St. George’s Island, Manchester

On Wednesday, 3 November, the Manchester workshop visited St. George’s Island. St. George’s Island is a new development with 5 Blocks of flats, designed by John McAslan & Partners and developed by Dandara. The site is flanked by railway arches to the North and the Bridgewater Canal to the South.

We looked at the design, architecture, sense of community, and safety. Here are the general responses:

Initial Impressions:
* It’s well maintained, clean and nice, but with little greenery.
* There are no transport links, but it’s walkable to Manchester city centre.
* Block 5 was ‘lonely’ and separated from the other four blocks.

After Viewing the Flat:
* It was better than most had expected.
* Some thought is was open and had lots of glass.
* Some thought the rooms were too small.
* Many felt the beige walls were dull and boring, but residents could redecorate.

Community:
* Most felt there would be nothing for people to do here.
* There is little sense of community in the place.
* Most felt that not many families would live here.
* Most felt that it was mainly young professionals who would live here, who don’t have kids.
* Some felt that people who lived here would go home after work, then go out to the city again and come back home at night.
* It is isolated.
* People who live here are too busy or private to care about what the neighbours are doing.

Safety:
* Most felt safe.
* Perceptions of safety could be improved by removing the fencing and boarding along the railway arches. These features suggest that there is anit-social behaviour. It would be better if the railway arches were open.
* More and better lighting would help.
* More colour on the arches.
* Use the arches for amenities such as shops, pubs and cafes.

Feel free to add more comments below:

Chimney Pot Park

The Manchester and Liverpool workshops visited Chimney Pot Park in Salford on Friday October 29.

Chimney Pot Park is a residential neighbourhood of redeveloped terrace houses. The architects, Shedkm, redesigned the houses to that the “terrace house was turned upside down” with bathroom and bedrooms on the ground floor and the kitchen and living rooms on the top floor.

After a walk around the site with the architects, we gathered comments from people. Here’s some of the response:

* most didn’t like the way the chimneys had been remodelled.
* most liked the general redevelopment, but felt the area around Chimney Pot Park
also needed to change.
* Having the carparks underneath the garden area meant the streets were less clogged up and there was a good use of space.
* The connecting back gardens create a sense of community, but also lack privacy.

You can add more comments below.

The Manchester Tour

Yesterday was the first day of the Manchester workshop. The day kicked off at the Engineering department at the University of Manchester and was followed by a tour of Manchester, taking in highlights that included the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester Town Hall and the story behind Lincoln Square. Groups investigated the sightlines, textures, symbols and signs that shaped the city. For instance, the worker bee is a symbol of Manchester and is ever present in the city, whether on the coat of arms or on the bins.

The second half of the day took us back to the university where we transferred some of the ideas from the tour to maps of Manchester. It was a chance to sketch out the key routes, sightlines, symbols and textures as well as talk about our favourite buildings in the city.

There’s a topic up for discussion on the Architecture For Everyone Facebook group. Feel free to join and comment.  Or of course, comment below.

A4E in the northwest

In Liverpool and Manchester we’ve been working away since February. We’re now 6 sessions in and there’s been some great work. The 27 participants from the two cities have been on tours of Liverpool 1 with the master planners, done Parkour in Manchester, designed schemes to improve their cities over a design weekend… and now there’s just the final exhibition next week left! Looking forward to showing the ideas to local architects and city council reps. Have a quick look at a few of our photos below…