Archipelago of Egalitarianism
My thesis explores the role of Egalitarianism in Mayfield, Manchester - and how reintroducing forgotten voices from the past can help revive not only the immediate site itself from a state of voicelessness, but Manchester as a whole. It proposes, within the manifesto of the FLUX atelier and in collaboration with our live Client U+I Landsec; an alternative approach to urban development.
Mayfield is currently an archipelago - a series of fragments acting only as the ruins of a disappearing past. However, these disparate pieces contain within them both intense atmospheric qualities and the roots of once-powerful voices; both of which can be utilised to great effect.
By looking to the historic local forces of Quakerism, Chartism, and the Temperance Movement, we discover a way to create small-scale urban acupunctures of voice unified by their shared theme of egalitarianism. Through a process of iterative urbanism, these sites shall emanate into the city and help provide the urban realm with much needed centres of rhetoric, dialogue, and congregation in an otherwise voiceless world. This thesis serves to propose an analogue realm of voice; a direct counter to the all-pervasive digital relam which yields little but apathy in relation to individual voices being heard.
In my work, I am predominantly interested in architecture which possesses qualities of sacredness, or is religious in nature. The roles which spirituality, history, and time play within architecture also fascinate me. In my methodology, I favour analogue working-methods; choosing to exclusively hand-draw both my undergraduate and postgraduate degrees - as well as employing skills such as digital collage, linoprinting, hand-made modelling, film-making, photography, and creative writing.
