Manchester School of Architecture
2012-2013
The Masters course instilled the importance of a holistic approach to the design situation, supported by a rigorous research element to produce both a well-considered and considerate design.
As the ultimate part of time in academia, the Masters program provided the perfect opportunity to bring together and showcase my full range of skills and abilities.
The year-long program comprised two distinctive parts, with three main projects. The first was a Flood Pavilion, designed in response to the devastating floods experienced by Pakistan in 2010. The second part, comprised two interconnected design projects, a masterplan and more focused building design in the context of modern day Milan.
Course
Institution
Tags
Year
The Flood Pavilion was designed in response to the devastating floods experienced by Pakistan in 2010.
Addressing the immediate short term needs of the community, the design response seeks to provide essential food and medical aid in the immediate aftermath of the flooding, while making available essential tools to assist in the reconstruction of the village once the flood waters had subsided. After reconstruction, the pavilion continues to serve as a community hub and medical centre for the village, and is fully flood-resistant in the event of future reoccurrence.
The project analysed past failures in emergency response and the inherent problem with aid assistance in the long term.
The final response is carefully-considered in terms of building performance in the short and longer term, and of material performance, in terms of sourcing locally available materials. Moreover, it is sensitive to the local community, sympathetic to its culture and traditions, and dignified in its approach to the situation, allowing the community to rebuild their lives.
Building upon extensive research into issues of water in the city and region, existing contamination & remediation of brownfield sites, and peri-urban agriculture in the city, as well as ideas presented in the 2015 Expo, a masterplan for the large scale conversion of brownfield to intensive agriculture was drawn up, based upon the model of the Continuous Productive Urban Landscape (CPUL). The masterplan echoes the themes of the Expo as well as the Italian-born Slow Food movement, and building upon existing proposals of the local government of Milan.
Research analysed the large scale implementation of intensive, community-based urban agriculture in Habana, Cuba following the collapse of the USSR as Cuba’s chief supplier of oil and agrichemicals.
The research analysed the urban ‘hinterland’, existing areas of productive urban agriculture, both intensive (allotments) and extensive (rice paddies), and urban brownfield, vast areas of land with potential to provide growing zones to feed the city.
Echoing the themes of the Expo as well as the Italian-born Slow Food movement, the masterplan creates a new ‘ecology’ that responds to the modern day issues of urban food production and distribution within the urban setting by learning from individually-successful and diverse examples from around the world.
At the heart of the masterplan, the Urban Agriculture & Community Food Centre will oversee the remediation and conversion of the land to intensive agriculture, and provide the necessary guidance and training to maximise the growing zones in an ecological way.
At the heart of the proposed Urban Agriculture Masterplan: Milan CPUL, the Urban Agriculture & Community Food Centre is tasked with overseeing the large-scale remediation and conversion of the land to intensive agriculture, and provide the necessary guidance and training to maximise the growing zones in an ecological way.
Echoing the themes of the Expo as well as the Italian-born Slow Food movement, the centre responds to the modern day issues of urban food production and distribution within the urban setting having learned from individually-successful and diverse building typologies from around the world.
Research analysed two successful contemporary urban food centres in Toronto, Canada and Milwaukee, US, which have built upon existing decaying urban infrastructure in contaminated brownfield to provide new community hubs, food production centres and decentralised food markets. The examples also address the persisting problems of unemployment in post-industrial cities.
Amongst the ambitious plans drawn up for the Milan Expo was a proposed scenic water route, the Via D’Acqua, which would connect the city centre to the new Expo site via the Naviglio Grande and a brand new canal connection. It is along this route, tapping into the new life of the Expo, that the site for a new centre for Urban Agriculture is located.
The hybrid community centre comprises a research, educational, and commercial element to serve the south west of the city, as well as a centre for food-based tourism in the area.
Professional
Professional Works as a Part I/ Part II Architectural Assistant
Professional
Portfolio of professional and academic modelmaking projects
Professional
Portfolio of extra-curricular works as a graphic designer
