunteers of the park, we’ll be adding comfortable seating, planters, and composting stations, we’re creating a space designed for gathering, growing, and relaxing. Whether you’re a dog walker or a local resident, this transformation will offer a thriving new accessible, welcoming spot to connect with nature and neighbours.

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Cheuk Kwan C / Elvira AJ / Harry B / Iris F / Jasmine F / Jiajie W / Kate E / Liam V / Lydia E / Mildred CTM / Sara U

Iris F
3/2/26 First meeting

In our first meeting we introduced ourselves to the group and began learning about our site, Worthington Park, and client, The Friends of Worthington Park. As the orchard is not yet shown on park maps, we decided to plan an in-person visit.

Throughout the day we researched precedents, learnt about the current recreational areas and community events, and developed themes for our group name and poster, outlining four keywords: Orchard, Volunteer, Reuse, and Community. These inspired our name concepts (“Apples and Pears” and “Seeds to Seats”), our poster design sketches (pictured above), and our initial Proposal: a layered, staircase-style seating design that integrates reuse, composting, gardening, and community food growth. The
seating and planting systems would be built through volunteer-led DIY processes.
Posted 17 Feb 2026 16:02
Iris F
3/2/26 Client Meeting

Katie & Hilary from The Friends of Worthington Park introduced the proposal:

Site - A quiet orchard between the playground and park edge wall visited by dog walkers, children, and volunteer gardening groups
Funding & Organisation - Finances managed by park treasurer but Friends of the Park fundraise via markets, picnics, quiz nights, scouts events, carols and grants/ material donations
Proposal - Edible plant life, bug hotels and stumperies, visually integrated composting
Posted 17 Feb 2026 16:14
Harry B
Hi, I am Harry and I am a first year at the MSA. I am really excited to get into this project and see how we can transform the orchard!
Posted 18 Feb 2026 14:53
Cheuk Kwan C
Hello! My name is Cherry and I’m a first-year MArch student in the SKN Atelier here at MSA. Originally from Hong Kong, I completed my undergraduate degree at Newcastle University and spent my placement year focusing on residential masterplanning in London.

I’ve always been passionate about how green spaces can bring people together. For the Worthington Park project, my goal is to design something sustainable, local, and—most importantly—welcoming for everyone. I’m really looking forward to creating a space people will truly love!
Posted 18 Feb 2026 18:18
Mildred CTM
Hi I am Mildred, a first-year MArch student from CPU(AI) Atelier. I completed my Bachelor’s degree back in Malaysia then worked in two different firms, which focuses on Healthcare, Residential and Commercial architecture. I definitely gained a lot of experience from practice which includes project coordination, technical delivery, submission work of flow and more. I am interested in green spaces and how cities or spaces should be designed for people and to encourage social interaction between them. Hence, I really look forward to explore how we can design the orchard.
Posted 18 Feb 2026 20:19
Iris F
Hi there! My name is Iris and I’m a BA1 student from Brighton and Wellington. I have always been passionate about the environment so I am excited for the opportunity to create a low impact design for a small community. I am really enjoying the course so far and am looking forward to learn more about the architectural design process in practise.
Posted 19 Feb 2026 19:22
Kate E
Hello, I’m Katie, a BA1 Architecture student at Manchester School of Architecture. I’m really interested in the relationship between spaces and their environment, especially how green spaces can bring communities together to encourage meaningful social interaction.

For the Friends of Worthington Park, I’m excited to help revitalise the orchard, creating a space for both relaxation and connection. I’ll be drawing inspiration from my dad’s allotment, where I designed a greenhouse and planters, which continues to influence how I integrate planting into benches and shared/ sheltered spaces.
Posted 20 Feb 2026 18:44
Jasmine F
Hi, I’m Jasmine a first-year MArch student at MSA. I completed my undergraduate degree at the University of Kent and spent two years working at a Norwich practice, focusing particularly on Education, Commercial and Healthcare schemes. I grew up in Ipswich and throughout my childhood, experienced the town’s major regeneration projects which sparked my interest on community focused design and High Street Regeneration programs.

Having worked more closely with the engineering design team in practice, I wanted to gain more exposure in client engagement, thus find this Live project to be a great opportunity to improve these skills and responding directly to the local community’s needs – something that I have always wanted to experience! I am excited to contribute towards a project for Worthington Park that already holds strong community values!
Posted 22 Feb 2026 01:03
Sara U
Hello, everyone! I'm Sara Uggetti, a BA1 student. I was born in Italy but am also from Chile, both places displaying differences in culture and architecture. I have always had an interest in architecture in the way that it shapes the way we live and tells the story of a space. Through this year I have enjoyed exploring how architecture plays a role in our decisions and the way we look at the world. I'm excited to be learning how this thinking is reflected in the real world through this project, furthermore exploring how to work with constraints such as budget, materials, and eco-friendly designs. I'm looking forward to collaborating with collaborators and my other team members!!
Posted 3 Mar 2026 11:18
Sara U
17/2/26 Site visit

We visited the site and met with the Friends of Worthington volunteers to better understand the space we will be designing for. This visit was extremely helpful, as it gave us a clearer understanding of the clients’ needs and expectations for the project. Being on-site also helped us identify practical challenges and environmental considerations that may influence our design decisions. During the visit, we discovered that a fox den is currently located in the area where the seating is planned. As a result, we will need to collaborate closely with the volunteers to ensure that any changes are handled ethically and responsibly, allowing the foxes to safely relocate to a suitable alternative area before construction begins.
Posted 3 Mar 2026 14:27
Jiajie W
Hi, my name is Jiajie and I’m currently enrolled with the architecture foundation course. Starting this year with my limited knowledge of architecture I’m excited to see where I end!

I’ve always looked at architecture less about the buildings and more about how it influences people within a space. This directly led me to take part in the Worthington Park project which I am very excited to see how it turns out!
Posted 16 Mar 2026 20:36
Iris F
17/2/26 Second meeting

First we discussed the site visit such as the client’s ideas for insect housing and herb planters, levelling the slope and paving desire lines. We will continue correspondence via email about key challenges like the compost odour and fox den.

We also decided our outcome should be a series of adaptable furniture for which we will provide a 1:1 model and an educational time-lapse/ instruction manual to support it. This lead us to explore material sourcing options, including recycled wood from B15 workshop.

Lastly, we finalised the project title and poster design, published blog entries, and created a plan for upcoming deadlines.
Posted 17 Mar 2026 14:57
Elvira AJ
Hi, my name is Elvira I am originally from Spain but also grew up in London. I am a BA1 student particularly interested in building community through the use of social spaces in architecture, so I am really excited about how our project in Worthington Park!
Posted 19 Mar 2026 16:08
Iris F
17/3/26 Fourth meeting

After meeting with our collaborator we decided to split into the MA and BA students, letting the more experienced architects manage the ethics applications while the newer pupils experimented with laying out benches in a 1:100 print of the park. We focused on how to mask the compost smell utilise the pillars for shelter while the Master's students created a plan for our public consultation display.
Posted 21 Apr 2026 15:04
Iris F
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.
Posted 21 Apr 2026 15:05
Iris F
3/2/26 Third meeting
In this session we thought further about planning a public participation day to present and visualise our plan for the benches clearly. We decided to build a site model and use post it notes to encourage volunteers and visitors to engage in the design process a fun and interactive way.

We also finalised our budgeting and discussed the practical aspect of construction such as which tools we will need and where to acquire them.
Posted 13 May 2026 11:12
Iris F
21/4/26 Sixth Meeting

In this meeting we reflected on our public participation event and the topics it had raised. For example, we decided that dogs should be allowed but not encouraged and that the fox den can be saved by moving our social area to the other side of the orchard. We also concluded that it would be out of our budget range to make designs with rain shelter as this is not modular and will require heavy duty materials and tools.

We then assigned roles for the following week such as creating two designs: one bench and one planter
Posted 13 May 2026 11:39
Iris F
11/5/26 Seventh Meeting
For our first meeting of the intensive week, we assigned roles for making a scale model of Design 1, a 1:10 model of Design 2, creating an instruction manual, drawing 3D perspectives, and putting together a presentation for the Friday deadline. As the final designs had already been made, all we had left to do then was choose a final layout to propose to our clients and cleared up any final enquiries about the schedule.
Posted 14 May 2026 12:33