The atelier is conceived as a think tank and test bed - a platform for research and experimentation in architectural design and is concerned with holistic understandings of design and sustainability.

Within the evolving context of advanced architectural practice our interest lies in the interaction between technology and people, in the design and delivery of environments that support the needs and activities of contemporary and future society, in a creative, positive and equitable way. We engage and collaborate with specialist consultants and with our MArch atelier, consistently gaining successes in international design competitions. All projects explore contemporary and novel design methods and material performances in tectonic and spatial propositions. Testing of these occurs in application to a specific programmatic brief and this year’s themes were ‘high-rise’ and interpretations of the notion of ‘performative pattern’.

Projects began with digital and material experimentation in the design response to a pavilion competition brief in Milan. Projects then developed ideas, applying design techniques and understandings of material performance to the high-rise context in city- centre Manchester.