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 (i.e. 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.

In PS1 students were asked to identify a group of people in their hometown who are disproportionally impacted by Covid-19, and to design a housing community that addresses the specific experiences of exclusion that they face. The students explored the role of housing as a central component of inequality, and developed different models of collaborative, interdependent housing in response. The international focus of PS1 allowed students to share the social, spatial and architectural challenges local to them, learning from each other’s experiences as a means of understanding and tackling the perpetual global housing crisis.

In PS2, we questioned whether an increasingly exclusionary society be challenged without first addressing the notion that inequality can be solved simply by producing ‘more’ stuff – the unconvincing orthodoxy that in a world of excess, everyone will get enough. On the contrary, recent history has shown that the constant push for GDP growth above all else has led to natural destruction and human (and animal) exploitation, and an unequal distribution of the benefit. In PS2, we will explore the architecture of degrowth – a possible future driven not by accumulation, but by new collective relationships. In groups, students explored one of six themes; rights, production, family, technology, play and distribution. Each group will develop their own programme for the site, proposing a series of non-residential spaces and associated public realm.

Our site is Manchester Abattoir in Openshaw, Manchester - a series of 1960s concrete buildings that were once the most technologically advance abattoir in Europe when opened but quickly proved to be unfit for modern commercial environment. In keeping with the degrowth agenda, students were challenged to reuse the existing structure and develop technical and environmental strategies that addressed issues of waste, reuse and carbon cycles (as well as human behaviour).