Friends of BOOTLE STREET An alternative urban project for this important Manchester site from the MA Architecture + Urbanism 2016 -17 at Manchester School of Architecture Anbang Yu Chenguang Zhao Hao Wang Jianhua Zhou Kunzhe Kang Liang Wang Martin Cheuk Hang Lee Mengjie Duan Muhammad Al Timami Eamonn Canniffe James Dyson Claudio Molina Camacho
Nicholas Bowker Saanchi Jhunjhunwala Sanjana Malhotra Sharika Krishna Vani Gupta Xinyi Li Young Nam Lee Yuze Qiao Zeid Bushnaq
These design projects for the development of the Bootle Street site in Manchester were inspired as a response to the current proposals unveiled in August 2016 for two black clad towers to be placed on the site adjacent to Albert Square and Manchester Town Hall. St. Michael’s, as the project is called will, in the view of many people who responded to the public consultation, have a negative impact on the district and presents an excluding attitude to life in the city. That project can be viewed at www.st-michaels. com. Eighteen graduate students on the MA Architecture + Urbanism course have spent two months designing alternative projects to the two black towers. They display a range of attitudes to the different existing buildings on the site, the Sir Ralph Abercromby pub, the Manchester Reform Synagogue and the former Police headquarters building.
To initiate their response as the Friends of Bootle Street and following a site visit at the start of their course the students began exploring the project with massing models, and then tested their developing proposals from a series of street level perspectives. In discussion the class developed a set of principles to follow in their design projects. They were: Permeability Open space Plot Subdivision Sustainability Active Street Frontages Appropriate Facade Materials Rehousing the Synagogue Saving Sir Ralph Abercromby Contextualism Transparency As the individual designs developed it was observed that they could be grouped in four main categories which govern the sequence in which they are presented in this document. The categories are: centralised space, diagonal space, object and space, and connected space.
Centralised Space
Diagonal Space
Object and Space
Connected Space
The proposal emphasizes permeability with a central open public space and materials to match the surrounding context. The Sir Ralph Abercromby pub is retained and the Synagogue is relocated towards Southmill Street using fragments of the Police headquarters facade. Vani Gupta
Maintaining the entirety of the existing urban fabric this proposal strips back the courtyard facades, revealing the steelwork structure and thus creating a brighter and more open space to house markets and cultural events for the city centre. Nicholas Bowker
This project generates an interaction between the existing buildings and planned ones. Keeping the Sir Ralph Abercromby pub and the Synagogue, it presents not only an architectural contrast but also a link between the unfaded past and the future. Kunzhe Kang
A new courtyard forms a public route between Bootle Street and Albert Square tracing the existing configuration but introducting permeability across the site. The Sir Ralph Abercromby pub and the Synagogue are maintained in their present form. Sanjana Malhotra
This low scale proposal creates a series of linked buildings around a permeable courtyard. The Sir Ralph Abercromby pub and the Synagogue are both rebuilt as components of the new design. Anbang Yu
This project proposes a ‘Big Tree’ for Bootle Street and considers sustainability, contextualism and materiality through a public sky garden at the roof level of surrounding buildings, preserves the Sir Ralph Abercromby and renovates the Synagogue. Young Nam Lee
The design aims to stimulate movement and access between Albert Square and Bootle Street. The public route is ramped up and climbs to public spaces and green terraces that bridge between the buildings. Sharika Krishna
This proposal creates a new perimeter development on the site, with large scale openings to invite permeability. The Sir Ralph Abercromby pub is retained and the Synagogue is rehoused in the new buildings. Saanchi Jhunjhunwala
This project keeps the Southmill Street facade of the Police headquarters but substitutes two terraced buildings behind it on either side of a diagonal route. The Sir Ralph Abercromby pub is preserved and the Synagogue is rehoused in one of the new buildings. Chenguang Zhao
This proposal offers a new synagogue and a mixed-used building next to the Sir Ralph Abercromby. The setback design of the two buildings creates a public square to maximise the open space on both Jackson’s Row and Bootle Street. Martin Cheuk Hang Lee
A steel frame and a curved wall weave their way through the site creating a market, housing the preserved structures and new spaces under a series of gables. Zeid Bushnaq
The concept of the project in a connection between the existing buildings on site and future forms of Urban Hive. The key distictive elements is that the synagogne, the old pub and the facade of the police headquarters are all preserved. Hao Wang
This project features a new plaza which provides a context for three distinct elements, the Synagogue which remains in its current building, a new headquarters office and showroom, and a newly constructed timber framed pub replacing the Sir Ralph Abercromby. Liang Wang
This project consists of two contrasting buildings which line an open plaza acting as a connecting central space towards Deansgate. The Sir Ralph Abercromby pub and the Synagogue are both preserved. Muhammad Al Timami
New buildings on the site introduce transparency and permeability through active porticoed street frontages. The buildings lead to an open atrium space with a view to Peter Street and the Free Trade Hall facade. Jianhua Zhou
This project maintains the same scale as the surrounding buildings. The bricks on the new building’s facade are reclaimed from those existing on the site. The crystalline facade brings a new life to this historic area and optimises natural daylight. Mengjie Duan
This proposal emphasises permeability and transparency. The site is transformed but its character maintained with a new synagogue and series of linked courtyards. Yuze Qiao
This project retains the Police headquarters facade but creates a new cityscape behind it with first floor terrace, prestige office building, a hotel and a new synagogue. The Sir Ralph Abercromby pub is preserved. Xinyi Li
These projects present a range of potential responses to the Bootle Street site. They offer new ways of considering the streetscape of this area between Albert Square and Deansgate with an emphasis on inclusivity and mixed uses. They propose that the city and its spaces belong to the citizens and are not the exclusive domain of commercial interests. Manchester belongs to us all. More of the design process can be viewed at: www.friendsofbootlestreet.strikingly.com and at @BootleStFOBS on twitter.