&rchitecture

Can design really address big issues like Structural inequality? Race? Gender? Age? Migration? Poverty?

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&rchitecture is a provocation to an architectural establishment that worships the Starchitect cult while the world fears extinction. Architects must stop drawing the line of responsibility at the building threshold and start using design to engage with the most urgent social and environmental issues.

&rchitecture begins with the human and puts the discipline second – it literally begins with the ‘and’ that comes before ‘architecture’ – different lived experiences and social concerns in all their complexity.

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&rchitecture develops its methods in response to different conditions and situations rather than seeking to impose abstract orders and conventional tastes.  This approach poses the most challenging questions and is open about what it takes to produce answers.

&rchitecture is a Masters level design atelier at the Manchester School of Architecture, a global top 10 ranked school. We ask how can designing with difference (different bodies, different methods, different ambitions) become a generator of design ideas?

Working at all scales, staff and students have developed consultancy projects and design proposals that explore the difference design can make in creating spatially inclusive cities, neighbourhoods, and homes.

This year students have looked at the spatial conditions of marginalised groups all around the world, grappling with complex situations such as:

• Imagining how the murder of George Floyd might have been prevented by developing an anti-racist masterplan for Minneapolis

• Creating guides for feminist urban design alongside designs for safer city spaces as part of live campaigns working with women, police, and politicians

       #genderstepgap

• Using the EU budget for building a new Lesbos refugee camp to demonstrate how those stranded can be truly welcomed instead of merely accommodated

#europemustact​

Staff led projects include:

• Age Friendly Design guidance for Greater Manchester Combined Authority

• Community led local planning partnerships with over 1200 Manchester residents

• Award winning software to support digital independence for local communities