Save Withington Baths; Presentation day
Thank you to all the BA students for their great ideas and the effort they put into their proposals!

Save Withington Baths Proposal 4: Withington Baths Cafe
Work by Oliver an Vicente

Save Withington Baths Proposal 3: Withington Biospheric Baths
Work by Dylan, Yoon and Zana

Save Withington Baths Proposal 2: Make the Baths Last
Work by Jack, Irsa and Fazal

Save Withington Baths Proposal 1: Withington Treatment Centre
Work by Mashael, Diana and Monty

SESSION 6

PRESENTATION DAY !

SESSION 5

The students worked in groups of 2 and 3 to produce output of each concept/ideas

SESSION 4

The group brainstorm idea of possible future development of the bath. we all agreed on 4 ideas :

1. Cafe ( proposed by the community save Withington Bath )
2. Biosperic project
3. Therapeutic spa
4. Multi-function rooms for the community.

SESSION 3

VISIT TO WITHINGTON BATH

MUSHROOM - in the biospheric project, the grow mushroom using recycled substrates including wood chip, sawdust, coffee grounds and chaff. They get paid by collecting coffee waste and the mushroom are sold to restaurants.

CHICKEN AND BEES - their product like eggs and honey are collected.

AQUAPONICS - aquaponic is a combination of hydroponic and aquaculture. Vincent showed us his fish tank where the fish waste ( ammonia ) will be pumped through a series of filtration containing 2 types of filtration containing two types of bacteria that convert the ammonia into nitrite, then into nitrate. The plants then absorb the nitrate and use it as a nutrient. after the plants have remove the nitrate, the clean water re-circulate into the tank. The fish and the crops will be sell to the market.

FOREST GARDEN - vincent showed us around his forest garden where the soil have sterile and safe to grow his own crops

SESSION 2

Vermiculture - Vincent showed us around the vermiculture pod. This is where worms breaks down organic waste from the Biospheric Project which came from their organic shop. Worms improve the quality of the soil and crops, support waste reduction and recycling, water pollution and greenhouse emissions and even serve as a food source for their fish.

SESSION 2

BIOSPHERIC FOUNDATION VISIT - Vincent, the founder gave us a 1 hour tour around the refurbish mill where the biospheric project took place.

SESSION 1

Ice breaking and a short introduction to who and role of CIA atelier. We ran through the brief of what we will be looking forward for the next 2 weeks of event. We also talked on the background and history of Biospheric Foundation& Withington Bath.

Final A1 sheet

Photo collaged section of our proposal

Empty space at the side of Withington baths. Overgrown and graffitied.

Stained glass window in Victoria Baths

Victoria Baths photograph. Local building from similar time as Withington Baths.

Aquaponics system at Salford Biospheric Foundation

Review of A1 presentation boards showing final ideas and designs for the baths.

First floor plan

Withington Treatment Centre, final proposal

12 May (Day 6) Presenting our vision for Withington Baths

8th May (Day 5) draft of our proposal

7th May (Day 4) incorporating our vision onto the plan

final pics

final model

final model

final 3D model

Mon 12th May: presentation of our ideas for Withington baths

Last Session/ one group is presenting sustainable ideas inspired from the Biospheric Foundation visit for the renovation of Withington Baths

Withington Baths visit/ Discussing the plan and the flexible spaces before going around the building

Biospheric Foundation Visit/ Food Shop

Biospheric Foundation Visit/ The Founder, Vincent Walsh, explaining the reed beds process

Biospheric Foundation visit/ Sustainable Facade Strategy Analysis

First Session/ introduction/ CIA approach/ About Whithington Baths (with Dominic Sagar)

Session 2.- WITHINGTON BATHS
Visit to the Withington Leisure Centre, a vibrate and dynamic communal attraction

Session 6.- PRESENTATION BOARD
Presentation Board of our first idea for Withington Bath. Café

Session 4.- Development
Proposed area for café, located on the first floor, a level above the pool.

A visual proposed by our group to help save Withington Baths. A core theme of our design is to soften the transition from the main road to the entrance of the centre

Presentation of the proposals. In other words, the moment when we were told exactly how much was wrong :)

Visit at Withington Baths for site analysis. Unfortunately, the baths are in bad condition: oily water, rusted support bars, green algae on the tiles, unidentifiable objects floating about and on the bottom of the pool, inadequate insulation, old, fragile-looking infrastructure... all in all, in terrible need of being renovated.

Thurs 8th May: developing further with drawings and diagrams

Wed 7th May: developing drawings and diagrams for A1 presentation boards

Tue 6th May: deciding on ideas for Withington baths

Fri 2nd May: visited Withington baths for research

Wed 30th April: visited the Biospheric foundation in Salford to understand and explore ecological solutions

Presenting the Possible Multiple Uses for Saving Withington Baths!

Presenting the Spa scheme for Saving Withington Baths

Presenting the Biospheric Scheme for Withington Baths

trip to salford (forgot to upload them after visit )

trip to salford

from a different angle

started the 3d model

Observing and exploring the context around the Withington Baths for site analysis.

Session 5. Development of our idea. Proposed program for café, located on the first floor where the concierge house used to be.

Presented our final ideas in the class, and then discussed how we can improve them before handing in.

The founder of Biospheric Foundation, Vincent Walsh explaining how the forest garden works by natural woodland ecosystem.

We presented our final idea for the Café, situated a level above the pool with large glass windows, where parents will have a bird’s eye view of the whole swimming pool.

Our plan is to keep the main functions of the existing baths (swimming pool, gym, weights room) and add biospheric elements (vermiculture and mushroom growing in the tunnels, aquaponics in the defunct pool, cafe/shop and forest garden).

The swimming pool of the Withington Leisure Centre. Getting a feel of the place, we started to form ideas on how to reinvigorate the baths and engage the local community.

Visit to the Withington Leisure Centre. An ageing Victorian building, it is under threat of closure.

Learning about Aquaponics. Nutrients from the fish can help plants grow, enhancing food production.

Presentation/discussion of the four ideas: Withington Biospheric Baths, Withington Treatment Centre, Whithington Baths Cafe and Multiple Rooms Networking/ICT.

Trip to the Biospheric Foundation in Salford. Looking at Vermiculture, Aquaponics, Mushroom Growing, Forest Gardening and Bio-Facades.

Day 6 - 12/05/14
Presentation day - We presented our final ideas to the group. Slight changes have to be made to the alignment and layout of the page before final hand in.

Day 5 - 08/05/14
I started creating visuals for the landscape plans and spaces i was working on. This visual depicts a proposed outdoor play area just outside the creche space.

Presentation day of our concepts for Withington Baths, our idea; Multiple Rooms

The visit to Withington Baths (WB), listening to a talk about the history of WB and how we can find a solution to restore and develop the building for the community.

After our visit to the Biospheric Foundation in Salford, we saw some interesting things of the creation of nature. It was useful and gave some good ideas for our project. Here are some diagrams and sketches of the concept of Biospheric Foundation for the project.

My first task was to analyse the site of Withington Baths. I started with some diagrams and sketches of the location, orientation, circulation and the sun path direction of the site.

Day 4 - 07/05/14
I worked more closely on the landscape aspect of the design. I looked at what was existing, and what spaces I could occupy to create a more interesting space. I came up with a plan incorporating a children's outdoor play area, sided next to a network of ramped paths leading to the various front entrances.

Day 3 - 06/05/14
We split up into groups of 3 to work in detail each on different proposals for the space. my group looked at creating an educational space and a creche using the frontal part of the baths. We worked on our initial ideas and layout plans.

Photo collage Proposal
Outdoor pool garden with Cafe in unused yard space.

Possible re-use. Mushroom farm as seen at the Biospheric Foundation, Salford.

SketchUp model of the proposal for the new pools, dimensions slightly modified because of slight inadequacies in size. The trench on the side will contain exotic trees and fish, as well as herbs that can be user in the medicinal baths.

Section and diagram for the new pool proposal

Exploring Withington Leisyre Centre, home of Withington Baths