Manchester University redevelopments!

[Farsight]

I'm looking for curves to make the variety of shapes and masses relate better. SleepyOne: can you tell me more about that squaring-the-circle cover thing?

[inquisitor57]

In a way I feel sorry for the maths tower, I had an open day 'presentation' in there and apparantly it was basically the last time it would be used for such events...On the other hand a lot of the new additions to the university are looking really promising. Is there a better render of that curved building around because that looks like it could be interesting?

[Farsight]

It's a 1000-seat lecture theatre, inquisitor. I don't think there's a render showing colour or finish for the moment. I'm a little concerned it'll look blank, and won't turn out so good despite the interesting shape.

[inquisitor57]

I know what you mean, I expect it won't have any windows for a start (unless they have an outer skin to let people walk into etc). However I still think that with a little imagination it could look pretty snazzy.

[Farsight]

Snazzy? Like a snare drum!

There's maybe something here. Look at Education then 9th in the list. It's maybe out of date. Can't stop, I gotta do some work.

http://www.mcaslan.co.uk/frame.php?s...flashversion=5

[inquisitor57]

It only shows a render of the square building and gives you a bit of information on timings and values.

[Farsight]

There's an artists impression on the last page of this newsletter.

http://www.campus.manchester.ac.uk/m...me3-issue1.pdf

IMHO the lecture theatre looks good. I look at it on its own, and I think simple, elegant, modern. Yep. Like it.

But there's something about the setting that bothers me. It's only a picture I know, but the lecture theatre comes over as a big featureless blot on the landscape, smacked down in the middle of an urban campus too close to the road, and it doesn't harmonise with surrounding buildings or the new ones behind.

In my Farsight perfect world I see grass, and a curve behind the lecture theatre along the lines of the Central Library & Town Hall Extension, and a curve akin to the MIB building stretching towards the residential block, which is cylindrical... and tall, baby, tall!

Yeah whatever. But I look forward to further renders with interest.

[SleepyOne]

I'm looking for curves to make the variety of shapes and masses relate better. SleepyOne: can you tell me more about that squaring-the-circle cover thing?

Look carefully at the render - its not easy to pick out but there is what appear to be a large expanse of glass that squares off the circular form of the building to better relate it to the rectangular form of the adjacent block.

The atrium also serves to tie the two together.

The shape of this block will really create a great sense of arrival and help to reconcile the line of Oxford Road with the line of this major new pedestrian route they are building which runs at right angles from Oxford Road, all the way though to Upper Brook St. It also appears to be very nicely proportioned and will be an attractive building in its own right and in its setting.

The square blocky image on the McAslan website was posted a long time ago and is what I am assuming (and hoping) to be the prior to the CABE review. This new(?) version in much superior IMO.

[inquisitor57]

The render does look nice, however you can't but feel sad when you read about the maths tower. How it represented modernity and a new chapter in the universities history, and now it is being taken apart piece by piece.

[Farsight]

I certainly feel sad about the Maths Tower, inquisitor. We've had some pretty bad rows about it along with campus highrise and heritage.

SleepyOne, thanks for that info. I see what you mean, but IMHO it seems insufficient and that this is a candidate for relates poorly. Is there absolutely nothing you have any reservations about?

[SleepyOne]

Farsight - no. It looks superb from what I can make out from the renders.


Interesting development here. Would appear to feed in nicely to the Knowledge Capital initiative too.

University of Manchester announces strategic deal with IBM
01/11/2005

The University of Manchester is to form a strategic partnership with IBM, forging cooperative links across research, teaching and recruitment.
An official Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by Larry Hirst, General Manager for IBM UK and Professor John Perkins, Vice-President & Dean of the University of Manchester's Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences, will formally establish the partnership on November 2.

The signing of the MoU will also mark the creation of the IBM-Manchester Partners Programme, an initiative unique to the University of Manchester, which will identify key staff to partner with IBM towards future opportunities for collaborative research. The programme will also identify areas of overlapping strategic importance for course delivery and future outreach activities.

The MoU will seek to exploit activities which are of mutual benefit to both organisations in respect of research, education, the development of new scientific applications and the recruitment of students to both the University and IBM. It will build on relationships between the University and IBM which have existed for more than a decade in subjects spanning engineering, the life sciences and humanities.

Professor John Perkins, said: 'This is a unique partnership which will bring together the most skilled and gifted individuals from both organisations, forging a unique link which spans both commerce and higher education. By signing this MoU we are creating a bridge of opportunity which will benefit the research, teaching and recruitment activities of both the University of Manchester and IBM.'

Larry Hirst, said: 'IBM is building strategic partnerships with some of the world's top Universities so that we may benefit from mutual cooperation and collaboration. We are delighted to count Manchester among them.'

In addition to the IBM Partners Programme, The MoU will provide a platform for a host of new initiatives which will include:

• People with Disabilities Project; to address issues facing disabled students on campus through the provision of IBM Assistive Technologies and staff training.

• IBM Mentoring Programme; providing IBM mentors to University staff and to current and potential students.

• IBM Faculty Award; supporting excellent relevant research in Universities. The first IBM Faculty Award will be presented at the event on November 2, in the form of a cheque for £14,000 to Professor Linda Macaulay, of the School of Informatics, for a project entitled 'Exploring the role of patterns for e-business in supporting the emerging services science discipline'.

[Sir Miles Platting]

Originally Posted by Farsight

Snazzy? Like a snare drum!

There's maybe something here. Look at Education then 9th in the list. It's maybe out of date. Can't stop, I gotta do some work.

http://www.mcaslan.co.uk/frame.php?s...flashversion=5

We've already got a snare drum building in Manny. Some pub in Stretford cunningly named The Drum .
This one is more like a tom-tom.....

[Irish Blood English Heart]

The Drum had a bullet hole in the downstairs window for ages.

Theyve fixed it now though, god theres some frim pubs in Stretford.

[SleepyOne]

Behold what appears to be the first weak link in terms of Project Unity new-build.



Today's MEN revealed Fairhursts to be the architects of this building...

"We're at work on the New Humanities Building for Manchester University, a huge project involving a 150,000 sq ft building and costing £20 million and its innovative to use natural ventilation on such a large building. Its part of an effort to be ecologically sound"

.. this from an article exploring environmental considerations on some of the city's new buildings.

This will be built (I think) set back from Oxford Road and in front of the new multistorey carpark on Higher Cambridge St. The precinct centre is to the right as you view the site from Oxford Road. Looks to be drearily conventional. A shame considering the high quality of the other proposals thus far.

[SleepyOne]

Quite an interesting article here. Feeding nicely into the spate of transatlantic themed business initiatives and announcements emanating from all quarters this week.

Manchester awarded £1.5m to establish transatlantic composites partnership
07/11/2005
Lord Sainsbury, Science and Innovation Minister, has announced that The University of Manchester will be one of only four UK universities to lead transatlantic research partnerships under a new DTI pilot scheme.
The scheme, which is aimed at establishing world-class UK/US collaborations, will see The University of Manchester receive £1.5m over the next two years to develop new composite technologies and materials for future aircraft design in partnership The University of Washington (Seattle).

The partnership will formally establish the Manchester Seattle Composite Partnership (MSCP). The MSCP will work with the Northwest Aerospace Alliance, Airbus, Boeing and a wide range of businesses in the UK and US.

Lord Sainsbury, said: "Building bridges between world class universities and high-tech companies in our two countries is an excellent way to generate new opportunities and drive forward innovative ideas.

"These new science and innovation partnerships will help bring together the best of UK and US universities and companies and help make the UK the best place for science and innovation, increasing industrial competitiveness and knowledge transfer."

Professor Phil Withers, of the University of Manchester, said: 'The development of civil aerospace composites is the key to future 'greener' aircraft, but the lack of proven test methodologies and durability assessment procedures is limiting composite take up in new products. What this partnership gives us is the opportunity to unlock the potential composite materials have to offer the aerospace industry.'

Manchester's collaboration with Seattle will feed directly into the continuing development and assembly of new composite designs. The project will also focus on the development of new methodologies to test safety levels of composite materials. It will also seek to formally evaluate the constraints of current composite design and certification processes.

The project, which was initiated through the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) of which Manchester and Seattle are members, builds on the composites programme initiated by the Northern Aerospace Technology Exploitation Centre (NATEC) and the Northwest Development Agency (NWDA). A significant part of the project fund will be dedicated to delivering trained graduates in the composite area in the US and the UK.

[Manchester Planner]

Originally Posted by SleepyOne

Behold what appears to be the first weak link in terms of Project Unity new-build.



Today's MEN revealed Fairhursts to be the architects of this building...

"We're at work on the New Humanities Building for Manchester University, a huge project involving a 150,000 sq ft building and costing £20 million and its innovative to use natural ventilation on such a large building. Its part of an effort to be ecologically sound"

.. this from an article exploring environmental considerations on some of the city's new buildings.

This will be built (I think) set back from Oxford Road and in front of the new multistorey carpark on Higher Cambridge St. The precinct centre is to the right as you view the site from Oxford Road. Looks to be drearily conventional. A shame considering the high quality of the other proposals thus far.

This is the one being built outside my planning department. We used to be in the midst of parkland and surface car parking, but now we have the new multi-storey car park on the Higher Cambridge Street side and this thing on the Oxford Road side. Don't know what's happening to my department's building though - haven't heard anything.

[Farsight]

It is somewhat humdrum. At least there's going to be some greenery left.

[Manchester Planner]

Some... but not a lot. The planning department's park has gone...

[Jerv]

Originally Posted by SleepyOne

Behold what appears to be the first weak link in terms of Project Unity new-build.



Today's MEN revealed Fairhursts to be the architects of this building...

"We're at work on the New Humanities Building for Manchester University, a huge project involving a 150,000 sq ft building and costing £20 million and its innovative to use natural ventilation on such a large building. Its part of an effort to be ecologically sound"

.. this from an article exploring environmental considerations on some of the city's new buildings.

This will be built (I think) set back from Oxford Road and in front of the new multistorey carpark on Higher Cambridge St. The precinct centre is to the right as you view the site from Oxford Road. Looks to be drearily conventional. A shame considering the high quality of the other proposals thus far.

I have worked with fairhursts on a couple of office buildings and they are very good. I wouldn't be too worried.

[Farsight]

I was looking at their website and see they designed the Quay Point towers.

http://www.fairhursts.com