Lucia Mills
BA (Hons) Interior Design
THE YARD -
In partnership with the National Trust and Manchester City Council, The Yard provides an escape from city life and forms a part of this life-enhancing blue-green corridor that is beneficial for wellbeing and community cohesion. Aiming to restore and celebrate the industrial heritage and waterways of Manchester, the free-to-access public space is proposed as a steppingstone to other visitor attractions, such as The Highline, that aim to draw more people to the area. A rainwater harvesting system is integral to the sustainable strategy of the proposal and has been designed to provide free drinking water as well as supporting an allotment, green roof and raingarden to encourage biodiversity. Alongside recreational and leisure amenities, there will be opportunities to buy locally sourced food from a variety of vendors, some of which is grown onsite. Any food that isn’t sold will be donated daily to a new site called Seasons.
SEASONS –
Seasons is a socially responsive project aiming to inspire ways of living that are good for the environment, support the local community and ultimately reduce food waste. Building on Hubbub’s ongoing ‘Community Fridge’ scheme, Seasons aims to give the initiative a more permanent identity within Manchester and further remove the stigma associated with food banks by creating a social space that brings people together to shop and eat on a pay-as-you-feel basis. By redistributing surplus food from various hospitality and retail venues, food that would otherwise have gone to waste can be given a new life through the means of healthy meals (served at The Best Before Bistro) and a food bank (The Grocery) for anyone and everyone. The material palette is driven by the concept and incorporates food waste to create a space that reflects this.
