The fourth year students (first year masters) at Manchester Architecture School are working on an adaptive and sustainable reuse of the Ferranti Building on the UMIST campus in Manchester.
The material prototyping task was included at the start of the project to help establish some spatial and material positioning.The workshop brief was to develop conceptual prototypes for potential interventions.
Students worked with mycelium, mild steel, fabrics, LED lights, and many different scrap materials.
The resulting prototypes explored varied approaches to the building’s transformation.Some students investigated the layering of a facade,whilst others developed parasitic structures that weave around the existing UMIST building.
One prototype focused on how the effect of water ripples in an outside pool can be transferred to the inside of the building.
Another prototype physically conceptualised heat in a greenhouse-like space, and another explored a fabric-like structure creating layered effects.
One student worked on a dynamic prototype incorporating LEDs
At the end of the workshop, students discussed their work in small groups of five, with one student acting as chair to guide the discussion.
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