Mayfield Oasis: A Return to the River
As the Mayfield area transitions away from its industrial past and evolves into a prominent leisure destination, River Medlock is at the centre of the new Mayfield Park, offering an opportunity to actively engage visitors with its surroundings. To overcome the poor water quality, this thesis proposes the development of new infrastructure allowing safe bathing into the river, a programme that will establish an urban oasis in the heart of Manchester.
Set to be a recurring seasonal development returning to River Medlock every summer, the scheme aims to attract local authorities to invest and implement plans to purify the river and mitigate any risks of pollution in the future.
The design development relied on experimentation with materiality in novel ways: three inflatable floating interventions informed the outcome of the final proposal. Why inflatables? At the moment, there are no set standards regulating pneumatic design besides safety guidance on play equipment. Interpretation of existing regulations for conventional building design is at the discretion of local authorities.
Overall, this project challenges the conventional notions of permanence and solidity in the industry by proposing a whimsical spatial experience that intertwines the fluid nature of the river and the pulsating spirit of the city.
