Void Architecture
How does the re-making of historical scenes evoke people's empathy and thus activate the Mayfield site?
Mayfield is the outcast of Manchester's modernisation. During the years when Manchester's population was booming, Mayfield strongly supported the city's operations. But as time went on, it was completely neglected.
The Mayfield River is one of the major reasons for the origin and prosperity of Mayfield. So this project began with smells, leading people to explore the different smells of the Mayfield's water as a way of awakening their dormant memories of history and inspiring their passion for Mayfield.
But in subsequent research, I realised that smell is one of the most overlooked and powerful senses that help people remember what they have forgotten. But for Mayfield, the attraction and activation of smell alone were not enough. So I delved into the history of Mayfield and selected important periods to recreate on the site with wire mesh and bring a new experience to the senses of sight, smell and touch.
The atmosphere created by the transparency of the material intertwines the design with its surroundings, provoking a continuous dialogue with space and history and projecting the historical scene into a new point in time: something that has passed away is reborn in a time that does not belong to it. The ongoing abstract sequences generated by simultaneous transparency allow light and atmosphere to shape how they are read in different contexts, offering a new experience of the intersection of past and present temporality. It narrates the volumes and language of the original building, rekindling memories and interfacing with the present landscape and surroundings. It is a dialogue between the imaginary and the reality of the site, the new and the old. It is the site speaking silently to people about history.
