&rchitecture 2020-21

PS1 Brief
&rchitecture is a way of thinking about and practicing architecture.

Rather than starting from within the discipline and moving outwards,
&rchitecture emerges from what already is different in the world. You are all
already something & architecture - your potential is lost when you are unable
to reconcile who you are with the things you do as an architect.

We reject the notion of the creativity is something dormant within the

individual, and instead argue that it comes from engaging with difference
- different people, cultures, contexts, methods, mediums and theories.
Without difference, we fall into habitual processes in which norms,
orthodoxies and inequalities of our discipline and society, are perpetuated.

Without engaging with difference, we are left unable to adapt to a changing

world. So why is this important? Because like never before, the contradictions
within our society, cities and discipline are being laid bare. The result were
unthinkable just months ago. Its not about Covid, its much more than that –
It’s that the façade of urban stability has started to crumble away, and the city
as a contested space has emerged in its place. We think this needs a new kind
of architect.

Our staff team this year will be:

Jamie Ashmore
Angela Connelly
Eddy Fox
Mark Hammond
Emma Haward
Sam Holden
Victoria Jolley
Kasia Nawratek
Stefan White

We will be continuing our collaborations with practitioners such as Phillip Hall-

Patch from Heatherwick Studio and Jos Boys at UCL.
 &rchitecture PS1 Brief
“…while we are all floating on the same sea,
it’s clear that some are in superyachts while
others are clinging to the floating debris.”
Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General, 2020
Context:
Covid-19 has amplified long-standing inequalities across the globe,
bringing the multi-faceted exclusion that many people face into sharp
focus. Black people in the UK are more likely to be key workers and be
exposed to Covid-19 in the workplace, but also more likely to experience
underlying health conditions which make it more dangerous as a result of
cumulative social and economic inequalities. Unequal access to broadband
increases the school attainment gap between rich and poor, and the
push to digital socialising marginalises those in rural communities, those
with disabilities and many older people. Domestic abuse charity Refuge
reported a 700% increase in calls during lockdown.
The pandemic has also made clear the spatial and architectural aspects
of inequality. 37% of black people in the UK have no access to a garden or
balcony, and as a result reported significant reduction in mental health
during lockdown. People on low incomes are more likely to have precarious
working contracts with little/no sick pay, preventing isolation and
promoting contagion in deprived communities. Slum dwellers in Mumbai
were 3 times more likely than others to be infected due to overcrowding
and poor sanitation, but this has also led to increased stigmatisation of
slum dwellers and a loss of social and economic opportunities.
Professional Studies 1 and 2 will explore the potentials for new models and
typologies that better address the conditions of exclusion and inequality
that Covid-19 has made unavoidable, but which have existed for years. We
are not designing responses for the short-term (ie for social distancing),
but instead will look at social, economic, environmental propositions
which respond to the structural inequalities in society, both in the UK and
across the globe.
Brief:
We would like you to identify a group of people in your home town/country
who have been disproportionally impacted by Covid-19, analyse and
affectively communicate how they are marginalised (by society, and by
the profession of architecture), and to design a housing community which
explore and addresses their specific experiences of exclusion.
You should be as specific as possible in identifying a marginalised group.
This could be a pre-existing collective of people (for example, residents in
a specific care home or users of a LGBT support centre in your home town)
or a cohort who share similar experiences (for example, migrant domestic
workers in a certain neighbourhood.). When selecting a group, ensure that
you have adequate information available to you.
Tutors will work with each pair to establish a research question, which you
will use to inform all stages of your project. We are not trying to simulate
an architect-client relationship. We do not want to pretend to be architects
working to their design brief, but work together to creatively investigate a
topics, contexts and ideas that will help us understand the real potentials
of architecture to affect positive change. These investigations require us to
use professional processes, skills and techniques to justify deviations from
the habitual practices of architects and developers.
This project will be undertaken in pairs, as selected by your tutors. Each
pair will be selected to maximise differences. &rchitecture argues that
difference is not error that designers should seek to minimize/eliminate
in order to come to an optimal solution, but the central means of creative
practice. &rchitecture seeks to embrace difference (identity, ability,
advantage) in order to be affective and affectable – to make a difference
and move people emotionally, whilst being open to change ourselves.
Without engaging with difference our thinking and practices remain
unchallenged, and our actions are unable to address the complex and
fluid conditions we practice in. Without difference, we fall into habitual
processes in which norms and orthodoxies are perpetuated. We hope
that the opportunity to discuss how the same issue is affecting people in
different countries will offer opportunities for creativity.
Programme:
“The idea of crisis implies that inadequate or unaffordable housing is
abnormal, a temporary departure from a well-functioning standard.
But for working-class and poor communities, housing crisis is the
norm”
David Madden and Peter Marcuse, In Defense of Housing
Housing is a central component of the inequalities and exclusions
mentioned previously in this brief. We would like you to explore the role of
housing in addressing the precarity that many groups face, and to explore
the potential of interdependence as a solution to the perpetual housing
‘crisis’.
You will design a residential community, with 15-30 dwellings. It should
include a mix of private and communal space. The nature of this should
be informed by your research question and local examples/typologies.
As a starting point we will look at contemporary ‘cohousing’ models,
whilst acknowledging the anglo/euro-centric nature of this concept and
the prevelance of communal housing across the globe that pre-dates this
term. We will explore theories and practices of different cohousing and
collective living models at a seminar early in the semester.
To make your research affective, you will need to engage with the real
economic, political and societal conditions which underpin development.
For many, this will mean creative use of limited budgets and the
architectural implications that this generates.
Site:
Each pair will select an appropriate site in one of your home towns. Even
if you have moved to Manchester this term, we encourage you to consider
the locations you have lived in previously, so that we have a diversity of
perspectives and projects within the atelier.
Your site selection will depend on your brief, and should seek to explore
sites which are realistic to your group. This may (and perhaps should) seek
to explore sites that for-profit developers would find unappealing due to
size, geometry, topography or proximity. Your selected site will be agreed
with your tutors, who will advise if it is inappropriate.
We are supportive of students who want to work in international contexts.
You should select construction systems, materials and environmental
strategies that suit your chosen climate and location. If you choose an
international (non-UK) site for your project, you should still design it to UK
Building Regulations, but if possible you should also provide a comparative
table which explains what some of the key local regulations are in the
country where your site is located (minimum: accessibility, fire safety/
means of escape and environmental performance) and compare this to UK
building regulations. In PS2 you will all be using a UK site and designing to
UK regulations.
Note – please ensure you are following local social distancing rules if you
choose to visit a site you have selected, or want to engage with any of the
groups of people you are designing for. Where possible, consider how you
can do this work remotely.
Timetable
There will be an atelier-wide programme of seminars and workshops held
most weeks between 9-10am. This will cover specific elements of the PS1
brief (technology, cohousing, inequality and difference), as well as broader
architectural ideas which you can take forward into M.Arch 2.

For those who are lot located in the UK, we will make every effort to
ensure your tutorials take place at a time which suits the timezone you
are living in.

Our M.Arch1 teaching team includes Jamie Ashmore and Emma Haward,
both practicing architects at leading UK practice HTA Design, ensuring you
will receive the most up-to-date technical and professional knowledge.

Outputs
As a pair, you will each submit an identical 35 page digital portfolio (pdf,
100mb max). This can include interactive elements (such as roll overs for
plan overlays etc.) but these should be used sparingly. The onus is on you
to have a fully functioning PDF – if drawings or details do not work because
of technical errors, then they will not be graded. Test your PDF a few days
before submitting, removed interactive elements if they are unreliable.

Examples of student work from the last year:

https://www.msa.ac.uk/2020/masters/march/and/

Follow us on Instagram: @AndArchitectureMSA

Any queries? Email Mark on m.hammond@mmu.ac.uk