We are really pleased to announce that our submission for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition has been shortlisted! Our model responds to David Adjaye’s theme for this year’s show – to consider architecture through the expression of ‘climate and geography’.

In the near future, Manchester is likely to experience more and frequent extreme weather due to climate change, and is therefore at risk of increased flooding. It will be vital to design new infrastructure that can accommodate rising water levels while also bringing other benefits to help create a happier and healthier city.

By studying Manchester’s potential to become car-less, we were also aware that the city needs to shift to accommodate different modes of sustainable transport. Through understanding the climate and geography of Manchester, we designed and cast four plaster proposals to sit on top of a map that is an ink and glue transfer onto plywood. On the casts, balsa wood is used to represent new public street furniture and infrastructure that encourages four elements linked to interactions with the city, as a cyclist and pedestrian. They are: movement, maintenance, play and the retention/use of water.

Our next challenge is to transport the model to the RA without damages for the final selection! Fingers crossed.