Day 2 - Pre-project Admin - 17/02/25
During our second meeting, we regrouped to review progress across the different workstreams. The poster team shared updates on their developing visuals, while the blog team presented the current structure and direction of the written content. This check-in helped ensure alignment across the group and highlighted areas that required further development.
Our discussion then shifted towards gathering meaningful insights from the local community. As a team, we explored potential approaches to engagement, including identifying which site to prioritise and considering the value of conducting a visit to Wigan. We discussed how direct interaction with local residents, youth groups, and community stakeholders could help ground our proposals in real needs and lived experiences.
Building on these conversations, we began outlining a clear strategy for moving forward. This included recognising the need to prepare a risk assessment for any site visit or public engagement activities, alongside developing an initial budget plan to account for travel and material costs. We also acknowledged the importance of establishing a realistic time plan to coordinate research, engagement, and design development effectively.
Day 2 marked an important step in shifting from initial understanding towards structured planning, ensuring our next actions are both responsible and well-organised.

Day 3 - Planning and Project logistics - 03/03/26

Our third meeting focused on organising the practical elements needed to move the project forward. The group split into smaller teams to work on key preparatory tasks, including the ethics documentation, risk assessment, time planning, and an initial project budget. These discussions also highlighted some logistical challenges, such as the cost and coordination of travel to Wigan, which we began working through as a group.
Alongside these tasks, we continued developing our plan for the proposed site visit to Wigan. The aim of the visit is to gather insights directly from the local community and better understand the area we are designing for. As a team, we discussed potential activities for the day, including speaking with local residents and observing the surrounding environment.
To support this, we identified several questions and requests that needed to be confirmed with our client, David from Wigan & Leigh Community Charity. These included whether it would be possible to visit local primary schools, access the proposed building site, and obtain resources that are not publicly available online, such as floor plans of the existing building.
By the end of the session, our spokesperson had prepared to contact David to seek permission and clarify these details, helping ensure our planned visit and engagement activities can move forward smoothly.

Intensive Week Day 1: 11/05/26
We started off the day setting out a clear, organised plan for the rest of the week. We allocated people to different sections of the pamphlet, and a few of us made their way to B15 to work on the site model. We then discussed concepts and ideas for which activities would take place within the church, and designs that would facilitate these. To explore and consider each other's ideas, we created bubble diagrams and rough sketches which highlighted a variety of design initiatives.

After lunch, some of us focused on developing a weekly timetable for when each activity would take place, taking school hours and age ranges into consideration. We also started developing a sketchup model of the church, and began developing a layout for the pamphlet.

To end the day, we reflected on the work we'd done throughout the day and discussed how we would use our time the next day.

Intensive Week Day 2: 12/05/26
We started the morning by planning our visit to the primary school and organising how we would run the activities throughout the day. As a group, we discussed how we would introduce our project to the children and created a presentation to clearly explain our ideas in an engaging and accessible way. Alongside this, we developed worksheets and supporting idea sheets that the children would use during the activities.

Throughout the day, the group split into smaller teams to continue developing different aspects of the project. Some focused on the final presentation for Friday, while others worked on the SketchUp model of the church and began producing renders to support the proposal. In B15, model making also continued, including a site model, a simplified scaled model of the church, and a 3D printed model.

We also created practice examples of the activities we planned for the children, testing the worksheets ourselves through drawing, colouring, and assembling them. This helped us understand how the activities would work in practice and allowed us to refine them before the school visit.

Intensive Week Day 3: 13/05/26
We began the day by finishing the renders of the church proposal. Once these were complete, some of us started sketching directly onto the renders to visualise how the spaces could be used, adding elements such as a basketball court, food pantry, and social areas to make the project feel more realistic and engaging.

At the same time, others completed the physical models in B15. The simplified church model was designed so that the children’s mural designs from the workshop could be inserted into the structure, helping connect the community activities back into the architectural proposal.

Throughout the day, we also continued developing the final presentation by organising images, sketches, renders, and resources gathered throughout the project so far. Towards the end of the day, we held a trial presentation session where we planned who would speak during different sections for both the primary school workshop on Thursday and the final presentation on Friday. We wrote and practised scripts to help improve the flow and confidence of the presentations.

Before finishing for the day, we printed and prepared all of the materials needed for Thursday morning’s trip back to Wigan, ensuring the worksheets, presentations, and activity resources were organised and ready to use with the children.