Elevated lives

At Manchester co-living project, MeAdoWSide, design studio JoLIe explores how a residential project can compete with coffee shops and hotel lobbies.

WordS: Lauren teague photogrAphy: BILLy BoLton

Image on prevIous page: Lush interiors feature throughout Meadowside, Manchester opposIte top Image: Black loose furniture gives a bold edge to neutrality

Bottom Image: A purpose-built gym

It sounds a cliché to say that shared living is about offering residents a ‘way of life’. But with record numbers of homes being built across Manchester and the number of people living in the city skyrocketing, developers are on the lookout for differentiators to the market that will offer more than bricks and mortar.

Meadowside is the first large-scale residential development to be completed in Manchester by developer Far East Consortium (FEC) – drawn to the site by the “popularity of new residential hubs around the north of the city” and the demand for quality housing in the area, says Andrew Bradley-Nixon, the company’s Sales and Marketing Director.

As part of a new generation of living, Meadowside combines properties of different tenures – renters, first time buyers, downsizers, investors and overseas relocators – with communal amenities, creating a community of residents who embrace city centre living. When FEC purchased the plot, “well-designed homes with the significant resident amenity and additional services that homeowners and renters now expect was something that hadn’t been catered for in the region,” says Bradley-Nixon.

Split into two buildings – The Gate and The Stile –the development comprises 286 one, two and threebedroom apartments. On the second floor of The Stile, a communal residents’ lounge and gym have been designed by young architectural design studio JOLIE, whose first step was to consider the kind of person who would be attracted to live at Meadowside and to feed this into a design response that caters directly to their needs. “Our research showed that the most likely residents would be a younger-Millennial-into-Gen-Z user,” says studio founder and CEO Franky Rousell. “Manchester is having its moment, attracting a lot of people coming from overseas. This creates a culturally-curious clientele that enjoys sharing experiences and being a part of something.”

For JOLIE, this meant emphasising hospitality and comfort and designing a space that feels welcoming and homely but was also modern, interesting and functional – ensuring that the communal spaces do not feel like a ‘bolt on’ to the building, but more-so an extension of the residents’ own homes.

For a relatively small space, it works hard. The lounge, while open-plan, is divided into designated areas: a flexible space features modular green, velvet sofas – soft to the touch to encourage physical interaction – and small black tables that can be arranged to create formal lounge seating or moved around for impromptu movie nights hosted on a pull-down projector screen; a bar is provided for making hot drinks or for preparing food which can be served at the large shared bar table; and a coworking zone operates during the day, providing an extension to the home for young employees working away from the office.

The lounge’s functionality benefits from integrated smart systems which control the music, the lighting and the projector. Although there is guidance and a curated playlist, residents are able to manipulate the lounge as they wish to make the space their own. The lighting is ambient enough to create an atmospheric mood, but is still at a good working level, while angled spotlights point at furniture elements or walls to subconsciously highlight specific textures that evoke an emotional response.

Nodding to the lifestyles of both overseas and local residents, a base palette of greens is inspired by the East-Asian matcha latte; popular for its healthy but comforting connotations. A marbled floor tile simulates the stirring of milk into the smooth hot drink and the ceiling is painted a cool shade of matcha green. Bespoke honey-toned timber furniture is used throughout for its stabilising effect and complemented by a brown textured wallpaper to create warmth. Intentional clashes of yellow or black are introduced to imply that nothing is ‘too perfect’ and to instil nuances of “bravery and playfulness,” says Rousell. “As designers, we’re curating environments that arouse a feeling from the user. When you come in here, you’re subconsciously deciding how long to stay, how to behave and how comfortable you feel. The objective is to bring the people who live here together in a way that feels natural.” opposIte Image: Dramatic lighting meets daylight

Down the corridor, an on-site gym has been given a similar level of detail. Cardio machines are staged around the perimeter where panoramic glazing brings in energizing sunlight, while the weight training area is a darker green with luminescent lighting to denote empowerment and strength. A space for fitness classes is lined in timber.

For JOLIE, the design of the communal space at The Stile goes beyond the traditional expectations of residential providers. “Particularly post-pandemic, asset owners have to be more open-minded about their competition,” says Rousell, explaining how provision for young residents working from home is no longer a ‘nice to have’. “You’re not competing with other residential blocks anymore, it’s hotel lobbies and coffee shops – those ‘home from home’ spaces that provide a comfortable but professionallooking environment.” This, she says, is why the design approach focuses on the sensory experience it provides for the building’s residents. “A successful interior environment changes how a user feels or behaves – it’s a sympathy of the senses and, as designers, we’re curating this experience through touch, acoustics, fragrance or lighting. Our priority is to think about how design can genuinely elevate people’s lives.”