Group 24
THE SECOND ACT

In collaboration with the Salford Victoria Theatre Trust (SVTT), this student-led project aims to celebrate and reimagine the one-of-its-kind Salford Victoria Theatre. Built in 1900, this Grade II listed building has witnessed multiple generations of history but has remained unoccupied since 2008, becoming a hidden gem in the heart of Salford. Hence, students will investigate the site’s rich social, cultural and architectural history, while engaging with Salford’s growing community to restore this theatre as a heritage asset. The Second Act intends to revive this historic building by looking at multiple ways to renew its purpose, giving it a second chance to perform as a space for its community and contemporary audiences once again as a “vibrant space for creativity, education, and civic pride.”

Daniel S / Dominic F / Harry C / Ilya S / Juwan EG / Lisa H / Malaika A / Natalie S / Xiaokai L / Ying D / Yongkang Y

Juwan EG
03/02/2026
This day marks our first meeting with each other, upon arrival group 24 got to discuss our different backgrounds, experiences, strengths and weaknesses to help better understand the group’s dynamic and workflow. We then shared potential group names, poster ideas, our interpretations of the brief provided and briefly researched the site’s context. Our following meeting with the collaborators was the highlight of the day as we got to thoroughly understand what is expected from us while getting to know John and Michelle, who are well settled in the industry. From then, we knew this collaboration with them would only teach us more.

Posted 17 Feb 2026 15:52
Malaika A
Hi, i’m Malaika and i’m a BA1 student from Manchester. I’m really excited to start this journey and work alongside my peers to explore new ideas and develop my design skills. I look forward to collaborating in a supportive environment where we can learn from one another.
Posted 18 Feb 2026 19:41
Natalie S
Hiya!

I’m Talia and I’m a Polish BA1 student that grew up near London.

Traveling and exploring has always inspired me and I love learning about the heritage so the Victoria Theatre provides a creative outlook to how to enhance what has already been built. Excited for this opportunity!
Posted 18 Feb 2026 21:36
Juwan EG
Hi, I'm Juwan, I'm Lebanese but I've lived in the UAE my whole life. As a first-year student at MSA, I'm exited to be getting early hands-on experience in the real archietcture world, where I can interact and learn from people with diverse skills, backgrounds and experiences that can help me develop my own understanding of design and practice.
Posted 19 Feb 2026 00:29
Harry C
I'm Harry - I've just completed my undergrad at MMU in interior design and am now studying Adaptive reuse at MSA. I'm looking forward to working on a live project which involves real clients as a group. I'm particularly interested in how aesthetics, space and the built environment influence our behaviour and what role we as designers play in shaping that.
Posted 20 Feb 2026 17:28
Xiaokai L
Hi! I’m Xiaokai Li, an M1 student from China, where I also completed my undergraduate degree in Architecture.

I’m incredibly excited to be part of this practical course and to work alongside such a diverse group. For me, the chance to communicate directly with project leads and see my creative ideas contribute to a real-world project is a brand-new and thrilling experience. I can’t wait to learn from different cultures and help push this project toward reality!
Posted 5 Mar 2026 20:35
Juwan EG
W3: 03/03/2026
For this week’s session, instead of all trying to discuss and resolve one decision together, we learnt to split into much smaller groups and trust each other’s abilities and decision-making to complete more tasks simultaneously, like drafting sketches onto site plans, conducting demographic research on our area, and carrying out a site analysis. We were much more productive compared to last week, and time flew by so fast this time!
Posted 8 Mar 2026 12:48
Juwan EG
W4: 17/03/2026
Although our group's attendence was low, we managed to finalise our proposed concept that we have been developing from precedents and the meetings with our collaborators. This then led us to start planning on how and where we would engage with the Salford community in order for them to inform how we would execute and design a space that would meet their demand.
Posted 25 Mar 2026 09:47
Juwan EG
W5.1: 24/03/2026
Attendance doubled! We are back on track after communicating how important it is for us to work collectively. Today marked our 3rd meeting with the collaborators; hence, we met earlier in the day, finalised our engagement along with visuals that we would incorporate into it. The community venue we were in contact with got back to us with the specific dates, and we sketched, then presented our developed ideas to the collaborators. This was our most productive day yet.
Posted 25 Mar 2026 09:56
Juwan EG
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.
Posted 25 Mar 2026 10:12
Juwan EG
W6: 21/04/2026 - 22/04/2026
Over the past 2 days, we finally got a reply from the community center we will be engaging with, and we executed our engagement activity! On short notice, we were told that this Wednesday craft group session would have less attendance, however, we used that to our advantage, as we got to gain deeper personal insights and experiences from the elder demographic who have witnessed and experienced the evolution of the city.

We were very lucky to engage with such friendly locals, who were fortunately on the same page, agreeing with our concept of repurposing the theatre. This creative group really helped us gain some valuable insights on the types of spaces we would create inside the theatre, which worked really well alongside the precedents and visual imagery we provided.

Overall, our engagement was considered successful, we were able to identify the gaps in the city, and now we have a clearer direction on how to fill these gaps.

Since we could not access the inside of our building, we also conducted an exterior site visit, allowing us to get a closer idea of it's materiality, size, form and context.
Posted 22 Apr 2026 15:54
Dominic F
Hi, I'm Dom - a master's student from Leeds.

I have a keen interest in the restoration and retrofit of heritage structures which is why I was drawn to the Victoria Theatre project in Salford. I worked mostly on historic galleries and market halls in practice last year and I found this very rewarding. I'm also doing an adaptive reuse project for my studio module, so I think my learnings from these can inform each other, and help with future work I complete.
Posted 11 May 2026 12:27
Juwan EG
ACTION WEEK: day 1.
We came in today knowing there was still loads to do, but we quickly began organising the week ahead by distributing tasks and assigning content for each publication page. Once everything was planned out, the workload felt far more manageable thanks to our teamwork.
Although we each had individual responsibilities, working together around the same table created a really helpful and collaborative atmosphere. Where we were constantly involved in each other’s work, exchanging feedback and ideas throughout the process, which helped make the overall output process feel much more cohesive.

Posted 11 May 2026 21:14
Juwan EG
ACTION WEEK: day 2.
Today was all about developing our final outputs. We started by revisiting our engagement reflections, identifying key interactions that could help inform and develop our design proposal. Dividing the workload like visuals, plans, sections, and concept sketches between us proved efficient once again. We each began producing individual outputs before gradually combining and building on one another’s work throughout the day. Our main focus was finalising our spatial zoning and determining what alterations to the existing theatre would best support the concept, working specifically on the refining the existing plans and sections.

Posted 12 May 2026 21:06