The urban city is in a constant state of flux. Fast paced and all consuming, we, as humans, have created a carefully coordinated society where we all play our role in its evolution. However, the lifestyle we conform to has distorted our bodies, crippling our minds in ways that stray from human consciousness. Becoming contingent on technology, consumed by greed and misguided by modernity, these happenings of interference have hindered our ability to prioritise our human needs.
The Mancunian Way is a gatekeeper of the city. As residents leave the city, they carry away stress, anxiety and a sense of urgency with them. I envision the Mancunian Way as a buffer, breaking this pattern of chaos. Through spatial interventions that focus on the stimulation of mind and body, a higher sense of self is reignited again.
In the first wave of human centric activity,‘transmission’ of chaos regresses. Micro-shifts occur in behaviour. Some residents start walking to work, others pick up their cameras again. A calmness ripples across the city, stirring households on the city edge. Energy and excitement oscillate in the air about the potential for the next slow moment and the revelations it will bring.
The Archives is the next slow space. Erupting from the Mancunian Way, the Archives is a contemporary public leisure centre hosting a Baths, Library and Watch Tower. Swathed in a blanket of green, over time the building morphs from into a bunker - fortified by humanist principles. The interior and exterior environment are juxtaposed, a balance is struck between the outdoor chaos of the modern world and the calmness of the self-aware mind. The Archives become a refuge for the open minded, users navigate their own personal journeys of enlightenment as they are guided from the cave like baths to the sun-soaked tower.
