Studio 4: Manifestos

Today, we were presenting our manifestos to out tutors and studio group. After the last 3 or so weeks of gathering and analysing and reading, we finally seemed to have a good idea of which direction we wanted to go with the project and how we were going to approach it individually.

The poster I made to represent our approach and the manifesto also represented the approach I wanted to take. When tracing over the map, I realised how many empty spaces there were, including a large empty block. My approach would involve creating an intervention of some sort that would encourage people to visit and interact with, bringing them together and form the start of a community.

Out presentation overall went better than I expected. Time management was a major problem in the group although when we did get together and knuckle down to work, we functioned well and came up with some great ideas for discussion. Personally, I felt that I didn't put in as much as I should have; with 21st birthdays and hospital visits the previous week.

Some of the feedback we received included the idea of getting obsessed with the street life and making really intense studies of it rather just skimming the surface and remaining distant. If the street is something that we wanted to look at, and it is, we really needed to start to understand it on a new level. We also need to just tidy up our manifesto; replacing some of the text for diagrams and generally finalising it.

To finish the day (and almost this part of the project) we were introduced to our site. There is a choice of three:

1 (Green): is the old library and the adjacent building and car parks.

2 (Blue): is the old police station and possibly the adjacent building.

3 (Red): is an old church site which is now just open land.

Due to my interest in historic architecture, I am already drawn towards the first site. However, I think all three sites have the potential for a good project so at some point over the next couple of weeks, I am going to go up to the site to explore them thoroughly before making my decision.

For now though, I'm off to Newcastle for my study tour, with additional flying visits to Durham and York.

Manifesto Developement

Site Visit: Boundaries

Today, we went up to the site again to find out what the general consensus of where the Cheetham Hill boundary was. We had printed maps and we were going to ask people to mark on where they thought the Cheetham Hill boundary was.

We started at The Fort and tried asking people if they had a couple of minutes to answer out questions. While we did get a couple of answers, the majority of people we asked clearly didn't want to talk to us.

We had to try a different approach. 

Rather than asking people, pen and paper in hand, if they had a couple of minutes. I suggested we went for the 'lost person' approach. We began asking people if we were in Cheetham Hill and if not, where it was. People were more open to helping us and extended the conversation by asking us where we were trying to get to exactly. 

Once we had the information we needed, we then simply marked it on the maps ourselves. It was interesting to see that people in the industrial estate considered themselves to be part of Cheetham Hill although they acknowledged that the main town was further north. 

As we approached Strangeways and the Prison, people did begin to seem unsure as to whether they were in Cheetham Hill or not.

Some people didn't seem to understand our question and pointed us in the direction of Cheetham Hill Road. 

Reading

After studio this week, we were given some readings to have a look at within our groups. These were to get us thinking about how we would approach our manifesto and look at the areas within Cheetham Hill.

We agreed to spend the evening reading and then meet up on Friday to discuss and swap ideas. This didn't exactly go to plan but we also met up on Saturday to continue discussions and make a plan for the week ahead.

My reading was the introduction from Altering Practices, a collection of essays by female architects. One particular sentence caught my eye and led me to then go on to read the rest of that essay:

"Urban designers could act as 'curators', as creators of meaning through unusual and unexpected connections, rather than 'planners' who impose their patronising meaning on space"

I think that this is something that I am going to try and take forward in my project.

Studio 2: Site Analysis

In studio today, listening to the other groups' site analyses reinforced the idea that our site was separated from the rest of Cheetham Hill. 

Many of the groups realised the sense of community in their respective areas and were able to act on it to develop their research whereas we weren't able to do the same.

A lot of interesting points were made and there were some really interesting observations but I felt that none of it was relatable to our area. 

We finished the day with a better idea of Cheetham Hill in general and some ideas of where to take our project next.

We also had some readings to make our way though to help with our manifesto development. My group's plan is to read our reading tonight ready for discussion tomorrow.

Site Visit: Exploring Our Area

Monday saw us back on site, this time to take a closer look at the area we were assigned and to take our street panoramic.

The area we were assigned was to the very south of Cheetham Hill, around the prison. Wandering around, it had a very different feel to that of the rest of Cheetham Hill. There was a distinct lack of activity, whether pedestrian or vehicular. The majority of the area is made up of wholesalers and warehouses, mainly in the textile industry. Any activity that was going on was between proprietor and business owner; selling on goods. It seemed to be an area that excluded the public and there was very little, if any, sense of community.

The only 'community' orientated area was to the north, closer to what was more considered to be Cheetham Hill. It seemed to become more residential although the only residences in the area was a gated community that was shut off from its immediate surroundings. The park, while being adjacent to a primary school was empty and there were very few people just walking thought the area.

It was entirely different to the hustle and bustle of what I want to call the 'town centre' and it made us question whether our area was actually considered to be part of Cheetham Hill. 

Site Visit: First Impressions

I went to site for the first time the day after studio to get a feel for the area and maybe gather some ideas. 

I started by taking the bus to Victoria Station and then I planned to walk the remainder of the way up to Cheetham Hill. I briefly looked at the map before I left and saw that Cheetham Hill Road started near the train station so it was pretty straightforward to get there. However, so does Great Ducie Street and this was the one I started up in an attempt to get to Cheetham Hill. Luckily I realised my mistake before I had gone too far and found a route to Cheetham Hill Road with as fewer turns as possible. 

My route took me straight around the Strangeways Prison perimeter. I had already walked past the prison en route but it was one thing to walk past along a main road and another to walk past along quiet back roads. There were no cars, except those parked outside the brick warehouses and I passed only a couple of people. The high walls of the prison were unsurprisingly intimidating and the quietness of the surrounding streets really made me want to move on as quickly as possible to Cheetham Hill Road. There was very little activity along the surrounding roads and there was not much sign that they buildings were inhabited, particularly on the side facing the prison.

Despite being late morning, when I reached Cheetham Hill Road, there was very little pedestrian activity on the street although there was plenty of traffic in the way of buses, cars and lorries. The activity seemed to increase as I approached The Manchester Fort and headed further into Cheetham Hill. The section of the road I walked along before I reached The Fort seemed to be more of a transitory space rather than part of the Cheetham Hill territory, a bit of a no-man's land between the city centre and Cheetham Hill. 

The amount of activity increased further as I headed up the road. Along with houses, there were more shops, restaurants and community buildings such as mosques and job centres. There were more people out and about in the streets, many of them shopping. There were lots of small supermarkets that spilled out onto the pavement creating small markets. 

Once I reached the library, I turned around and headed back to the city. This time I managed to stay on the right road!

Studio 1: MSAP Intoduction

First studio day of year 3. Not sure I'm ready to get thrown in at the deep end but not sure I've got much say in the matter!

We started the day with discussing what the atelier, MSA Praxis was about and we split into small groups to discuss 'participative techniques' that are used in architectural practise to engage with the clients. We were given a list and we talked about which ones we knew about, what we thought others were and whether we thought they were actually used in practise. They were all things that we can use in our own projects as well.

Over lunch, we were tasked with making a cognitive map of a familiar route. These were then compared when we restarted. Most people did their route to university although not all were the half hour or so commute; some were from home to Manchester. It was also interesting to see the differences in the maps. Some were really literal (like mine) and easy to read while others were more abstract and only clear if you knew the route.

Then the REAL map came out. Of Cheetham Hill.

As I hadn't had the chance to visit the site before studio, the area was completely unknown to me and reading an unfamilar street map upside down doesn't really reveal much. As it is such a large area, we split it up into 6 areas, one for each of the groups. The task was to survey our area and to make a panoramic street view of a section of Cheetham Hill Road. The following week, we would then present our findings and collectively, we would all have a better understanding of Cheetham Hill