Final Party at EASA HQ on the 22nd of May

The final event at
the exhibition will be a series of interactive stands including:
Manchester architecture quiz. Questions will be placed strategically around the building, making
people look thoroughly at the exhibition, with prizes for all correct answers.
Top gear style cool wall. Pictures of various buildings in manchester will be available for people to
rate cool-uncool (or lookup - lookdown) by sticking them on a wall. Spaces will be provided under
each picture for people to comment on others opinions.
Large wall mural. People will be asked to represent a small section of a larger picture in various
media. The drawings will then be put back together to form a new, larger version of the original,
created by the groups efforts.
Hilton Helipad. A bit of fun, challenging people to land a remote control helicopter on model
buildings of various sizes, those who can land it on the highest (the hilton) get a prize.
Cardboard box structure challenge. Challenging people to build a structure from cardboard to
support a certain weight, prizes for those who achieve it.
Prizes will be T-shirts which we are in the process of making, or items hopefully donated by the art
and model shops.

Slum City: Flat Packed Housing Systems

Another project which takes its participants away from the city of Manchester, Slum City invites people to take a role in design exportable housing for the deprived in South-East Asia’s largest slum in Dharavi, India. The group are building units which can work separately or combined to address the issues of environment, security, sanitation and floods. They have split into four areas to tackle structure, facade, services and community units and will work together to produce a model at a scale of 1:25.

The units will be hexagonal and can fit together to build a solid unit up to two storeys high, raised off of the ground to avoid flood damage. The ground level will accommodate community units such as shops and gathering spaces. Although the units are to be fully exportable, they must be erected by the inhabitants so the facade and cladding should utilise local materials as much as possible so as to reduce costs and environmental impact. The budget for the units is £500, so the group will utilise cheap and scrap materials as much as possible. For example, plastic is a readily available scrap in the slums.

The model and process will be on display at the Event Month exhibition at EASA HQ on 22^nd May.

FAT: DO The Wrong Thing

Charles Holland of FAT or Fashion Architecture Taste will be giving a presentation on the firm and its unique approach to Architecture.

The firm, who veer away from conventional taste in their designs, embrace the art world in their work with output including master plans, furniture and fine art. Blue House (2002) has been described as ‘the most memorable new house in London’, with its cartoonish, cut-out facade which seems to mimic a child’s concept of a house. The firm have divided opinion greatly, with many people loathing their eccentric designs, while gaining a cult following which has brought them much work in the Netherlands.

FAT have also brought their ‘taste’ to Manchester, with their input in the development of New Islington. They describe their designs here as unifying ‘residents’ desire for traditional homes with the New Islington masterplan commitment to innovative and world class architecture’. Yet again they do not fail to separate themselves from the ordinary, fulfilling the plans of the founders of the New Islington regeneration scheme. But unlike much of FATs previous works in the private and public sector, where they can get away with one-off designs, how well will the community, relate to the housing that FAT has provided them in the long-term?

Regardless of opinion on FAT, this lecture cannot fail to provide an interesting insight into a still young and individual architecture firm, which is making ripples in the architectural and wider community.

Look Up

Karen MacDougall - Public Art: Barrow-in-Furness

What exactly is a mural? Karen MacDougall’s event looks to explore this art form and the many reasons why they are constructed. Are they there just to liven up the landscape or do they explore hidden agendas, whether they be political or possibly social? By looking at scale and community, as well as the role of public artists, participants will produce individual proposals for a mural, for a wall near the shipyard in Barrow‐in‐Furness.

Barrow went from being a small 19^th Century hamlet to the biggest iron and steel centre in the world in just 40 years,

with the 20^th Century making it a major shipbuilding centre in the UK. Students set off by visiting Barrow-in-Furness, looking at its main landmarks, shipyards and the dock museum, learning about the history of Barrow along the way.

The workshop will continue as the students develop their own individual interpretations of a new place. Barrow want a mural that will justify all they have strived for as a community and so participants will need to think of ways of representing the pride and place attachment Barrow feels through public art.

Grahame MacDougal - Design For Humanity: Emergency Shelter

Branching out from the confines of Manchester, this workshop gives students the opportunity to apply themselves to a completely different type of architecture in a new context. The brief is to design an emergency shelter for disaster zones using the Cashmere earthquake as a specific example.

Grahame MacDougal’s event focuses on fast-paced adaptable design, going back to the basic concepts of housing as a place of shelter rather than the feel and experience of a building. Participants are invited to approach the brief from one of two directions: as a response to possible materials available after the disaster or as a chance to explore more a high-tech design which would be built off-site. The group are designing ‘transitional accommodation’, which provides immediate shelter for disaster victims with a view to more permanent residence. Therefore, designs should be practical and appealing, with the aim of creating more than a shelter but a home for the new inhabitants.

Everyone will come up with their own response to the brief, which they can present at the final exhibition on the 22^nd May in a format that compliments their design. Results will also be uploaded onto the UN website, in a move to influence and bring new ideas into the field of disaster relief

Amy Hanley - Competition

In the event month 16 Competition it is run by Amy Hanley, which is a challenging event there are two competition you could choose. First one is Rouse D, which will focus on re-inventing the city of Detroit through the use of digital computation methodologies. This is an international open ideas competition challenging people to come up with designs that will rouse the city of Detroit and encourage an evolution of our understanding of its unique urban environment. This is an individual event. 1st place will get $500 and the work exhibited in rouse[D] Exhibition at the end of August 2009 at a noteworthy gallery in Detroit.

Second competition is holding by europan10 it is a group competition, 5 student per group which need to propose an idea to develop the centre of Madrid. The goal of Europan is to help Europe’s young architecture, urban and landscape

design professionals to develop and promote their ideas in Europe and further afield. Europan aims to help cities and developers who propose sites to find innovative architectural and urban solutions to the problems they face.In the end they

will review the competition entries of and submit the best projects. The first week each student have to work out which competition they want to join and start doing research to give them an idea of the project and help them to

produce a good design.