Manchester Metropolitan University Capital Projects

Manchester Metropolitan University has been subject to one problem since it was formed as the Manchester Polytechnic in 1970, but this problem was being caused by the very means which created the institution as we know it today. The modern day Metropolitan University had evolved over a period of forty years, with numerous institutions merging to form the University as a whole. The university is made up of no fewer then eight colleges, which in turn means that the university’s estate is spread over seven campuses, making it one of the largest universities in terms of size in the United Kingdom. The University’s Manchester campuses (not including Crewe and Alsager) along with the University of Manchester, and other Colleges like the RNCM, form the largest Higher Education campus in the United Kingdom, and one of the most extensive education centres in Europe.

The present day seven campus structure of the Metropolitan University is due to its own evolution over the last forty years. The original Manchester Polytechnic is situated on what is now known as the All Saint campus. This is the largest campus of the university and also the main campus where most of the universitys’ administration and core services (Student Services, and the Main Library and the Union) are based. Because of this seven campus structure small issues arise, each campus has to have its own library, making it easier for the students to locate resources for their own faculty without having to travel from campus to campus. Each campus contains its own administration, refectory, parking, and student services, the campus as a whole needs staff as well for cleaning, security, administration and other purposes. When we look at the university from this viewpoint we see that the efficiency of the university as a whole is quite poor as it has to provide a small amount of finite services for each campus, which in itself financially is a challenge. This provided the basis for plans that were put forward that will drastically change the structure, estate and also the look of the Metropolitan University.

A Masterplan was published in 2007 that proposed a physical redefinition of the Metropolitan University, in effect turning the All Saints campus into the university’s core campus, delivering strong benefits to education within the university and also its operation. The Masterplan that was developed also recognised that the university’s physical rationalisation had the potential to create a new and energising urban space, creating stronger connections between the university and City centre. The university’s Masterplan had its origins in the fact that the university had looked at the possibility of consolidating some of its estate and assets in the near future. The University was also faced by a problem most universities are: fragmented campuses burdened with low quality building additions and a need for new flexible teaching space.

The plan identified ideas for redevelopment to the current university estate as well as concepts for new buildings, and areas of possible future development on under-utilised areas of the campus. The new plans for All Saints had an important urban dimension: transforming the All Saints site would create a new university face not only for the university as it was, but to the Oxford Road Corridor as a whole.

The university’s Masterplan was ambitious, key proposals included redefining the area within and around Grosvenor Square, new iconic buildings at the John Dalton and Business School sites fronting the Mancunian Way, and improving access from Oxford Road into Grosvenor Square and the university beyond. The plans included improving existing pedestrian connections and creating new links with the adjacent communities of Hulme and Ardwick. An essential objective was to improve access through and around the campus, creating social spaces, for activities and events which could be enjoyed by both students, staff, and local communities.

In total the Masterplan identified six sites for future development:

Site A – The John Dalton site – Several proposals were put forward for this site. One proposal was to relocate the Hollings campus of the Food, Clothing and Hospitality Management Departments to a new purpose built building on the site. Another proposal was to relocate certain facilities from MMU Cheshire to the All Saints Campus, and the last proposal was to relocate all postgraduate science courses and the Science and Engineering Faculty into a new building on the site.

Site B – The new Business School and Student Hub – the proposal put forward for this site was to relocate the Business school from Aytoun Street Campus into a brand new landmark building, along with a Student Hub which would serve All Saints North and South.

Site C – Public Realm Works – Proposals for the Public Realm was for the potential closure of Cavendish Street and Lower Ormond Street with shared access, new landscaping outside the Business School and Student Hub, and the creation of new pedestrian and cycle routes through the campus.

Site D – Public Arts Project

Site E – New Art and Design studios and space – the proposal put forward for this site was to refurbish the Chatham Tower and Podium, demolition of the Undercroft Building and construction of a new Studio Building with exhibition space and lecture theatres for the Faculty of Art and Design.

Site F – New Multi Storey Car Park – the proposed new multi storey car park was conceived to accommodate the relocation of Hollings Campus and Business School Staff and Students, and also to accommodate parking space that would be lost with the closure of Cavendish Street and Lower Ormond Street.

The framework of the Masterplan creates five new building opportunities within the existing All Saints Campus. In many cases these new buildings are being developed in locations of already existing buildings or car parks which are to be demolished. The building of a new multi storey car park on the Salutation Site will facilitate more parking within the Campus as a whole. Pivotal to the Masterplan is the establishment of a pedestrianised zone around Grosvenor Square. This will vastly improve access to the university campus from the adjacent districts of Hulme, Moss Side and Ardwick; it will also provide a traffic free zone for the placement of appropriate street retail and cafe amenities, which will improve the setting of refurbished historic buildings within the university campus. The re-landscaping of Grosvenor Square will enhance the look of the campus as a whole, the framework outlines that new buildings are to be delivered by different architectural teams in order to create genuine variety and quality of design.

After the Masterplan was published the university decided to go in another direction as to where and what the university wanted to be like by 2020. This meant that the Masterplan as it was would not be realised in its entirety. However two fundamental elements from the Masterplan were given the go ahead, the new Business School and Student Hub and the new Art and Design Building and refurbishment of the Chatham Tower and Podium.

The Metropolitan University’s Estates Strategy is to provide multi-functional interactive space that will meet the current and future needs of the students and other possible users. The plan states that the MMU estate should be easily accessible and all spaces able to accommodate a wide range of possible academic developments, whilst also being economic to run.

The Estates Strategy states that by consolidating the university onto a smaller number of sites will help the university achieve these goals. The site of the former Loxford Tower and St Augustine School are key locations for future development of the University’s estate. Both sites are strategically important because of their central location on the All Saints main campus.

The review of the university’s Masterplan by DEGW and architectural firm John McAslan Partners confirmed that room utilisation throughout the entire university was low compared with other higher education institutions. This review also confirmed that the consolidation of the University’s estate by moving from seven to three sites, and the creation of a new city centre campus, would therefore shrink the overall size of the university by one third, which was a realistic and achievable target. MMU Cheshire consists of both Crewe and Alsager Campus, the plan is to combine the two campuses on the site of Crewe Campus, which is the larger of the two and also closer to important roads, rail and motorway networks, being only a ten minute walk from Crewe Railway Station (which is a large Important rail interchange) ten minutes from the M6 motorway and also 10 minutes from Crewe Town Centre. The changes to the Manchester campuses are for the entirety of Didsbury, Hollings, Elizabeth Gaskell and Aytoun campuses to be sold. On an academic level this involves the relocation of a large amount of the university’s courses and faculties, and on an estate level involves more then half of the university’s academic accommodation. On an academic level the MMU Business School (Aytoun Campus) will relocate to All Saints Campus in 2011, with the new Business School and Student Hub already under construction on the site of the former Loxford Tower. The Faculty of Health, Psychology and Social Care, (Disbury and Elizabeth Gaskell campus) along with Hollings Faculty (Hollings Campus) and the Institute of Education (Didsbury campus) will relocate to the new proposed Birley Fields campus, making this the largest change to the university’s estate since the Polytechnics formation in 1970.

The new Business School and Student Hub is a new building currently being constructed. In planning the redevelopment of the All Saints campus there was a strong drive from the City Council and the University alike that the new Business School and Student Hub should be an iconic building. The new Business Schools location is in close proximity to the Manchester Business School and the Manchester Federal School of Management and it is hoped that the close proximity to these institutions will lead to a greater co-operation between the two establishments in the future.

The design of the new MMUBS and Student hub was awarded to architectural firm Fielden Clegg and Bradley. The building’s design was affected by the unusual shape and position of the site with three separate free standing towers covered by a large glass roof. The glazed exterior shape is that of a jewel which is designed to refract colours with the changing position of the sun. The new building is designed to be eco-friendly and includes many examples of green technologies, for example solar panelling, varying systems of water conservation, ground source heating and simply using the shape of the building itself in aid of ventilation. The building’s design is heavily influenced by the concept of flexibility and the possible future expansion or contraction of facilities and the layout is a stark comparison to the old business school. During the consultative process students reported that the old business schools lecture theatres were cramped and stuffy, and that the feel of the building was dark and uninviting. The new Business School was designed to be light and airy, optimising the use of natural light and making the building feel inviting and comfortable.

As well as the new MMUBS the Metropolitan University is planning an extensive reorganisation of its Faculty of Art and Design. As it was stated in the Masterplan the 1960’s Chatham Tower and Podium is being completely renovated, whilst the Undercroft building is being demolished to make way for a new building which will provide studio space, lecture theatres and new teaching facilities. The Faculty of Art and Design currently occupies six buildings (Cavendish, Righton, Grosvenor, Mabel Tylacote, Chatham and Undercroft) which in the next 3 years will be completely refurbished providing the Faculty with much needed modern art facilities.

The new city centre campus will be built at Birley Fields in Hulme and the new plan has just been granted planning permission by Manchester City Council. The Metropolitan University and the City Council worked together to create a Masterplan for a new city centre campus, which would bring together the Faculty of Health, Psychology and Social Care and the Institute of Education on one single campus instead of the three being currently occupied. The proposal put forward was not only about fulfilling the needs of the university alone, but also about providing additional benefits to the surrounding area. The university plans to build a campus that is integral to the fabric of the surrounding community, but will also create space and services which can be used by the people of Hulme and Moss Side. The planners and the university want to encourage the surrounding community onto the campus instead of creating a place within their community which they felt disillusioned and dislocated from. Not only will Birley Fields be integral to the community, but it is planned to be the greenest university campus in the United Kingdom, with environmental sustainability essential in all levels of planning and design. The reasoning behind the new campus was to unite education, teacher training, nursing, social workers and other health care professionals onto one single campus. This will replace the campuses of Didsbury, Hollings and Elizabeth Gaskell, which consist of nearly 6000 students. The planners and the university alike wanted to create a sustainable campus, allowing better utilisation of space, and better communications with the city centre and the surrounding areas, which would altogether improve the student experience.

Hulme itself has a long history of regeneration from the slum clearances of the 1930’s and the building of the notorious crescents, to the subsequent demise of the many social housing projects that plagued the area, this resulted in the look of the Hulme we see today. An estimated £435 million has been spent on the areas of Hulme and Moss Side since 1991, transforming the area from what was considered an undesirable council estate to one of the most highly sought after places to live within the city. The City Council was eager to see the continued renaissance of the area. The new campus is expected to bring fresh momentum to the community, bringing jobs and a host of other potential benefits to the area.

rendering of the new Arts Faculty Building (pictured above)

New MMUBS and Student Hub (pictured above)

http://www.mmu.ac.uk/birleyfields/mmu_birley_fields_renderings_and_plans.pdf (click link for some renderings of the new Birley Fields Campus)

Seeing the building of the new MMUBS and student hub worries me that maybe MMU maybe having the same dilemmas that Manchester University are suffering, MMU is trying to redefine itself, but in a much different way from that of its counterpart. I think that the new MMUBS is the all important iconic modern building, a so called new face of the university which will show other institutions that MMU is here right now and making a statement, and the new MMUBS and student hub building is that statement! But where I think that MMU have done themselves proud is with the design of both its new Arts Faculty building and the New Birley Fields Campus.

The New Art Building is clever in that its design is different but not dissimilar to its neighbouring buildings, designed to compliment and blend in with its surroundings, obviously new but simple and functional, also being a gallery space as well it needs to flexible but also a blank canvas as the truly special thing about this building will be the art and creativity that will be housed within and not the actual building itself.

The New Birley Fields campus is not just about simple streamlined architecture but also about its green credentials as well, taking functional architecture to a new level, when finished it will be the only carbon neutral self sufficient campus in Europe making it a truly interesting development, between this new campus and the new MMUBS and student hub MMU will be standing out from the crowd, which I think will put it in great stead through these difficult times especially the ones facing the higher education sector in these coming years.

The University of Manchester Capitals Project

The University of Manchester as we know it today was formed in 2004 by the unification of the Victoria University of Manchester and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) making the institution the largest single site university in the United Kingdom, as well as the third largest university in terms of student numbers after Oxford and Cambridge. Subsequent to the merger of the Victoria University and UMIST the university commenced a £600 million programme of redevelopment and capital investment. Project Unity entailed the construction of eight new buildings including the £60 m University Place and £56 m Alan Turing Building, and fifteen major refurbishment projects, like the £18 m re-location of the School of Pharmacy and the £17 m refurbishment of the John Rylands Library on Deansgate,.

John McAslan and Partners were hired to design an area of the main campus on the site of the former Maths tower and the car park behind it. The work consisted of three main projects including a new building University Place (built on the former site of the Maths Tower) which would house a new faculty, offices and a hall of residence. The next project was new landscaping and public realms work which included new footpaths, cycle-paths, paving, planting and lighting. The last project was a Masterplan which affected the much larger area of Oxford Road linking the University of Manchester, Manchester Business School, Manchester Metropolitan University and the RNCM and so on into the city centre. The project entailed redesigning a large section of the university campus to link the new Humanities Building near the School of Architecture and Town Planning with the new Alan Turing Building facing Upper Brook Street. On the site of the former Maths Tower would be the new iconic flagship building; University Place, and the public areas in and around would be redesigned re-establishing a new centre of gravity of the university.

The whole public realms design is a success in my eyes, it is determinably simple and restrained, strict geometric shapes emphasising the typography of the site along with the use of high quality materials. This has created a very peaceful and inviting public space. The external feel of University Place and its circular zinc covered exterior has distinguished it from the other buildings which surround it, whether or not it compliments its surrounding and much older buildings is up to you to decide.

Scan Building(pictured above)

Alan Turing Building (pictured above)

When people used to talk about Manchester University I always pictured the ivy clad Neo-Gothic Whitworth building on Oxford Road, which is aptly the frontage that the university always uses for its glossy magazines and brochures, this is an a very grandios building with all the pomp and circumstance that you would expect from an institution which is nearly as old as Manchester itself. To be honest when you walk around the university's main campus you can't help but feel a sense of being underwhelmed by its architecture. The campus is plagued by the dilapidated buildings from the 60's Masterplan which have frankly left the university with a multitude of unusable ugly buildings which cost more to upkeep then to pull down. In recent years the universities half hearted approach at modern architecture has been quite hit or miss, the new buildings lack neither the heart or soul of their predecessors, don't get me wrong the Alan Turing building could be described as a very understated piece of modern architecture, it's simple, uniformed and even quite clever in its design. This is a stark comparison to the Scan building which can only be compared to a fat florescent eyesore of a building, its heavy almost clinical boringness used to blind me everytime I passed it on the way to my lectures. Looking at the universities eclectic splattering of glass clad boxes reminds me more of an out of town retail park then a world reknowned center of excellence, I think there are some good lessons that could be taken from 60's design in that possibly the university should be looking for a more cohesive approach to the overall design of its campus instead of a multitude of blank, boring, soulless glass and ghastly yellow bricked buildings we see right now. What does tend to amke this plan work on some level has to be the public realms work that has been completed creating useful spaces to socialise and spend time.

The Manchester City Colleges Plan and subsequent Formation of Manchester Metropolitan University

The Manchester City Colleges Plan

The Education Precinct plan also covered the redevelopment of the area north of the University which housed the City colleges, the present Manchester School of Art and Design and the John Dalton College of Technology, and the new sites of the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM,) and the Adult Education College.

The plans called for a completely new building for the RNCM on the crossroads of Booth Street and Oxford Road with a pedestrian bridge linking it to the Precinct Building. The new building would be a conduit linking the street to the new upper level walkway system. The new building was a great opportunity because it would be the first time since the college was founded that it would be contained under one roof in its own purpose built building. The original design was intended to be much larger but the Precinct plan called for the widening of Booth Street and also a height restriction being placed upon the building so as not to obstruct the view from the new Manchester Business School. This led to the new design being much thinner and longer than previously envisaged which worked in favour for the designers because a longer narrower building meant that recital and practice rooms could be housed at one end of the building whist not distracting from classes and lectures going on at the other side of the building. Also the thinner design meant that less of the buildings façade faced onto the busy and noisy Oxford Road.

The Manchester School of Art and Design premises consisted of the original Gothic 1881 building (Grosvenor Building) with its 1918 extension, but the School of Art and Design had just finished a large redevelopment to its estate, with the completion of the Chatham Tower and Undercroft building to the rear of the original Grosvenor Building. The plans for the college were to redevelop the land to the west of the original Grosvenor Building. The Chatham and Undercroft extension had nearly doubled the size of the college, but because of planning issues and the longer than expected construction of the new building, when they became occupied there was still a lack of space within the college. The demand for space was crucial leading to further plans to extend the college again on land adjacent to the existing buildings.

The John Dalton College of Technology, like the School of Art and Design was suffering from shortages in teaching laboratory space considering that in itself it was a very new institution, having been completed in 1965. Similar to the School of Arts extension the new college had suffered planning and building problems as from the moment the building was completed more space was required. The Precinct plan called for a new extension on the land between the original college building and Oxford Road. The building would be U-shaped and raised above the ground so you could walk under it and use the original college entrance. By doing this they created a new courtyard and social space for students to meet and socialise.

The new building for the College of Adult Education was to be built on the south-east corner of All Saints Park, where Cavendish Street and Oxford road meet, next door to the Manchester School of Art. There was an urgent call for the city to provide an Adult education College within the Precinct plan; it would consist of an array of courses and facilities for adults to study and practice Art, Music, Drama, Physical Education, and Science. People with full time jobs wishing to take full or part time courses would be able to take evening classes. It was designed with a larger than required refectory so it could take on the overflow from the School of Art and Design. The building was also designed to be flexible so that it could be used by the surrounding colleges and also to encourage contact between students of different colleges and institutions.

The Formation of Manchester Polytechnic

In terms of the building development at the area of the city colleges the major changes that arose were from the establishment of the Manchester Polytechnic on 1^st January 1970. It was formed by the amalgamation of the Manchester School of Art and Design, The John Dalton College of Technology, and the College of Commerce, the first two being within the Precinct and the last situated on Aytoun Street in the city centre.

In retrospect the timing of the Precinct plan had been crucial. It had come too late to influence discussions which led to the building of the new College of Commerce being sited at Aytoun Street, some distance from the other city’s central college district at All Saints. This was a shame because it meant that it had an effect on the location of a complete city college district where all the further education institutions were gathered together. It also had an effect on the site when the city colleges became the Polytechnic.

The Precinct plan for the area around the city colleges was rewritten and new ideas were drawn up for a new Polytechnic development plan. Discussions were held with the City Education Department, the City Planning Officer and the City Architect, and in 1971 a basic proposal was prepared. The proposal was to focus the Polytechnic around Grosvenor Square (All Saints) in order to influence a satisfactory working relationship between the School of Art and Design and The John Dalton College of Technology. It was proposed to eliminate all the plans put forward in the original Precinct masterplan. They terminated plans for a hall of residence south of the Mancunian Way and replaced it with the Polytechnic Central Administration Building (All Saints Building.) Subsequent Polytechnic expansion would centre on Grosvenor Square by allocating sites to the east and west of the square for new development. Subsequent expansion would provide an opportunity for a more cohesive architectural grouping around the centre, the social focal point of the polytechnic would therefore be Grosvenor Square. From the original sixties master plan only a few buildings were actually erected in the City Colleges district, Loxford Tower being one, but it was only a small part of a larger student residence that had been proposed for the site where the Polytechnic Central Administration Building now stands (present day All Saints building and Sir Kenneth Green Library.)

The Polytechnic appointed Messrs, Sheppard and Robson and Robson and Partners, as architects for the whole project. New plans were drawn up by the subsequent architects working within the original guidelines of the sixties master plan; from this they produced the Manchester Polytechnic development plan in 1972. Development of the Polytechnic was expected to take place progressively up until 1980.

A less detailed Development plan is listed below;

Site Number 1: North Side of Square: A Central Building including library, administration, offices, lecture theatres, tutorial rooms, recreational and dining facilities.

Site Number 2: East Side of Square: Faculties of Community Studies and of Management and Business, together with possible dining and communal space and 200 residential units

Site Number 3: Between College of Music and Adult Education: Faculty of Humanities and Department of Law, comprising staff and tutorial rooms, classrooms, lecture theatres and communal space

Site Number 4: West Side of Square: Extension to faculty of Art and Design comprising Studios, workshops and common rooms, together with 200 residential units.

The City of Manchester Plan 1945

In the last half of the nineteenth century in Britain the professional and cultural spheres had slowly migrated from all corners of the country to London leaving the rest of Britain without any form of cultural identity. The effect of the Manchester Plan in 1945 was to break this trend and enrich areas outside of London, which in this case was Manchester. The plans called for the area south of the city centre around the Oxford Road corridor to be the future site of a new cultural hub.

At one time Manchester had been a centre for scientific innovation and the birthplace of new political thought, and had also made considerable contributions to music and the arts. All this achievement and excellence had actually occurred around the south of the city centre and around the Oxford Road district, so was the choice for the new cultural hub’s location a mere logistic choice or was it because of its importance to Manchester’s cultural heritage. That aside, this area idealistically would be a perfect location. It was important because it was here where these achievements had occurred that had made Manchester Great!

The 1945 plan was described by the city’s architect as a “seed of cultural renaissance”. The area around Oxford Road, south of Oxford Road Station and North of the original Victoria University (present day University of Manchester) would be the site of this new cultural hub, which in turn was the central piece of Manchester’s 1945 Plan. The natural association between learning and culture meant that this new cultural hub should be close to a university, or in close proximity to it and other institutions of advanced education and research. The Victoria University of Manchester was already the largest provincial centre for learning in England, and the 1945 Plan came at a time when there were plans already being drawn up for expansion to the University’s Campus, Medical School and adjacent Hospitals. In recent years the then present chancellor Sir John Stopford had foreseen that the demand for higher education was going to increase within subsequent years, meaning that renovation of present buildings and an expansion of the university’s estate was necessary in order for the university to function. The Victoria University of Manchester along with the adjacent Hospitals District was comprised of the Manchester Royal Infirmary, a Tuberculosis Centre, Saint Mary’s Hospital and the Royal Eye Hospital. Altogether these five institutions formed an established nucleus from which the new cultural centre would expand alongside.

The proximity of the Victoria University of Manchester and the Hospitals District to the city centre had its advantages to the general community and also to the student community but also there were more negative issues with the location than positive ones. Expansion was the biggest problem to overcome because not only was there no space in which to expand at that time, but also there would be a lack of space for future expansion if it was required. There were problems with the fact that this district was so close to the city centre that it would be affected by traffic and parking problems. The preferred site of the hospital would have been a more rural setting giving the site ease for subsequent expansion and also a better environment for patients, but the hospital was not just a place for the treatment of the sick, it was also a major centre for teaching and learning so proximity to the university was an important factor

The 1945 Plan called for the widening of Cambridge Street and Upper Brook Street, turning them into major arterial roads which would serve the new district as well as the city centre. This was to draw focus from having to widen Wilmslow Road and Oxford Road, which would have involved demolishing extremely expensive estates and frontages. The Oxford/Wilmslow Road Corridor was and still is one of the most attractive approaches to the city and they wanted to protect it.

The completion of these new arterial roads would enable Oxford Road to be closed off at the northern end therefore allowing the proposed cultural precinct, leaving a straight road from the town hall to the cultural centre, running straight through the entertainment quarter with its theatres and bars. This new layout would leave an area large enough to permit lawns, trees, and places for recreational purposes stretching from Whitworth Park to Saint Peters Square. “The precinct will therefore constitute the tip of the green tongue, set with buildings in open surroundings, which will form an excellent substitute for that unattainable ideal, a wedge of open green space from the green belt to the city centre”. This area was mostly occupied by old housing that was becoming obsolete, and easy to clear because of its undesirable nature. “When the new buildings rise and their setting takes shape, they will give Manchester something that will be the envy of all cities – but something that cannot be achieved without effort and sacrifice on a large scale,”. The plan was to be a formidable and ambitious undertaking, although in the long run it would have amply justified the cost of its realisation. The surrounding area itself would be an attractive setting, industry being moved as far away as possible from the hospital, university and cultural precinct. The plan interestingly called for special care to be taken in screening with suitable buildings the railway viaduct to the north, and the bridge over Oxford Street should be rebuilt in a style that would not interfere with the view of the civic hall along the main approach of Oxford Street from the city centre down to the south.

The cultural centre itself (pictured figure 3) would be set in large gardens, the cultural buildings grouped on either side of an impressively large civic hall. The area bounded by Oxford Road, Cambridge Street and Mancunion Way contains most of the existing university buildings including the original main block, the students union, refectories, art faculty and library. More university buildings were urgently needed as the university was quickly expanding into nearby houses in order to cope with its exploding population and need to house offices and administration. Student halls of residence are distributed around Victoria Park and beyond. Proposed are two large science blocks, extensions to the library and the art faculty, and a new building for the Royal College of Music is proposed to be built near its present site, but in a more modern style. The rest of the area would be grassed and planted to give a more spacious harmonious setting to the new and old buildings of the university and the cultural centre; The new university campus was expected to “emulate the dignity and tranquillity of the older university cities and to challenge comparison with the finest examples of modern university architecture in the world”.

Iroko Housing Cooperative

View of the communal garden with the surrounding development.

The Iroko Housing Cooperative was completed in 2001, there are 59 homes, 32 five bedroom houses, 6 three bedroom maisonettes and 21 one and two bedroom flats (including one flat designed for a wheelchair user) all designed around a communal garden. At basement level there is a public car park and on the ground level are two corner shops and parking for residents of the cooperative. The brief was to fully exploit the site’s potential for larger family homes with individual gardens whilst also providing for smaller families. All the homes have private open space, gardens, terraces or balconies, but a shared garden was essential. The cooperative was designed on low energy and sustainable design principles, solar panels were incorporated into the design to provide free hot water to residents for most of the summer and reducing demand on heating for the rest of the year. Heat recovery, ventilation systems and low energy double glazing reduce energy consumption and bills whilst providing better air quality.

Man no longer houses himself, he is housed! And suburban architecture today seems to reflect the ideals and ideas of the architect rather then the inhabitants, Le Corbusier said that people need to learn to live together and taught how to live properly, but I personally do not think that this is the case, why should we be told how to live, and what to live in, because it is the individual at the end who has to live there, so why should he/she not have a say in how their house is designed. Housing has become a commodity bought and exchanged, mass produced like a kettle or iron, ‘the house is meant to be a tool for living’ and everybody lives differently so therefore the same tool is not going to work the same for everyone. It seems to be that the wrong people hold the reigns of control, and the idea of mass housing is floored by the general inappropriateness of the design process, human actions and therefore interaction needs to become a bigger player in the design of our housing, maybe by de-consumerising the process of housing we can finally build housing that works!

Hulme, Manchester

Hulme was originally an ex-industrial suburb to the south of the City of Manchester, England. It is known chiefly for its social and economic decline in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, and its subsequent redevelopment in the 1990s, as part of one of Europe's biggest urban regeneration projects. Hulme has been transformed into what it is today by learning from the mistakes of idealistic designers of the past, Hulme has many faces, but also a long interesting history, not just socially but physically. The district of Hulme has been changed and adapted many times over the

course of the last two hundred years, having seen times of prosperity from the industrial revolution, redevelopment and regeneration, but also times of destruction, abandonment and social and moral decay.

Old Hulme could be described as your ‘classic slum’, being a product of the industrial revolution, Hulme itself was the quintessential inner city estate, containing unnumbered factories and companies, a typical high street along what is Stretford Road, its shops, places of worship and entertainment were renowned throughout Manchester, pictured above is Hulme as it was just before the slum clearance in the thirties, it shows the old terraced housing that was reminiscent of many industrial towns in the north of England, at the turn of the century the districts of terraced houses stretched as far as you can see in every direction you looked, they were reminiscent of industrial Manchester

Hulme was first listed for slum clearance in the early thirties, but huge local resistance, not only by people who owned properties, but also by tenants, who were alarmed at being banished to Wythenshawe, and the loss of their community, the opposition was so large that redevelopment had still not begun when the second world war broke out in 1939. Old Hulme and its community was very much still thriving around the early fifties, the first phase of construction started in 1946, but slum clearance did not begin properly for another ten years. In the fifties plans for Hulme were altered and the area was renamed as a ‘Comprehensive Redevelopment area’, to be constructed in five different phases of flats and maisonettes, Phase five, aptly named ‘Hulme V’ or the crescents, formed nearly a quarter of the whole redevelopment of the district.

In the late 1980’s saw a constant debate between the community representatives, the city council and central government on possible solutions to Hulme’s problems, however it was not until 1991 and the secretary of states new scheme city challenge, was there the potential for a comprehensive approach to what was more then an issue of replacing concrete, with bricks and mortar. Traditionally communities grow in an un-regimented and organic fashion, yet when Hulme was redeveloped in the sixties, everything was removed, fore example that of utilities and roads, removing all traces of what went before, something that become synonymous with sixties redevelopments up and down Britain, even the basic infrastructure was done away with, the designers had to look back at the history of Hulme, old and new, and discover what had worked and what had not in order to create the basic framework for the New Hulme to grow from.

In conclusion the estate of Hulme in Manchester, is possibly one of the most convincing examples, that it is possible for a large, deprived council estate to become what it was before the 1960’s redevelopments, that being a socially and physically functioning part of the city once again. The regeneration of Hulme in itself is unique, This made it not ‘just another inner city estate making short-terms gains from a soon-to-be forgotten scheme’, but potentially a ‘metaphor for regeneration Hulme is not just another post war council estate getting a quick and cheap facelift, but the complete regeneration of a blighted area of the city, that works not just on an aesthetic level, but on a social level as well. Hulme is an excellent case study, proving that social housing projects can work, what I feel has made Hulme a success is public consultation, by simply letting the people who will live there have some input in the design, explaining what would work for them, not just on an individual level but also a community level as well, the designers have created a community where people want to live, that they are proud of, and importantly feel a sense of creation and ownership of.

The redevelopment of Hulme in the sixties was doomed from the onset, the failure of private developers and the government to provide low-cost housing for the lower classes is infamous throughout the country, the bureaucratic restrictions, administrative costs, and use of cheap materials and construction resulted in housing that ten years later was worse then the slums that went before it, Equally disappointing is the failure of the designers themselves, which totally disregarded the needs of the people for whom it was intended, the fact is by learning from the problems of Old Hulme and the sixties redevlopment, seeing what worked and what did not, through the help of designers, government institutions and the people and community of Hulme itself, a new Hulme has risen from the rubble and decay that went before, Modern day Hulme has become what it was before the infamous crescents, it is not just another disjointed estate, it is a community once again!

Greensburg Eco-Town

Greensburg is a town located in Southwest Kansas in the USA, established in 1886, like most towns on the prairies it grew alongside the railroad. Greensburg is also home to the worlds largest hand dug well, Work began on the well in 1887 to provide a sustainable water source for the steam engines of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe and Chicato, Rock Island and Pacific Railroads. The well was completed in 1888 at a depth of 109 feet (33 m) deep and 32 feet (9.8 m) in diameter. In 1939 it opened as a tourist attraction and is better known locally as the 'Big Well'. Greensburg is home to yet another quirky piece of history, a 1000lb Pallasite Meteorite which was discovered in a local cornfield which is located in the 'Big Well' museum.

At 9:45pm on May 4th 2007 an EF5 tonado estimated to be 1.7 miles in diameter, it struck the town head on destroying 95% of the town leaving the other 5% severely damaged, winds averaged 205mph making it one of the worst tornados in Kansan History.


Just days after the tornado struck, the community came together and decided to rebuild their community, they wanted to rebuild their town, but they didn't want to just replace what was there before, but build a better, stronger community for generations to come. They decided to rebuild sustainably, striving to become a model eco-town for the future. Greensburg-Greentown is a community based organisation which was set up to work side by side with local residents and local businesses in order to rebuild their homes and businesses in a green eco friendly way. Greensburg-Greentown also act as a representative to people outside of Greensburg who are interested in green initiatives, using the town as a showcase for businesses and people alike who are interested in going green or building in an eco friendly manner.

Here is a link to the towns building database which lists all the building projects that have been completed, and that are currently under construction, showing detailed information on thier green credenials. Greensburg Sustainable Building Database.

Here is a picture of Greensburg taken in January 2010, showing the progress made in just under 3 years.

From an architectural and even a socialogical point of view Greensburg is an interesting case, usually when a new town is built people move in and create some form of a community, or when new estates are built in existing towns, the new estate becomes a community within a community, but it is not always coherant and unified. It is very rare that an established community has the chance to completely rebuild itself, in fact we are still plagued in Britain by vain attempts by architects in the sixties an seventies to rebuild large parts of our towns and cities. In the case of Greensburg they have the change to build a better stronger community through architecture, by allocating areas for industrial, areas for commercial and areas for residence and parkland, they have the change to design the perfect town, but at the same time creating a Eco-model for the rest of us to learn from.

A lesson that can be learnt from Greensburg is that it is not a town or building that make a community, the people of Greensburg could have just up sticks and moved somewhere else but they chose not too, it is the people and in this case the perseverance of those people that makes Greensburg the town it still is today.