Infrastructure Space @ Manchester School of Architecture

NAUT:AUTONOMUS SYSTEMS FOR A RESILIENT RURAL by Master of Architecture Anastasia Stavrou @architecturbia from Infrastructure Space Atelier @infra_structure.space 🗣"My work explores how architecture can support rural communities in adapting to future environmental, climatic, and socio-political disruptions. Rooted in both speculative design and real-world data from Cumbria, my thesis investigates how self-governance and resilience can be spatialised in regions increasingly affected by flooding, food insecurity, and the decline of infrastructure. The project operates across three interconnected scales. At the macro scale, it proposes a territorial strategy in which governance, energy, and ecological zones evolve in response to environmental rhythms. At the meso scale, a network of rural commons facilitates shared land use, decentralised decision-making, and flood-responsive resilience. At the micro scale, a suspended ‘living lab’ acts as a prototype for self-sufficient habitation—testing closed-loop systems for food, energy, water, and wellbeing above land that has become temporarily uninhabitable. The proposal reframes resilience not as a reaction, but as a proactive civic infrastructure. It positions architecture as a scaffold for governance, care, and ecological transition—where redirected aid funding supports community-led development at the local scale. Future phases of the project envisage a network of permanent monolithic anchors distributed across flood-prone rural territories, enabling shelter systems to be deployed rapidly during crises and to function as experimental and productive spaces in non-emergency conditions. My interests lie at the intersection of design, environmental change, and social infrastructure. I am particularly focused on how architecture can serve as a platform for autonomy, care, and climate adaptation in often-overlooked rural contexts."

Enjoyed my first Atelier teaching day of the year at the Manchester School of Architecture @themsarch with the amazing @infra_structure.space at their stakeholder engagement day looking at projects in and around #carlisle where I grew up! Alongside the vast range of stakeholders I was pleased to welcome my guests, MSA Visiting Professor @hazel_rounding of @shedkm and Rowan Seaford of @carmodygroarke - it was a great day with some thought provoking proposals- well done and thank you to all involved 👏

Amazing Stakeholder Workshop with partners in industry and local government. Architects, planners, QS, policy makers, government advisors, developers, utilities professionals and academics came together to review student work across BA3, MArch 1, MArch2, and MLA2 in Infrastructure Space Atelier @themsarch Manchester School of Architecture. Thank you to guests and students for your enthusiasm and commitment! @vik_kaushal @nicholas.nilsen @tylerantonia @ms.siobhan.barry @lisamkinch @draganaruma @_mike__walsh_ @arcadisglobal @cumberlandcouncil1 @manningelliottarchitects @themsarch @kevinsingh

Experiments in Placemaking and Technology. New exhibition. 5 projects from MArch2 and MLA2 students in the Infrastructure Space Atelier. Thursday 29th January 16:00 - 18:00 @themsarch Manchester School of Architecture. MTC 103 Oxford Rd 2nd Floor Gallery.

Inspiration from Da Lan: “This 1:50 model is the centrepiece of my studiodesign project—an architectural space dedicated tothe creation of architecture-AI in design construction,and maintenance. Through meticulous planning and iterative craftsmanship, it captures not only the aesthetic and functional qualities of the proposalbut also reflects a deeper exploration into organic architectural design. To bring the model to life, I employed a wide range of modelmaking techniques. These included heat-forming acrylic sheets to replicate the building’s distinctive cladding, CNC-cutting plywood for thebase, and 3D printing custom concrete beams designed to accommodate electrical cables. Traditional methods were also integral: hand-cuttingand shaping cardboard components, spray-painting to match the material palette, and assembling intricate details by hand. This fusion of digital andmanual techniques enabled me to fully express the complexity and layered nature of the design. Particular attention was given to the cladding system—a defining and alien-like feature of thebuilding. To accurately capture its geometry, I created custom wooden moulds to form 3mm acrylic sheets through heat treatment. […] In addition to the central model, a series of supporting models were produced to illustrate the full scope of the design. A 1:200 site model with a hand-cut plywood base communicates the overall layout and programmatic strategy. A 1:2 structural detail model demonstrates construction and joinery principles. Lastly, a 1:3 interior lighting model adds a sensory dimension, helping to visualise the atmospheric qualities of the proposal.” ____________________________________________ Submitted for the 2025 B.15 Modelmaking Awards by @themsarch @infra_structure.space BA3 Student - Da Lan @landa_arkitektur ____________________________________________ #makemoremodels #manchesterschoolofarchitecture #universityofmanchester #models_architecture #manchestermetropolitanuniversity #modelmaking #architecture #architecturalmodels #b15workshop #architecturestudents #archdaily #maquetas #archmodel

RHYTHMS OF WATER AND WILD by Master of Landscape Architecture Yuxin Fang @xinnnbae from Infrastructure Space Atelier @infra_structure.space 🗣"In Cleator Moor, a former mining town shaped by water and industry, landscape becomes a way to listen and respond. Frequent surface flooding is no longer viewed as a problem to be fixed, but rather as a seasonal rhythm that can shape new habitats, guide planting, and connect people to their place. Working with man-made soil, clay loam, and fragmented ecology, the design introduces wetlands, meadow zones, and boardwalks that adapt to the land’s microtopography. Industrial remnants are not removed, but quietly retained, marking memory while allowing nature to reclaim. Over time, layered vegetation adapts to changing water levels, thereby encouraging biodiversity. Each phase responds to both ecological performance and local use: seeding new ground, supporting infrastructure, inviting programming, and allowing adaptation. Rather than imposing a master plan, the landscape evolves through use, climate, and care. In a town where young people are leaving and daily life is quiet, the reimagined terrain aims to spark interaction. Observation decks, planting pockets, and walkable edges invite new routines—small moments of contact between humans and shifting nature. What emerges is not a finished park, but a place that grows with uncertainty and finds form through flood."

THE CHURCH OF MINING by Ba3 student Christian Nicholson @studio_ceej from Infrastructure Space Atelier. @infra_structure.space 🗣️“The Church of Mining” is a cultural and architectural tribute to Cumbria’s mining heritage. Located at Florence Mine, a historic iron ore site in West Cumbria, the scheme introduces a museum, hiking trail, and event space, bringing together the local community and visitors within a landscape once defined by extraction. It doesn’t aim to restore the past, but to reframe it, allowing the industrial remnants to hold space for reflection, storytelling, and new cultural activity The project is rooted in my personal interests in industrial heritage, immersive environments, and the raw aesthetic of post-industrial spaces. Like Berlin’s techno venues, which transform crumbling power plants into cultural institutions, this project sees potential in decay, not as an ending, but as an opportunity for transformation. Architecture becomes a tool not just for shelter, but for narrative. The design draws on the monolithic forms and material honesty of the mining structures, presented through a contemporary architectural lens. My experiments with TouchDesigner, working with point clouds, feedback loops and real-time visuals, have shaped how I think about space as dynamic, not static. These digital practices allow for a layered reading of architecture, one that merges data, emotion, and visual intensity. “The Church of Mining” is ultimately a proposition for how rural, post-industrial sites can be reactivated without erasure. It aims to honour labour, landscape, and memory, whilst inviting the future in. It’s about reclaiming space in a way that acknowledges what was there before, and reimagining what it can mean now.”

Busy and exciting day at the Manchester School of Architecture @themsarch including an AI workshop for our @ma_architecture_urbanism students by Digital Lead @jason.taylor.digital plus lots of Atelier presentations and reviews with guests @infra_structure.space @msa_ateliercontinuity @nonstandardhabitats and @flux_atelier_msa

BA3, MArch2, and MLA2 site visit to the new link road that is a critical phase in the realisation of the 10000 home St. Cuthbert's Garden Village. Each of the students' upcoming projects will have a relationship to this and the River Eden catchment. Thanks to Gary Waters from @raisecumbria for the excellent talk on site.

MArch 1 study trip to Golden Fleece Exelby Services, our Adaptive Reuse site off the M6, south of Carlisle. Quite the Infra site visit! Thanks to Rob and Helen Exelby and the team at Golden Fleece for showing us around.

Inspiration from Taras Mandziuk: ‘’My project was an adaptive reuse of an existing building at a Grade II Listed hematite mine. As part of my design development, I had to carefully consider my approach to the materiality so that it wouldn’t harm the heritage of the existing. My model is a 1:100 façade study used to explore the viability and impact of different cladding options. Taking material precedent from the site, I then developed three cladding options: semi-clad corrugated corten steel; fully-clad corrugated corten steel; and vertical timber louvres. To fully understand the impact of these façade treatments on the existing, a physical model that I could test each option was best, as a digital model might give an inaccurate representation. [...] The brick panels are jesmonite, with the texture achieved through casting onto laser engraved greyboard. The corrugated corten steel cladding effect was achieved through using scale corrugated paper, sprayed with a rust-effect paint and drybrushed to remove the shine. The vertical timber louvres are laser cut from thin timber sheet.’’ _________________________________________ Submitted for the 2025 B.15 Modelmaking Awards by @themsarch , Infrastructure Space @infra_structure.space , MA Year 1, Student – Taras Mandziuk @taras_mandziuk_arch _________________________________________ #makemoremodels #manchesterschoolofarchitecture #universityofmanchester #models_architecture #manchestermetropolitanuniversity #modelmaking #architecture #architecturalmodels #b15workshop #architecturestudents #archdaily #maquetas #archmodel

Fantastic exhibition yesterday @energus.ltd in Workington, West Cumbria showing the work of the Infra 24/25 cohort. We engaged new stakeholders for the coming year, thanked those who participated in shaping last year's body of work, and spoke with students @energycoastutc about architecture and landscape architecture. An exciting year is on the cards exploring the River Eden and sites around the planned St. Cuthbert's garden village in Carlisle... @manningelliottarchitects @cumberlandcouncil1