msa Manchester School of Architecture

City Lab is a cross-disciplinary group within the Manchester School of Architecture, concerned with issues associated with urbanism. Its main aim is the development of research on the post-industrial city through research-by-design. Research-by-design is a term coined by the Technical University of Delft, where design is used to research propositions, hypotheses and contexts. This idea fits well with the humanities and arts-led design ethos of the School and allows the staff to focus on design – highly appropriate for a School of architecture. City Lab has three loose groupings, each one of which attempts to support personal research and scholarship within the School and then contextualise it within the RAE groupings in two separate Universities, when the time comes. These are:

• Designs on the city
  Theoretical musings about city form
• Designs in the city
  Buildings, Installations, and exhibitions
• Designs for the city
  Community groups, pro bono, consultation

Visit MIRIAD’s website.

Research Locations

PhD/MPhil courses

Our PhD/MPhil programme is intrinsically inter-disciplinary and is open to students with an interest in any aspect of architectural research.

MARC

The Manchester Architectural Research Centre, with research activity in interdisciplinary fields concerning architecture and the city.

MIRIAD’s City lab

A cross-disciplinary group looking at design and urbanism.