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Unit 5C - University of Nottingham

@unit_5c

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We are a BArch design studio led by @hereweare.studio co-founders Ila Lombardini and Matt Mitchell.
2026-27: Neighbourhood Ecology
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Unmaking Manchester: Unit 5C Yearbook 2025-26 BArch Design Studio, University of Nottingham. by @unit_5c
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3 months ago
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Unmaking Manchester: Unit 5C Yearbook 2025-26 BArch Design Studio, University of Nottingham. Big thank you to our show sponsors @morrisand.company and @boanoprismontas for helping to make this booklet possible! by @unit_5c
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3 months ago
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Unmaking Manchester (2025-26) Unit 5C works towards a design approach defined by a single imperative: to build using what is already there, and after that - what is closest at hand. Rejecting abstract form-finding in favour of ad-hoc material opportunism, we seek architectural languages which are undeniably of their place, but also specifically of their time in the context of the various material flows that constitute the urban waste stream. Our design briefs aim to prefigure future zero-waste contexts, from circular to nodal economies; systems which require a reimagination of the ways in which matter constitutes the built environment. Specification becomes a scavenger hunt, with the lowest-carbon choices driving the form and character of future buildings. We seek to assume stewardship of every material resource in a design proposal, ensuring that non-destructive disassembly is the only viable means of unmaking a building. What we put into our buildings today forms a necessary part of tomorrow’s re-use inventory. Modular systems, distributable construction kits and polyvalent building components are among the strategies we explore in pursuit of this goal. Manchester - the world’s first industrial city - provides the material and historical ground for this year’s brief. Its industrial heritage survives as fragments of a city made and remade through the fitful processes of capitalist expansion and contraction. The unit’s work imagines new ways in which its residual infrastructures and leftover spaces might become part of an ethical, closed-loop construction ecology. Big thank you to all U5C contributors! @val_fbn @instantaneouslydavey @adamlampon92 @boanoprismontas @kehinde_pereira @chowlokyiuu @hass_____haus by @unit_5c
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3 months ago
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Year 3 / Luisa Zimmerman @luisazimm04 The Reclaimed City Located in Manchester’s Trafford Dry Docks, The Reclaimed City proposes an incremental housing scheme that aims to support long-term community resilience through resident-led adaptability. Using a modular cassette system, homes can be upsized or downsized over time, allowing residents flexibility to respond to changing personal, economic or social needs. By tracking local demolition proposals, residents incorporate locally reclaimed materials in construction, reducing construction waste and preserving the material heritage of the city. By reconnecting salvaged materials to their community, The Reclaimed City proposes a circular approach to housing that is both environmentally responsible and socially resilient. In a time of widespread uncertainty, the one constant is the ever-changing nature of life. Families grow or shrink unexpectedly, and people’s individual needs suddenly change, yet current housing systems remain largely fixed, with little tolerance for flexibility. The Reclaimed City offers a sustainable solution - our adaptable homes can be shaped by individual needs. Whether residents require an extra bedroom, office or workshop, our incremental plot sizes can be tailored to evolve alongside their lives. The option for long-term adaptability allows upsizing and downsizing without the need to move out, enabling people to remain part of an established community and supporting the formation of strong and lasting social connections, something that feels increasingly difficult to achieve today. 🏆 The project was shortlisted for the RIBA East Midlands Student Award and Sustainability Prize! #unit5c #critday #architecturedotstudio #critday #manchester by @unit_5c
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3 months ago
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Year 3 / Luisa Zimmerman @luisazimm04 The Reclaimed City Located in Manchester’s Trafford Dry Docks, The Reclaimed City proposes an incremental housing scheme that aims to support long-term community resilience through resident-led adaptability. Using a modular cassette system, homes can be upsized or downsized over time, allowing residents flexibility to respond to changing personal, economic or social needs. By tracking local demolition proposals, residents incorporate locally reclaimed materials in construction, reducing construction waste and preserving the material heritage of the city. By reconnecting salvaged materials to their community, The Reclaimed City proposes a circular approach to housing that is both environmentally responsible and socially resilient. In a time of widespread uncertainty, the one constant is the ever-changing nature of life. Families grow or shrink unexpectedly, and people’s individual needs suddenly change, yet current housing systems remain largely fixed, with little tolerance for flexibility. The Reclaimed City offers a sustainable solution - our adaptable homes can be shaped by individual needs. Whether residents require an extra bedroom, office or workshop, our incremental plot sizes can be tailored to evolve alongside their lives. The option for long-term adaptability allows upsizing and downsizing without the need to move out, enabling people to remain part of an established community and supporting the formation of strong and lasting social connections, something that feels increasingly difficult to achieve today. 🏆 The project was shortlisted for the RIBA East Midlands Student Award and Sustainability Prize! #unit5c #critday #architecturedotstudio #critday #manchester by @unit_5c
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3 months ago
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Year 3 / Luisa Zimmerman @luisazimm04 The Reclaimed City Located in Manchester’s Trafford Dry Docks, The Reclaimed City proposes an incremental housing scheme that aims to support long-term community resilience through resident-led adaptability. Using a modular cassette system, homes can be upsized or downsized over time, allowing residents flexibility to respond to changing personal, economic or social needs. By tracking local demolition proposals, residents incorporate locally reclaimed materials in construction, reducing construction waste and preserving the material heritage of the city. By reconnecting salvaged materials to their community, The Reclaimed City proposes a circular approach to housing that is both environmentally responsible and socially resilient. In a time of widespread uncertainty, the one constant is the ever-changing nature of life. Families grow or shrink unexpectedly, and people’s individual needs suddenly change, yet current housing systems remain largely fixed, with little tolerance for flexibility. The Reclaimed City offers a sustainable solution - our adaptable homes can be shaped by individual needs. Whether residents require an extra bedroom, office or workshop, our incremental plot sizes can be tailored to evolve alongside their lives. The option for long-term adaptability allows upsizing and downsizing without the need to move out, enabling people to remain part of an established community and supporting the formation of strong and lasting social connections, something that feels increasingly difficult to achieve today. 🏆 The project was shortlisted for the RIBA East Midlands Student Award and Sustainability Prize! #unit5c #critday #architecturedotstudio #critday #manchester by @unit_5c
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3 months ago
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Year 3 / Karen Magna Quarshie @_karenq_ The Word Foundry The Word Foundry proposes a mobile literacy hub that brings learning opportunities directly into Manchester’s communities through adaptable libraries, workshops, study spaces, and mentoring facilities. By combining a modular architecture with creative literacy programmes, the project aims to make reading, writing, and learning more accessible for children across the city. The Word Foundry is a project that responds to Manchester’s literacy crisis. With almost half of the city’s wards falling within the top 10% nationally for literacy needs and 28% of pupils leaving primary school without reaching the expected reading standard, there is a clear need for a new approach to literacy support. Rather than creating another static educational building, the project explores how architecture can move into communities and bring learning opportunities directly to those who need them most. The key idea behind the project is mobility and adaptability. Designed using reversible connections, individual spaces can be assembled, disassembled, and relocated with ease. Communities across Manchester can request a combination of modules that best suit their needs. These modules can be “unplugged” from the main hub and transported to local sites for a 28-day period before being returned or redeployed elsewhere. The project also creates a citywide network through book donations from schools, universities, organisations, and the public. By providing literacy on wheels, The Word Foundry makes learning more visible, accessible, and embedded within everyday community life. 🏆 The project received commendation for the Community Prize and shortlisted for the Matt Carapiet Award! #unit5c #critday #architecturestudent #drawing mancheste by @unit_5c
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3 months ago
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Year 3 / Karen Magna Quarshie @_karenq_ The Word Foundry The Word Foundry proposes a mobile literacy hub that brings learning opportunities directly into Manchester’s communities through adaptable libraries, workshops, study spaces, and mentoring facilities. By combining a modular architecture with creative literacy programmes, the project aims to make reading, writing, and learning more accessible for children across the city. The Word Foundry is a project that responds to Manchester’s literacy crisis. With almost half of the city’s wards falling within the top 10% nationally for literacy needs and 28% of pupils leaving primary school without reaching the expected reading standard, there is a clear need for a new approach to literacy support. Rather than creating another static educational building, the project explores how architecture can move into communities and bring learning opportunities directly to those who need them most. The key idea behind the project is mobility and adaptability. Designed using reversible connections, individual spaces can be assembled, disassembled, and relocated with ease. Communities across Manchester can request a combination of modules that best suit their needs. These modules can be “unplugged” from the main hub and transported to local sites for a 28-day period before being returned or redeployed elsewhere. The project also creates a citywide network through book donations from schools, universities, organisations, and the public. By providing literacy on wheels, The Word Foundry makes learning more visible, accessible, and embedded within everyday community life. 🏆 The project received commendation for the Community Prize and shortlisted for the Matt Carapiet Award! #unit5c #critday #architecturestudent #drawing #manchester by @unit_5c
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3 months ago
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Year 3 / Karen Magna Quarshie @_karenq_ The Word Foundry The Word Foundry proposes a mobile literacy hub that brings learning opportunities directly into Manchester’s communities through adaptable libraries, workshops, study spaces, and mentoring facilities. By combining a modular architecture with creative literacy programmes, the project aims to make reading, writing, and learning more accessible for children across the city. The Word Foundry is a project that responds to Manchester’s literacy crisis. With almost half of the city’s wards falling within the top 10% nationally for literacy needs and 28% of pupils leaving primary school without reaching the expected reading standard, there is a clear need for a new approach to literacy support. Rather than creating another static educational building, the project explores how architecture can move into communities and bring learning opportunities directly to those who need them most. The key idea behind the project is mobility and adaptability. Designed using reversible connections, individual spaces can be assembled, disassembled, and relocated with ease. Communities across Manchester can request a combination of modules that best suit their needs. These modules can be “unplugged” from the main hub and transported to local sites for a 28-day period before being returned or redeployed elsewhere. The project also creates a citywide network through book donations from schools, universities, organisations, and the public. By providing literacy on wheels, The Word Foundry makes learning more visible, accessible, and embedded within everyday community life. 🏆 The project received commendation for the Community Prize and shortlisted for the Matt Carapiet Award! #unit5c #critday #architecturestudent #drawing #manchester by @unit_5c
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3 months ago
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Year 3 / Uriel Jinadu @urieljinadu Rubble to Ritual This proposal positions retrofit not simply as an act of preservation, but as a living ritual of renewal - where the remnants of the city are gathered, transformed and returned to public life. Here, circulation is imagined as a journey of exploration. Stairs, platforms and unexpected thresholds cut through the building’s fabric, forming moments for gathering, pause and observation along the route. Operating through the retrofit of Casablanca Mill in Salford, Manchester, Rubble to Ritual: The Making House reimagines material production as a civic act of reclamation. Drawing on Jane Bennett’s ‘Vibrant Matter’, the project reframes rubble from locally demolished buildings not as passive waste, but as active matter carrying agency, memory and cultural value. Demolished masonry, broken aggregate and construction waste are received, crushed, graded, recast and reused within the architecture, allowing Manchester’s industrial fabric to continuously remake itself while carrying legible traces of its past forms. Founded on the proposition that “this was already here”, The Making House becomes both a workshop and a public institution: educating, building, inspiring and housing circular economy practices. Through ritualised and public processes of making, discarded matter is transformed into architectural components, civic furniture and reusable systems, before being redistributed across the city. 🏆 The project received commendation for the Transformation and Reuse Award! #unit5c #critday #architecturestudent #drawing #manchester by @unit_5c
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3 months ago
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Year 3 / Uriel Jinadu @urieljinadu Rubble to Ritual This proposal positions retrofit not simply as an act of preservation, but as a living ritual of renewal - where the remnants of the city are gathered, transformed and returned to public life. Here, circulation is imagined as a journey of exploration. Stairs, platforms and unexpected thresholds cut through the building’s fabric, forming moments for gathering, pause and observation along the route. Operating through the retrofit of Casablanca Mill in Salford, Manchester, Rubble to Ritual: The Making House reimagines material production as a civic act of reclamation. Drawing on Jane Bennett’s ‘Vibrant Matter’, the project reframes rubble from locally demolished buildings not as passive waste, but as active matter carrying agency, memory and cultural value. Demolished masonry, broken aggregate and construction waste are received, crushed, graded, recast and reused within the architecture, allowing Manchester’s industrial fabric to continuously remake itself while carrying legible traces of its past forms. Founded on the proposition that “this was already here”, The Making House becomes both a workshop and a public institution: educating, building, inspiring and housing circular economy practices. Through ritualised and public processes of making, discarded matter is transformed into architectural components, civic furniture and reusable systems, before being redistributed across the city. 🏆 The project received commendation for the Transformation and Reuse Award! #unit5c #critday #architecturestudent #drawing #manchester by @unit_5c
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3 months ago
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Year 3 / Uriel Jinadu @urieljinadu Rubble to Ritual This proposal positions retrofit not simply as an act of preservation, but as a living ritual of renewal - where the remnants of the city are gathered, transformed and returned to public life. Here, circulation is imagined as a journey of exploration. Stairs, platforms and unexpected thresholds cut through the building’s fabric, forming moments for gathering, pause and observation along the route. Operating through the retrofit of Casablanca Mill in Salford, Manchester, Rubble to Ritual: The Making House reimagines material production as a civic act of reclamation. Drawing on Jane Bennett’s ‘Vibrant Matter’, the project reframes rubble from locally demolished buildings not as passive waste, but as active matter carrying agency, memory and cultural value. Demolished masonry, broken aggregate and construction waste are received, crushed, graded, recast and reused within the architecture, allowing Manchester’s industrial fabric to continuously remake itself while carrying legible traces of its past forms. Founded on the proposition that “this was already here”, The Making House becomes both a workshop and a public institution: educating, building, inspiring and housing circular economy practices. Through ritualised and public processes of making, discarded matter is transformed into architectural components, civic furniture and reusable systems, before being redistributed across the city. 🏆 The project received commendation for the Transformation and Reuse Award! #unit5c #critday #architecturestudent #drawing #manchester by @unit_5c
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3 months ago
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