Architecture students wow Washington

Four Manchester School of Architecture (MSA) students have wowed a judging panel of world-renowned architects, landscape architects, engineers and educators in Washington with their proposals for revitalising ailing post-industrial port towns.

The team from MSA - jointly run by MMU and the University of Manchester -beat six finalists from North American universities to win the WPA 2.0: Working Public Architecture design competition.

Organised by the University of California’s urban research and design centre cityLAB, the aim of WPA 2.0 is to encourage discussion about and investment in buildings that revitalise communities.

Recalling the Depression-era public works projects that created a lasting legacy of public buildings, parks and bridges across the United States, the competition sought innovative proposals to revive American cities.

Reuse and recycling

The final year BArch students - Peter Millar (25), Stuart Wheeler (25), Jamie Potter (24) and Andy Wilde (24) - won the competition with their design ‘R_Ignite’.

Their concept proposes the reuse of port cities’ industrial infrastructure and greening of the shipwrecking industry through recycling and social activities, encouragement of public involvement via education and leisure, and incorporation of ecology and energy production.

Architecture in the wider context

Student Andy Wilde comments: “R_Ignite is a play on words as the design focuses on reigniting industrial areas using rigs and ships usually decommissioned. We used Birkenhead as an example of a post-industrial port with docklands, redundant land and great transport links that could be revitalised, but the concept could be replicated across the world.”

Jamie Potter continues: “Our tutors encourage us to look at architecture as not just building design but as facilitating quality public space. The competition allowed us to explore different disciplines, such as infrastructure and energy, and architecture in the wider context.”

Potential to redirect urban policy

Proposals by the seven finalists, selected from 300 global entries, were exhibited at the National Building Museum in Washington DC. Designs were judged by Stan Allen, Cecil Balmond, Elizabeth Diller, Walter Hood, Thom Mayne and Marilyn Jordan Taylor on both their engineering endeavours and their potential to strengthen communities, revitalise cities and redirect urban policy.

The MSA students received fantastic feedback from the judges, and White House Director of Urban Affairs Adolfo Carrion praised the finalists for imaginatively engaging the future of American cities in his keynote address to the WPA 2.0 symposium.

Other proposals to make the competition shortlist included algae pontoons capturing CO2 for alternative fuel production and the transformation of neglected rights-of-way into neighbourhood parks.