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Located in the post-carbon mining landscape of Bradford, Manchester, the existing site stands in a conflict of ‘rested’ and ‘unrested’:
One half expresses the beauty and abundance of when nature is left to rest. However, it is home to unproductive social activity, while the other side has remained static unused carpark, burdened with the possibility of becoming
Over time, the site has witnessed a cycle of rest and unrest from its industrial past to its over-looked present. Influencing the economic, social and ecological systems of growth.
Dividing the site is the River Medlock, with the Holt town tram station and Aston New Road acting as a border. The site forms as part of a green belt connecting East Manchester to the City of Manchester.
PRE-INDUSTRIAL
WHERE
INDUSTRIAL
INDUSTRIAL FALL
POST-INDUSTRIAL Currently
WHAT
28 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow . They don’t work or make their clothing, 29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are.
-Matthew 6:28-29, New Living Translation
A collection of spaces that promote the connection to nature and natural systems to invoke the practices and sense of rest and regeneration.
Spaces for individual and communal recollection. Providing needs such as access to food, water, safe sanitary needs, spaces to play and to learn, acting as an refuge.
The building is be a environmentally and socially productive space, and as a structure grows with the environment.
Architecture that ‘ shows us nature’ and ‘natural cycles’ (H.Samburichi, 2021) allowing us to live in, work with and learn from nature.
Forcing the users to slow down be allowed to rest; given the chance to regenerate and therefore thrive.
(Space 10 A.Hansen S.Nousuniemi, 2022)
Brief
Servant to
Diagrams 1-2 adapted from Raworth, 2018. And diagrams 3-8 adapted from Kiosk Studio (Lin, 2021)
WHY To sustain the Social and Ecological To sustain the Economic and Industrial
What System?
Legacies of E.D.I
‘We live in a one-storied world, where there are legacies of extraction, displacement and intrusion of the ‘other’... voices, needs, histories, senses, experiences, worlds, cultures, stories... in our world.
Over time, we have seen human activity acting in opposition to the earth and the other narratives on it. Marginalising the social and ecological spheres of life. Ignoring the sounds of their voices yet taking from them.
These legacies of intrusion (fuelled by colonial and capital mindsets) tear out the fabric of the living ecological system that we are. Preventing the ‘unlocking of the repository of knowledge’ that we would find in each other.
(Pallasmaa, 2012;44; Escuobar, 2021; Munchin, 2022, Watson, 2020:16)’
ACTORS AND ACTIVITY
Parents
Relationship with children to be improved.
Adulthood loneliness- providing spaces to meet new people, and take a break from responsibility
Mosses and Lichen
Providing more surfaces for them to grow.
Students and Young professionals
-Need for rest from demanding schedules
-Need to actively practice rest so don’t fall into the trap of economic system
Squatters
-Socially unused space becomes a refuge and shelter.
-A space where they can have a sense of quiet and home, a stopover place, where they are welcome any time
Children
-Conflict between the desire for independence
- Needs for love and support from guardians,
-The need to learn to value the earth from a younger age.
Elderly
-Lost memories of their community. -Transitioning away from their lost community
-Mindset shift towards regards to the natural required
The working community.
-the need to value their well-being over work.
-To reduce the desire for excessive consumption, so they don’t feel burdened to work
-Showing a different approach to life
Water species water purifying plants creating more wetlands providing more oasis between rivers and land.
Land species
Increased spaces for habitat Points of shelter from humans for refuge or storing food. Leaving undisturbed patches of grasses
Air species
Increasing opportunities for nesting, for breaks between flights
Shelter from prevailing winds Wildflower meadows on roofsquiet points for animals to take a break and be provided for in the urban
Vegetation
Protecting the existing trees and the habitats that they support. Allowing for rain water to be used effectively to nourish vegetation.
THE COMMUNITY OF BRADFORD: Meeting their needs for rest INTERLINKING OF ACTIVITIES,
ORCHARDS
RESTING
00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 17 16 18 19 20 21 22 23
CAFE CONTEMPLATION ROOMS CHAPEL PLAY-AREA LUNCH TIME AFTER-SCHOOL MEET UPS GROUP STUDY WORKSHOPS GATHERINGS READING ROOMS CONTEMPLATION
READING ROOMS CONTEMPLATION REFLECTING
RESTING
MEDITATING
REFLECTING
AFTER-SCHOOL MEET UPS GROUP STUDY CONTEMPLATION BREAKFAST BRUNCH EVENTS SOCIALS EVENING LOUNGE GARDENING CONNECTING VOLUNTEERING VOLUNTEERING 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 17 16 18 19 20 21 22 23 AFTER-SCHOOL GARDENING ACTIVITIES, PROGRAM AND SPACE
GARDENING OBSERVING
PLAYING EXPLORING LEARNING
PROGRAM SCHEDULE
Greenhouse Chapel
Adventure playground
Exiting ‘Natura Urbana’
Existing concrete carpark path
Eden like environment expressing the abundance of creation.
There a two main site entrances for humans, with the site enclosed with brambles and hedgerows acting as a sensory natural barrier.
On the way to the Green house Chapel, one passes the sensory garden. The chapel is the light timber structure seemly floats over the ground.
The Cafe is close by the main road for access and quick food trips.
The path takes you on a journey through different landscapes of rest. The site becomes a space to wander and a space for wonder.
Sensory gardens
Food Forest
delivery and access vehicles
path
visitor
flow
flow
Food
Main
Human
Water
Gardening Non-human
FLOWS
In the mornings, volunteers and visitors tend the food forest. Produce is collected and stored to be later used in the cafe.
The Community of Bradford works together to cultivate the forest, both humans, non-humans and the natural cycles of sun, wind and rain.
Collectively growing: The act of gardening reminds provokes people to slow in time.
Wandering: While there is a clear pathway through the site, users are encouraged to wander through the site, appreciating the different landscapes.
A gentle valley with swales has been created to support the permaculture inspired food forest. Encouraging different species to engage with each other and collectively grow.
Enjoy and Share! Prepare
Plant Harvest
REST
EXPRESS
CONNECT
GROW
MOMENTS OF DWELLING
The ‘In-between’ space. Just how mosses create moments of ‘dwelling’, the structure creates a buffer point between to spaces. It becomes a point for reflection and contemplation, with the movement between these varying points creating interesting interactions and thresholds.
By increasing the visibility of weeds, overgrowth and non-humans alike, we recognise the other actors that are intrinsic to our spaces. We gain empathy.
The spacing of the tiles change as one moves between thresholds, creating a contrast from the inside to the out and making more visible transition. Texture, sound, light and smell change as one pass through this node.
Exterior Interior
SURFACES FOR REST: Spaces for the displaced
Julia has been rough sleeping for some weeks. In the afternoon, the sunroom acts as a get-away from the harsh realities of her life. The light shelf prevents direct solar gain as she looks out to the gardens.
Unlike other spaces, this surface encourages Julia to sit and rest.
Throughout the day the food forest is available for both humans and animals to share of the fruit of the garden. It becomes a collective community resource encouraging local food production
She can take part in caring for the gardens and can snack on the fruits and vegetables produced.
The Community FOrREST provides a space for the ‘displaced’, a refuge point in East Manchester.
A small valley is created in the landscape. It directs excess rain water into a wetland. It provides a space for this frog to cool down and hides from its predators.
THE COMMUNITY CAFE
7:00
The Community Cafe becomes one of the few spaces in the neighourhood that provides food and seating.
Before work, Mark can get local fresh food before he goes to work. Sometime he stops to chat to the volunteers, other times he can have a quiet and peaceful morning before work.
13:00
| Connecting over lunch
This individual sits on the mezzanine the gardens. The act of sitting and observe deeper and sense more clearly
While this group reconnect over Beswick mining past.
| Breakfast bar
mezzanine floor looking out towards and being still allows one to clearly your surroundings.
their memories of Bradford and
In the evening, the cafe becomes a more lively space. The hall looks out towards non-humans and humans expressing themselves.
In the adventure playground children are free to express themselves with parents not being too far away in side the cafe
Young people socialise with friends after school, and people coming from work can relax with friends or family before going home.
READING ROOMS
11:00 | A small Permaculture workshop is held for parents and young children. The timber interior creates a warm and gentle atmosphere.
study.
Some students use the space to study. It is a nice break from home and school.
The room is filled with planting, some of which is incorporated in the floor construction providing both a peaceful and playful forest-like interior.
Precious, sits in a nook reading a book about ladybugs
SCALES OF REST
1:100 1:1000 1:500 1.5 1.20 CONCEPTUAL 1.1
