My practice of architecture first looks at the smallest details, actions, movements or systems that occur around us. The process then designs to accommodate these actions through tectonic fragments which over time manifest from inventions and details into architecture. Specification of low carbon materials and adaptable / reusable components which are contextually aware is a key element of the work I have produced during BA3. My areas of interest are cultural design work, collaborative projects as well as heritage and conservation.
My project, “Interwoven”, (a textiles-based nature/cultural centre) is a response to the concealed biodiversity of Bradford Road gasworks.
The proposal is an exercise in exploring how Manchester’s history can be translated through the ecology of commonly overlooked brownfield sites. The species uncovered act as a living and changing archive of stories relating to Manchester’s textile industry. Subsequently, seemingly mundane passing encounters with plants connect a community with its heritage. The proposal focuses on facilitating these moments of encounter or “personal ecologies” to rekindle and make accessible traditional textile practice. The site is approached as a delicate tangle of actors who are provided means to communicate through spinning, dyeing and weaving. The process doesn’t aim to create a product but to output experiential learning, a bolthole against urban plant blindness where the warp (human) and the weft (ecology) come together to recognise their entwined histories and future.
