Third Space
About Me
I am a Part 1 architecture student at Manchester School of Architecture, where I have been a member of Praxis, a feminist design atelier whose ethos has fundamentally shaped how I think, design, and question.
Completing Praxis has confirmed what I set out to prove: that architecture is never neutral. This project pushed me technically, politically, and personally, demanding that I hold my feminist values accountable at every scale, from structural decisions to the quality of light in a single room. Beginning this year feeling disillusioned, I leave it having produced work I am genuinely proud of, work that reflects not just architectural skill, but a deeply held belief in what buildings can do for people who need them most.
Feminist design is not a style or a gesture, it is a methodology of care embedded into every decision, from material choice to threshold design to how a room holds sound. I have learned to centre the user who is most vulnerable rather than most assumed, and to treat safety, dignity, and belonging as structural requirements rather than afterthoughts.
About the Project
This project is a women's shelter and community hub designed for those made homeless through domestic violence, disability, migration, and age. Located in Manchester, it provides safe residential accommodation alongside a full ecosystem of communal spaces, therapy rooms, a nursery, a cafe, shared kitchens, courtyards, and gardens, designed to support recovery, community, and long-term wellbeing.
Every spatial decision prioritises the specific needs of its users. The building is one continuous connected structure, separating itself through districts and programmes rather than isolated blocks, because fragmentation in architecture replicates the fragmentation these women have already experienced.
I carry this forward into practice with the conviction that the people most failed by design deserve the most considered architecture.
