Brick By Brick

School Workshop and Collaborative Design Process, 2025

Brick by Brick was a collaboration with students from the MSA LIVE Programme at Manchester School of Architecture and 90 children from Year 4 at Oswald Road Primary School in Chorlton. The main goal of the project was to create the context for children and architecture students to co-create designs for a real-world project; a new nursery building on the school grounds.

The project was unique in that it placed architecture students in the role of facilitators rather than designers, guiding the primary school children through hands-on workshops. Exercises like urban sketching and drawing their breakfast in plan, section, and elevation helped the children think architecturally, while collaborative modelmaking sessions brought their ideas to life.

After the workshop had finished, new layers of creativity were introduced as the students and I began work on translating the children’s ideas into tangible, animated architectural drawings - celebrating their vision and imagination. These drawings were presented to the school to take forward into the new nursery design.

Brick by Brick not only created an imaginative design concept but also fostered a sense of ownership and pride among the primary school children. They were able to see their ideas materialise through sketches and models, gaining an understanding of how their contributions could influence real-world alterations to their school. For the architecture students, it was an invaluable experience in leading a collaborative, community-based project where facilitation and idea-sharing were key.